Early thoughts: The Freak, Pepsi, Obama over Kerry

Here are some early impressions:

1. It's nice that the National League let a prepubescent fan pitch the first inning.
   That kid, Tim Lincecum, had a rough first inning.
   Of course, he got hurt by hometown hero Albert Pujols kicked around a ground ball.


2. The Pepsi refreshed generation commercial was really cool.


3. Michael Young's play on Albert the Great's rip wasn't as fantastic as Joe Buck would have you believe. First of all, he stepped to the side and waved at it. He was lucky he got it. A good play would have been had he stepped in front of it and fielded it fundamentally.
   It just wouldn't have looked as cool


4. How about Roy Halladay's at-bat. Maybe he was showing the Phillies he could hit. He fouled off a bunch of pitches from Tim Lincecum. Of course, he didn't have his own batting helmet, which was fun to watch.


5. How about Tim Timmons umpiring down the left field line? What makes that interesting is it's the same name as a character from The Sandlot.


6. The last three presidents have been in the broadcast booth and it's nice that they're not as awkward as some other politicians. Presidents Obama, Bush the elder, Bush the Younger and Clinton are all sports fans and can have an easy rapport with broadcasters. It's a stark contrast from John Kerry. Here's something Peter Gammons wrote in 2004.
   So who puts the bug in candidates' ears about seeming what they are not? John Kerry last week professed to be a big fan of "Manny Ortez," then re-emphasized the phoofery by correcting it to "David Ortez." No, that was Dave (Baby) Cortez and "The Happy Organ." A few years back Kerry went on a Boston station with Eddie Andelman and said "my favorite Red Sox player of all time is The Walking Man, Eddie Yost," who never played for the Red Sox. Kerry is going to sweep New England. He's going to get 70 percent of the vote in Massachusetts. He doesn't have to be a Red Sox fan, all he has to do is not be John Ashcroft.