World Series could feature Mets, Seattle

Hope you had a happy Fourth of July from the County to the coast, from Cold Stream to Pushaw. We sort of assess ourselves as a country each year at this time, which has always necessarily meant we take a look at the Major League Baseball season at this point.

We start with the Red Sox. Didn’t mean to ruin the rest of your vacation, for those of you lucky enough not to have gone back to work yet. Heartbreak is the word, none other fits at this point. For Pedro Martinez to be on the disabled list and the summer slide under way for the Sox after a start that held such false promise, it’s just not fair. What else is new?

Yes, there is a long way to go. No, it won’t matter if the season is extended to December, the Sox will battle and probably finish third. One man still cannot win a championship in any sport, even if Michael Jordan tried to prove otherwise. The only sports to be won by one person are those that are played by one person such as Tiger Woods.

The Sox are not looking for a hole-in-one, even if they are digging a hole for themselves. They did not have enough to start with. Anyone who put stock in Sports Illustrated picking them to win it all knew they needed help after they read that story and their adrenaline started to flow.

Toronto has enough to win the AL East. Carlos Delgado for MVP! The Yankees need help now in their starting rotation and they need a closer. The White Sox have already put away the AL Central and surprised everyone, including themselves.

Apparently it was not Mike Hargrove’s fault the Indians couldn’t win a championship, but it might be his fault Baltimore can’t win anything, at least in the eyes of that wacky ownership group.

The AL West will be a race, but what a classy group of leaders the Seattle Mariners have in Edgar Martinez, John Olerud and Alex Rodriguez. What luck that they do not have Ken Griffey Jr. They should win the AL West. See what happens with you’re good to the baseball gods and blow up indoor baseball parks and replace them with open air and real grass.

The Braves and the Mets will battle it out again in the NL East and that will not change. Both teams need bullpen help and the Mets could use a shortstop with starter Rey Ordonez out for the year. Maine’s Mike Bordick is one the Mets are looking at, but unless they can also get one of the Baltimore starters in the deal it probably won’t happen.

The Cardinals, like the White Sox, have the NL Central wrapped up. They have healthy pitchers to go with a team that no longer waits for McGwire to hit home runs. Those two changes from last year make them a winner in a city nuts about baseball anyway, and getting crazier. The NL West will be a race that the Diamondbacks will win if their pitchers stay healthy.

The Houston Astros are the bomb of the first half. They can do nothing right. This is not fair to manager Larry Dierker. He’s as good a manager as there is, but not even the big stars on his club can get it right. See what happens when you don’t blow up an indoor baseball park when you replace it with open air and real grass.

How about Seattle and the Mets in the World Series? That would be a little different. The Braves’ pitching staff is showing its age but may have enough left win one more. The Mets are a better team right now.

It will not be a bad thing to see some new faces in the playoffs, and that should happen this year. It’s just too bad some of them aren’t going to be wearing Red Sox uniforms.

NEWS columnist Gary Thorne, an Old Town native, is an ESPN and CBS broadcaster.