We, in the valley of the sun, have been blessed with quality little league baseball as evidenced by the success of Chandler National in 2004 and 2007. You can't forget the nice run that Ahwautkee had last year, losing in the U.S. semifinals.
Let me preface my following commentary by saying I love little league baseball and played it myself. I have wonderful memories of playing in Northern California. My son was also an eager participant in little league baseball. I hopefully passed on the great tradition of baseball to my son as we share a love of the sport.
That brings us to how this game of 11 and 12 year olds has evolved over the years. With the massive publicity, radio, television and newspaper coverage, the LLWS has turned into a major media event. These kids spend upwards of 2 weeks in the bright lights, their every move is documented on video and in print. Case in point, 2 players from Coon Rapids, Minnesota were caught on camera spitting on their hands and then shaking hands with Chandler National following their elimination from the series. You would have thought those 2 mischevious kids committed the crime of the century. I received an email from a viewer who identified the 2 Minnesota players by name and number, saying the players needed to be called out for bad sportsmanship. That same viewer was appalled. He added we should show the incident on CBS 5 to "teach these 2 knuckle heads a lesson". My response to that is, these are 11 and 12 year old kids and they do gross things and I'm sure in the rare privacy of their dorm rooms in Williamsport there are a lot worse instances of appalling behavior. On the positive side, because of television coverage, I saw one of the best catches at any level on day one when Michael Rando of Massachuetts took a home run away for the last out of that game. That highlight made sportscasts all over the nation for several days.
For this once in a lifetime experience most of these players are missing several weeks of school. In Chandler's defense, they are writing journals and spend a couple of hours studying daily. This fairy tale will eventually end by Sunday and I wonder what affect it will have on all of these talented players who will return to their normal lives of being kids.
I do know the LLWS is big business but is it too big for 11 and 12 year old's?

Gary Cruz
CBS 5 Sports Anchor
gcruz@kpho.com

Brandon Webb is flirting with baseball history. Tonight he will attempt to add to his amazing string of scoreless innings pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The record is 59 innings held by former Los Angeles Dodgers great Orel Hershiser. The previous record was 58 and 2/3 rds innings by another former Dodger great, Don Drysdale. Brandon is facing a red hot Milwaukee Brewers team that has scored 16 runs in their last 2 games against the Diamondbacks. Shutting them down would be remarkable but keep in mind he most recently shut out the Florida Marlins and the Atlanta Braves, 2 teams that can absolutely rake the baseball. As a matter of face he has thrown 3 consecutive shutouts.
The wife of the late Don Drysdale, Ann Meyers Drysdale, who is the General Manager of the Phoenix Mercury told me that luck played a huge part in her husbands streak as well as Hershiser's. Late in his streak, Drysdale actually hit a batter but the umpire ruled the batter moved into the pitch, thus the streak lived on. Hershiser's lived on when a very close play at the plate was called in his favor. During Webbs streak, I can think of a couple of Chris Young plays in center, a huge double play by Orlando Hudson and Steven Drew but for the most part, he's been dominating.
Keep in mind that the sinker ball genius is still 18 innings away from breaking the record. He'll need some of that luck to get there. If he doesn't and the Diamondbacks win, Brandon Webb will be very happy. There's no question he would love to record but he's genuinely a humble hero that always puts his team first and no, he didn't pay me a dime to write that.

Gary Cruz - CBS 5 Sports Anchor
gcruz@kpho.com