Post All Star Game Thoughts

[LookinUp]

2. Home Field Advantage should not be decided in an All Star Game.

6. It was great to see the players on both sides standing late in the game. They cared about who won.

These two points are sort of contradictory. Am I the only one who appreciated watching the best in the world actually trying to win an all-star game? I love that it matters. Players like Pete Rose don't come around often enough for an exhibition to be as good as these games have become.

Did anyone notice Sheets drop the F-bomb on camera when he walked a guy? How about Volquez' expression after the bomb?

Obviously people don't want to look bad on TV, but adding meaning to this game has added to the level of competition and, thus, it's better for fans.

[davearm]

That looked like the "old Miggy" everyone talks about.

The thought, "HR ties it" flashed in my head about 2 seconds before Drew confirmed.

It'd have been interesting to see if the pitch 1-2 pitch to Longoria in the 8th is called a strike if Martin frames it rather than jumping out of his crouch to fire to 2B.

Aaron Cook -- wow that was some clutch pitching.

Lots of guys brought some serious heat last night... heck even Dempster dialed one or two up around 97.

AL rules work better for this event. Imagine the mess Francona and Hurdle would've had managing the pitching staffs if they were in the hitting lineup.

The AL's MVP was Dan Uggla. 3K's and a GIDP to go with the 3 E's. Ugh is right.

[Mike B]

These two points are sort of contradictory. Am I the only one who appreciated watching the best in the world actually trying to win an all-star game? I love that it matters. Players like Pete Rose don't come around often enough for an exhibition to be as good as these games have become.

Did anyone notice Sheets drop the F-bomb on camera when he walked a guy? How about Volquez' expression after the bomb?

Obviously people don't want to look bad on TV, but adding meaning to this game has added to the level of competition and, thus, it's better for fans.

The fact that the players care does not contradict the fact that the game should not decide home field. Point being it makes the managers take risk with players not thiers and in Hurdle's case most likely not something that he even will have to worry about.

My point was it was nice to see the players taking pride in their league.

[Mike B]

That looked like the "old Miggy" everyone talks about.

The thought, "HR ties it" flashed in my head about 2 seconds before Drew confirmed.

It'd have been interesting to see if the pitch 1-2 pitch to Longoria in the 8th is called a strike if Martin frames it rather than jumping out of his crouch to fire to 2B.

Aaron Cook -- wow that was some clutch pitching.

Lots of guys brought some serious heat last night... heck even Dempster dialed one or two up around 97.

AL rules work better for this event. Imagine the mess Francona and Hurdle would've had managing the pitching staffs if they were in the hitting lineup.

The AL's MVP was Dan Uggla. 3K's and a GIDP to go with the 3 E's. Ugh is right.

.

I agree with a lot of what you pointed out. I felt sorry for Uggla but he was pretty bad. It was a real good game.

[davearm]

The fact that the players care does not contradict the fact that the game should decide home field. Point being it makes the managers take risk with players not theirs and in Hurdle's case most likely not something that he even will have to worry about.

My point was it was nice to see the players taking pride in their league.

It's worth pointing out that Hurdle rode his own pitcher the hardest (Aaron Cook).

I thought that was pretty admirable, anyway.

[Mike B]

It's worth pointing out that Hurdle rode his own pitcher the hardest (Aaron Cook).

I thought that was pretty admirable, anyway.

Yeah, I thought Hurdle handled his first AS game fairly well. Cook's 3 innings thanks to Uggla were tough ones or he may have squeezed another inning out of him. As an AL fan I was not happy about his Houdini act with the bases loaded but I loved his reaction when he got the third out. I am one that does not like to see a player embarassed so I also felt good for Uggla when Cook bailed him out. Uggla came real close to a Bill Buckner type memory. To my original post, the MLB AS game is the only AS game (IMO) that is worth a darn.

[Boston Dave]

That was Zambrano not Volquez.

Touche. I was thinking I didn't think Manny was anywhere around when EV got in. Cut me some slack...it was a long game, and work came early this am ;-)

And A.Ramirez was laughing as if he though Zambrano did something amusing...I still think it was intentional.

[BaltimoreTerp]

That was Zambrano not Volquez.

Soto probably told him to do it as revenge for leaving that bat for him to slip on in the first :laughlol:

Hey Dave, how loud did you scream when you saw that

[davearm]

Soto probably told him to do it as revenge for leaving that bat for him to slip on in the first :laughlol:

Hey Dave, how loud did you scream when you saw that

It was all over with before I got a chance to worry.