MLB All-Star Game

Pittsburgh’s beautiful PNC Park played host to another Major League Baseball All-Star Game this past week and yet another victory for the American League. For those of you who have lost count, that’s nine consecutive wins (not counting the tie 2002). That means the last time that the National League won was in Philadelphia in 1996. To give you a better historical understanding, here’s a look back into the life of the United States the last time the N.L. came out on top. The average price for a gallon of gasoline was roughly around $1.31. Bill Clinton was our President. Michael Jordan was dominating the NBA. And the craziness that is Under Armour, the i-Pod and Paris Hilton was still in the distant future. All this leads to the question as to why the A.L. is winning every year and after watching plenty of Baseball Tonight with Tim Kirkjuin, Harold Reynolds and the gang the answer seems to be a big “I don’t know.” So with that said we skip that conversation, which is sure to lead to nowhere, and get on to the actual game itself.
In recent years the All-Star game has become just another arena for the critics of the game to make noise. We hear everything from is just an old tradition form a bygone era to it’s just a worthless game that no one takes seriously. But when the lineups are announced right before game time and you see all the different uniform colors and those great ballplayers come together on a pristine summer evening it should make you forget about everything else. People should relax and enjoy watching a bunch of future Hall-of-Famers play for a few hours. All these noise makers seemed to be more concerned with “correcting” the game than just sitting a watching a game they grew up with their whole life. There is a time to fix the problems in the game. It’s called the Winter Meetings. Lets keep the All-Star game as what it should be: a game. I loved what Phil Garner told his players before the game. “We’re not going to use signs. If you want to steal a base, then steal a base. Just go out and play.” His counterpart however was classic form about all sorts of things. When asked about whether he would play all his players, Ozzie Guillen responded by saying “If you’re unhappy about not playing, then make the team next year.” Love him or hate him, the White Sox skipper is always entertaining if not a little soft under the surface. The only guy he didn’t play was his own, catcher A.J. Pierzynski.
It’s still kind of crazy how the A.L. keeps winning year after year but the N.L. did have a legitimate chance this time. Brad Penny set the mood in the first two innings throwing fastballs that were hitting the upper 90’s and was not afraid to get up in the zone; he even played a little chin music to Derek Jeter. Penny did well retiring six out of the seven batters he faced including striking out the side in the first inning. But the one guy he did not retire was Vladimir Guerrero. He had gotten by with throwing up in the zone until he forgot that the Angel’s slugger’s strike zone was from the top of his shoe laces to the 67th story of the Empire State Building. The bare-handed Guerrero made him pay with a pitch even with his jaw by going opposite field with a solo home run to open the scoring in the 2nd inning.
But the A.L.’s joy was short lived. David Wright quickly equaled the score with a home run of his own taking Kenny Rogers deep to left field in the top of the 2nd. One has to start to believe that the man from Shea is quickly becoming the best 3rd baseman in New York (sorry to Steinbrenner and his $250 man). The N.L. then took the lead in the next inning when Carlos Beltran scored on a Roy Halladay passed ball. And so the score remained 2-1 until the top of the 9th when the Padre’s Trevor Hoffman came in to close the deal. The N.L. must have thought this would be their year especially with the man on the mound second on the all-time list of saves with 460, but the A.L. rallied yet again. Jose Lopez (as a pinch runner for Paul Konerko) and then Troy Glaus both found their way on base before Texas’ Michael Young tripled to the gap to score them both and give the A.L. a 3-2 lead. It was now up to another great closer to try to get the job done. And yes, Mariano Rivera did. Besides Lopez’s fielding error at third base, it was another perfect outing for the Yankee’s closer with four batters faced and three retired with ease. The A.L. had comeback leaving the N.L. scratching their heads once again.
So farewell to another Mid-Summer Classic, may you come again next year and please don’t forget to bring that childhood joy with you that sometimes this game needs so badly.