To that I say, it's about time. It is the perfect strategy for the game, still fighting the effects of the "Steroid Era."

Plus, the excitement of a great defensive play, a stolen base or a runner taking an extra base has been a lost art in the game for many years.

Welcome back exciting baseball.

The final, heart-stopping play of Super Bowl XXXIV has its own Wikipedia page.

But that's not the play that comes to my mind first when I think back to that game, and the efforts of Titans quarterback Steve McNair, who was found shot to death today in Nashville.

I was covering that game, on Jan. 30, 2000, for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, sitting with the rest of the less-important media in the upper level of the Georgia Dome, so high I could have probably reached up and touched the roof.

The play I'll always remember is the next-to-last play of that Super Bowl. Not the last one.

It was classic McNair, avoiding multiple tacklers and a near sack, spinning and scrambling -- impossbily staying on his feet far behind the line of scrimmage -- and ultimately finding Kevin Dyson for a 16-yard gain to the Rams' 10-yard line with six seconds remaining. Without that effort by McNair, there almost certainly is no Famous Last Play.

McNair, in his prime, was one of only a small handful of NFL quarterbacks in history who could have pulled off that next-to-last play, given the pressure of the situation.

That was my jaw-dropping moment from Super Bowl XXXIV.

That's my Steve McNair memory.

The slumping Philadelphia Phillies got a lift from an unlikely source on Friday night -- former Baltimore Oriole Rodrigo Lopez.

Lopez pitched 6.1 innings and allowed just two runs in the Phillies' 7-2 win over the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park.

Lopez was one of baseball's best stories in 2002, when he burst onto the scene with the Baltimore Orioles and went 15-9 with a 3.57 ERA.

Dan Connolly, who covered the Orioles that year for the York Daily Record, wrote the following for the June 8, 2002, edition:

BALTIMORE -- Rodrigo Lopez dreamed of one day pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers like his childhood hero and fellow Mexican, Fernando Valenzuela.

He never was given the chance. He signed with the Orioles as a minor-league free agent when no other team, including the Dodgers, showed interest.

On Friday, Lopez started against L.A. and came within one out of capturing his first complete-game shutout. Instead, he settled for a 4-2, interleague victory and a standing ovation from an energized Camden Yards crowd of 33,624.

 "The feeling is pretty good," said Lopez, a native of Tlalnepantla, Mexico. "I've been a Dodgers' fans since I was a kid. (The win) means a lot to me."

Within six months, the 26-year-old right-hander has gone from the Culiacan Tomato Growers of the Mexican Winter League to being arguably the Orioles' staff ace. Lopez (6-1) is second in the American League with a sparkling 2.51 ERA and is making a claim to become the Orioles' representative to the American League All-Star team.

"He's incredible," Melvin Mora said of Lopez. "This guy can just pitch. He throws the ball and uses his brain.... That's pretty good."

Lopez mixed his nasty slider with a 93-mph fastball against a team that had only one hitter in the lineup - Brian Jordan - that had ever faced him before.

The fairy tale didn't continue forever for Lopez, though.

He struggled in 2003, posted 14 and 15 wins in 2004 and 2005, respectively, for the Orioles (while seeing his ERA rise). And then he fell off the cliff in 2006, losing 18 games and posting a 5.90 ERA.

He was quietly dealt to the Colorado Rockies in the winter following that season. Lopez made 14 unremarkable starts for the Rockies in 2007 and then didn't pitch again in the majors until tonight. He made three minor-league starts for the Atlanta Braves in 2008 and started this season in the Phillies' Triple-A rotation at Lehigh Valley.

Now, with the World Champion Phillies struggling with injuries and inconsistency in their starting rotation, the 33-year-old Mexican native might just have a chance to stick in Philadelphia for awhile.

Friday was a promising first step.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Manny Ramirez is not feeling well.
The suspended slugging outfielder has apparently caught a bug that's been going around the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Manager Joe Torre says Ramirez has a cold and is running a slight fever. Torre says he had a brief bout with laryngitis recently.
Ramirez is serving a 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug rules.
The Dodgers have not settled on a date for Ramirez to begin his 10-day rehab assignment before he is scheduled return on July 3 at San Diego. Torre said that should be determined by the end of the week.

Thank you Alexis (and baby).

It's been a pretty good week so far for baseball's World Champions (feel free to knock on wood, Phillies fans). And that's pretty good, considering the team suffered a rough blow last week with the loss of its No. 2 starter, Brett Myers.

1. Entering Friday's game, the Phillies had won seven games in a row and built a four-game lead over the hobbled New York Mets in the National League East.

2. The Phillies have an astonishing 20-6 record in road games, far and away the best record in Major League Baseball. The Dodgers are second at 17-12.

3. Raul Ibanez and Ryan Howard are both in the NL's top five in home runs and RBIs.

4. Antonio Bastardo, a 23-year-old pitcher from the Dominican Republic who is taking Myers' spot in the rotation for now, won his major-league debut on Tuesday, pitching six innings and allowing just one run in a win over the San Diego Padres.

5. J.C. Romero returned from his 50-game suspension to further bolster a strong bullpen.

6. World Series MVP Cole Hamels tossed a 97-pitch shutout in Thursday's 3-0 win over the host Dodgers. Hamels is rounding into form after a slow start. He is 4-0 with a 2.84 ERA over his last seven starts.

