All-Star Musings

Another All-Star Game is in the bag...and it was shorter and better than the Home Run Derby. I was able to sit down, enjoy several adult beverages...then several more, and watched the game with two people who were able to put up with my ramblings. I didn't write them all down but here are a few thought I had during the game and after...

-Good camera angle on the Obama throw Fox. Props to the President for repping his favorite team and being a really really likable guy. No props on shorting the throw on what looked like an eephus pitch. Nice scoop Albert.

-Comparing lineups...there is no comparison. HanRam, Utley, TBPIB (The Best Player In Baseball, Mr. Pujols), Braun...Ichiro, Jeter, Mauer, Teixeira...I'm taking that first one every time.

-Tim Lincecum was as wild as his hair...for a few batters. Giving up a single to Ichiro is nothing to look down on, but then he plunks Jeter(and the nub of the bat) gives up a few more hits, and it looked like his night might be over. Then he comes in for the second and goes 1-2-3, even though 2 was Roy Halladay, and looks like the guy everyone loves to watch. Hey, at least this year wasn't too hung over to play.

-Jeter made a great play on the error by Pujols, and so did Joe Mauer. Mauer effectively shielded the ball from Pujols which led to the error and the Jeter scored from 2nd on a ball that never left the infield.

-Roy Halladay was the opposite. In control, throwing pitches that were impossible to get decent wood on...and then he had 2 outs in the bottom of the 2nd, and he unraveled/the NL's filthy line up woke up and tagged him for 3 runs.

-The AL Pitchers sat down 18 NL batters in a row until Joe Nathan walked Adrian Gonzalez. My favorite outs..Greinke freezing David Wright with a nice curveball away and the 3 outs each by Buehrle and Jackson that took 9 and 4 pitches respectively. What does this say about the AL v. NL debate? It means that the AL is not just a superior league based on interleague play and various other metrics designed by really smart people to measure the leagues, the AL is also good enough to beat the NL down by throwing 5 straight perfect innings even with Charlie Manuel keeping his murderer's row in for 3 at-bats. Freaking Awesome.

-The middle of the game, except for the Mauer double to drive in Jeter, was great pitching a great defense. Pujols put on a clinic at first base (excluding the ball he booted) and the AL pitching stole the game. I thought it was going to go into extra innings at this point and was worried that I would run out of beer by the end of the game.

-As the body count on my table grew and grew I started to notice two things. One was that there were almost no strike outs during the game, which speaks to the hitters being better and the pitchers knowing they have all stars behind them and were pitching for crappy contact. The other thing was that this game was managed differently than past All-Star Games. That may not be true, but it seemed like this one was taken seriously. So seriously, that Charlie Manuel made himself look like a giant ass by intentionally walking Victor Martinez. I'm glad the NL lost after that because that was cowardly.

-Where was Tim Wakefield? I understand that the game was close and that at any moment the knuckleball can lead to a disaster of an inning...but really Joe Maddon? Let the guy pitch, it's the goddamn All-Star Game, not game 7.

-Carl Crawford was a deserving MVP. Jonathan Papelbon needs to throw a pitch other than a fastball.

-Ryan Howard gets one at bat...and looks like a little leaguer who saw a curveball for the first time. The swing was as ugly as anything I have ever seen, but not as bad as Kruk swinging at Randy Johnson's slider. Seriously Ryan, the ball was in the dirt and about a foot inside.

-Mo Rivera had a nice 1-2-3 inning. Always nice to see him on the mound closing a game for the AL.

All in all it was a good time watching the game and a good game to watch. It had everything an All Star Game needs- pitching, hitting, great glove work, great base running, and it was competitive the entire time.