The National League won the 82nd All-Star Game in Arizona last night, defeating the American League by a score of 5-1. It’s the second straight win for the NL after not winning the previous 13. (We have to include that ridiculous tie in 2002 in the record books, hope Uncle Bud enjoys seeing that beauty from time to time.) Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder picked up the Ted Williams MVP Trophy for his game-winning three run home run in the bottom of the 4th inning. Boston’s Adrian Gonzalez contributed the only AL run of the evening with a solo blast off Cliff Lee in the top of the inning.
Tyler Clippard picked up the win for the Nationals with his one recorded out in the third, which coincidentally is the second straight year a Nationals pitcher got the win for the NL (Matt Capps recorded the victory last year.) The NL pitching dominated as Bruce Bochy used ten pitchers and only one (Lee) allowed more than one hit in his appearance. On the AL side, Texas pitcher CJ Wilson got credit for the L. Eccentric Giants closer Brian Wilson (more on him in a bit) picked up the save for the NL, which has gifted homefield advantage to one of its teams for the World Series in the most nonsensical and logically flimsy way possible. Congrats.
In all seriousness, the entire atmosphere of last night’s World Series game was farcical. Sure, you had some touching moments like the Stand Up To Cancer campaign and the honoring of Daniel Hernandez (the intern of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords who acted heroically in the shooting) and the family of Christina Taylor-Green (the girl tragically killed in the same Tuscon shooting). And yet, the wide majority of the night felt more like a sideshow than something to be taken seriously and a game that was supposed to count.
We can start with Fox’s widely panned coverage. Can we please invoke the best interests of baseball clause and get baseball games on a new network? Fox made ESPN look as humble as Gandhi with their shameless self-promotion last night. We had an endless pregame involving an awful ad for Simon Cowell’s new show (which looks suspiciously like American Idol but isn’t American Idol). Then, we had an awkward interview between Mark Grace and Justin Timberlake, where one or both of them may have been drunk. Finally, there was the stylings of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, which you can Twitter search to see how America feels about baseball’s top broadcasting duo.
Finally, you had the antics of two NL West closers – Brian Wilson and Heath Bell. Nothing says “This Time It Counts” like Heath Bell sprinting and then sliding into the grass at the pitchers mound. The WTF reaction of the NL infielders was priceless. Is that the message baseball wants to send about this All-Star Game actually meaning something? Imagine if he would have torn a knee ligament or twisted an ankle. That would have been fun.
Fox milked all they could out of Wilson’s bizarre personality with his intro of the starting lineups and awesome postgame interview with Erik Karros. In truth, guys like Heath Bell and Brian Wilson should be what the ASG is about these days – having fun, not taking it too seriously, and enjoying the exhibition for the fans. Instead, we’re caught up in a dumb, manufactured Derek Jeter controversy and the lunacy of deciding the World Series on a contest that had a total of 40 substitutions. Either everyone gets to play like it’s Little League and MLB goes full bore into embracing its exhibition nature, or we should treat it like a serious game of baseball. It can’t work as both and the confusing message baseball sends to fans leads us to wonder what it is we’re watching in the MidSummer Classic.
Dugout Digest thanks you for your time with the greatest tip of the cap in recorded history…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=krkDa1CbkLI