7. Former first-round draft pick Kyle Drabek made a strong first start for the Reading Phillies after being promoted to Double-A. He went seven innings, allowing three hits and no runs in Wednesday's win against the Akron Aeros. Drabek might not be too far from seriously challenging for a spot in the Phillies' rotation.

I was recently helping my mom clean out her basement -- which partially involves going through all of the stuff my grandmother and great-grandmother pack-ratted over the years and stuffed in envelopes and boxes and filing cabinets -- and I stumbled across this postcard from the 1970s.

It's quite a blast from the past, showing three sports complexes in south Philly -- two of which don't exist anyone.

From top to bottom are:

1. John F. Kennedy Stadium, which was originally Philadelphia Municipal Stadium. Among other things, it was the home of the Philadelphia Eagles for a short period in the 1930s and 1940s; the host stadium for the Army-Navy Game from 1936 to 1979; and the site of the American portion of Live Aid in 1985. The stadium was demolished in 1992.

2. The Spectrum, which opened in 1967 and will close its doors forever this fall. It is scheduled for demolition in late 2009 or early 2010. Its most famous tenants, of course, have been the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia 76ers. Plus there have been countless concerts, circuses and pro wrestling events held there.

3. Veterans Stadium, which opened in 1971 and was demolished in 2004. Its concrete bowl was the home of the Philadelphia Eagles and Philadelphia Phillies, among other teams.

Funny what you find in a basement. What memories does this postcard evoke for you?

Harry Kalas, who was perfectly described as "the narrator of our memories"; whose baritone delivery could be picked out in a half-instant from all the static and swill on the AM band; whose easygoing play-by-play and banter with Richie Ashburn was a constant summertime companion in the heads of Phillies fans as they cooked meals, folded laundry, ran errands, relaxed down the shore and nodded off at night; whose dramatically rising tones sent chills down the spine with descriptions of Michael Jack Schmidt's Hall of Fame career and the exploits of four World Series teams; whose time in the Phillies' broadcast booth was bookended by Boots Day and Troy Tulowitzki at-bats; who had us almost convinced that Chunky Soup was a good and healthy idea; who made "Outta here!" forever a part of the baseball lexicon; and whose voiceover work on NFL highlight reels stands on its own high pedestal despite the impossible challenge of following in the footsteps of John Facenda, sat down with his notes and scorebook in the press level at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., for the seventh game of his 39th season as the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday afternoon and died.

He was 73.

Hard to believe.

"In many ways, Harry is the narrator of our memories," said NFL Films president Steve Sabol.

And now, our narrator is himself a memory.

First batter: Derek Jeter, New York, SS
First pitch: Called strike at 4:25 p.m.
First hit: Jeter, single up the middle on 3-2 pitch in first inning.
First baserunner: Jeter.
First out: Johnny Damon, fly out center field, second batter, first inning.
First Oriole batter: Brian Roberts, 2B
First Oriole hit: Roberts, single up the middle on 1-0 pitch in first
First strikeout: Xavier Nady, New York, second inning, swinging
First run scored: Brett Gardner, New York, on Johnny Damon's third-inning sacrifice fly
First Baltimore run: Cesar Izturis (and Brian Roberts) scored on Adam Jones' two run triple in third.
First home run: New York's Jorge Posada, a 402-foot shot to center leading off the sixth.

Normally accused of being a passive home crowd, at least in recent years, the Baltimore fans let the throng of Yankee rooters and New York players at Camden Yards know exactly how they felt as the visitors were being introduced.

Certainly reactions were mixed with the number of people cheering for the Bronx Bombers. A couple located directly in front of the press box exemplified the day. The male dressed in an O's jersey booed vehemently. His date, yelled her loudest for the Yanks.

The passionate boos drowned out the most of the cheers from the visiting fans, but nothing represented the day like the "greeting" for New York first baseman Mark Teixeira, who per the fans spurned Baltimore for the big contract.

It was the loudest, longest boo I personally have heard at Camden Yards and of the fan's comments for Teixeira, none could be written on thelineupcard for fear of losing my job.

Other observations .... the new public address system, cut out a couple of times on O's broadcaster Jim Hunter as he conducted the opening ceremony then again during the national anthem before the 56th opener in team history, the 40th to take place in Baltimore.

However, the new HD video board was impressive to say the least, with a brilliant picture spanning the width of the centerfield scoreboard.

Just when the sun came out and it got really nice for the fans that came early to Camden Yards, the clouds regrouped and a heavy rain is now pelting the stadium.

With the opening day ceremonies slated to start at 3:30, expect a rain delayed season opener.

Of course, hang in there baseball fans, the weather will likely change again and soon.

However, most of the attention is outside the Orioles' dugout where a large contingent of Japanese media is waiting for glimpses of Baltimore's Koji Uehara, the Tokyo native who is a projected top of the rotation starting pitcher.

Because of Uehara and the group that covers the Yankees and outfielder Hideki Matsui, media game notes from both teams were also available in Japanese.

Anyway, the teams will not be taking batting practice because of the showers that hit the area in the late morning, but several players are on the field playing catch as the fans file into Camden Yards.

Ironically, when the gates opened at 1 p.m., of the first estimated (by me) 200 or so people in the ballpark, at least 2/3 wore Yankees gear.

Fan-wise, as of now, this looks likely to be a unique opening day.