I hate this time of the year.
Pennant races are heating up, player slow starts are a thing of the past and
the trade deadline looms. Then right in the middle of all this excitement,
baseball takes 5 days off for a couple of exhibitions and a contest. These are
the longest 5 days of my life.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I
like the All Star Game. It meant more to me as a kid because you got to see
players from the other league that you might never see. However now with
interleague baseball, that shine is gone. It messes up the flow of the season.
They play a futures game, with minor league prospects, which has potential but
has not caught my interest yet. The home-run hitting contest had a chance but
is ruined by two things. It is too long with little action and Chris Berman
(ESPN) announces it. If I hear “back, back, back, gone” one more time I will
puke. I am willing to entertain any and all suggestions on how to improve the
homer contest. By the way, how could MLB put Robbie Cano in a position to be
booed during his entire at bat? The obvious solution would be an automatic
berth for the hometown hitter most deserving of being in the home run derby.
The game itself, boring I’m
afraid. This whole “now the game counts” is ridiculous. Give the home field to
the league champion who has the better record, if they tie then maybe go to
interleague play or play against their divisional rivals. The thought that an
All Star game decides home field is the equivalent of a shootout deciding the
soccer World Cup Champion. Nope, dumb ideas, both.
Is it Friday yet?
PINCH HITS
I thought I would mention a
few All Star moments that stick in my mind…
- Fenway Park, 1999 - in the
first round, Mark McGwire hit a 488-foot shot beyond the Green Monster clearing
the street, soared over a parking garage and hit a billboard above the train
tracks, right next to the never-reached Massachusetts Turnpike. BusinessBoy and
I watched in amazement and yelled louder than the fans present
-2002 Twins center fielder
Torii Hunter made an incredible catch to rob single-season home run champ Barry
Bonds of a homer in the bottom of the first inning. I had turned on the TV just
in time to see this catch
-The 2002 MLB All-Star Game resulted
in a 7-7 tie after 11 innings, and both teams had run out of players and
pitchers. I chanted Bud Selig must go from then on.
-1983, Comiskey Park
highlighted by the only grand-slam home run in the history of the All-Star
Game, hit by California Angels center fielder Fred Lynn. When we played ball at
home, my brother was always Lynn because of his glove. This made it even
better.
-1993, John Kruk had an
at-bat against Randy Johnson of the Seattle Mariners and Kruk reacted like all
of us would have facing a 6'10" pitcher throwing 99 miles an hour. I
remember some people feeling that Kruk made a farce of the game. I figured he
was just scared shitless.
-1989 game when Bo Jackson took a Rick Reuschel pitch and
deposited it 448 feet away for a mammoth home run. I can still hear the bat hit
that ball, very, very cool.
-1971 Reggie Jackson came to
bat as a pinch-hitter for Oakland A’s starter Vida Blue and hit it on the roof
of Tigers Stadium into a light tower estimated at 520 feet. I missed this one
live but remember seeing a replay somewhere else later on and just marveling at
how far that ball went.
-1999 MLB Boston Red Sox
pitcher Pedro Martinez struck out 5 of the six men he faced with the other
being thrown out stealing on K number 5. I hated the Red Sox then, hate them
now but realize just what kind of history was being made here.
-Yankee Stadium, 2008 Josh Hamilton
hit 28 home runs in one round of the home run derby, each one seeming
longer than the last. Again, a mesmerizing performance even if he didn’t win
the derby.
See you in a few days!
No comments:
Post a Comment