Somebody Get a rope.
**It’s not supposed to be an All-First-Half Game, as it’s become. **
With the exception of the “gotta pick a Pirate, Royal and Indian” rule, who do you have exception with? Who was left out that needed to go? Maybe Chipper, I guess.
It’s not supposed to be a Home Advantage in the World Series, as it’s become.
“Not supposed to be”? What’s that mean? What in the world does giving home field advantage to the winner do to the game? Answer: Absolutely nothing. Quit bitching.
It’s not supposed to be a Put-Everyone-in-the-Game-by-the-8th-inning, as it’s become.
- It’s ALWAYS been that way.
- It’s been much better about that since…they started making it about home field advantage! Check the box score from last night, and tell me why Girardi didn’t put his star 3B in the game, but instead went with Ty Wiggington. Or his All World closer. Or CC.
**It’s a game, an All-Star Game, and making sure that some 3rd rate pitcher faces a 4th rate batter in the fifth–because they have to get in the game–is bullshit. **
A 4th rate batter in the All Star Game? When. Please - tell us the last time this has happened.
I’m not interested anymore. I’m a baseball fan; I love baseball on my TV. Not tonight, thank you so much.
Nope. Someone will be by shortly to confiscate your membership card.
What’s on Turner Classic Movies?
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Please, someone, talk Tim McCarver into retiring. The doofus gets Joe Girardi in an interview between innings, and what does Tim do? He asks Girardi if he happens to know who a player was renting a house from? Kudos to Girardi for not snorting and asking back “who the hell cares?” And FOX, did you really want to illustrate Guererro’s habit of swinging at anything with a montage of him doing so with a background vocal of “Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes?”
In 2003, the very first year the ASG was tied to WS home-field, a guy from the Rangers hit a home run off a guy from the Dodgers to give the Yankees home-field advantage over the Marlins.
If the powers that be didn’t realize how ridiculous the rule was then, I have little hope it will change anytime soon.
But it was worth it, to hear Joe Buck take a swipe at FOX’s self-promotion by asking “Was that the cast of Glee singing that song?” 
Hank Blalock, recently released by the Rays. I notice the Marlins also beat the Yankees in that series.
Musta been because Clemens blew his arm out throwing those 15 pitches because the manager didn’t have any self-control since the game “meant something”.
Without doing a ton of digging, I noticed that Ichiro and Jeter led off the ASG 1-2 for the last 5 years. Any other pair with 6 or more?
If I woke up commissioner tomorrow, FOX and ESPN would be legally required to start their primetime games at 7:05 and the broadcasts would be called by the play-by-play guys for both teams. Postseason games especially. What time was the first pitch, 8:45?
The reason the home field advantage is stupid is because it forces the managers to play for something. So instead of getting everyone in there to throw some mean sliders or knock some out of the park, they have to play strategically, which isn’t what I came for. The result: Albert Pujols doesn’t even get to play.
Had LaRussa not been going for it all, had that game not counted for anything, you would have seen the best right-handed hitter of all time come up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs.
LaRussa used 28 players in that game. Are you trying to suggest he was holding back? It didn’t have fuck-all to do with the game “meaning something” - it had to do with holding a single positional player back in case the game went extra innings (which it did the year before and the teams ran out of position players, so Selig had to call the game a tie - a far greater travesty than Pujols’ own manager not putting him in the game). The article you link to gives an extremely thorough reasoning of why LaRussa did what he did - did you even read it?
Don’t modify text in attributed quote tags, please. If you want to do a “Fixed” type post, don’t attribute the quote to someone who didn’t post that exact text.
Well, I thought it was funny.
I thought that was high-larious.
As for the OP (and I know I’m not the first to say this), you’ve got it a bit confused. When the game means something to the Series, then there’s good reason for the managers to play to win – esp. since pennant-winning managers are usually still in contention the following July.
Baseball has the best all-star game in sports because it’s an exhibition game that doesn’t play like one. There’s a lot of reasons for this, some quite old, but the “this time it counts” program has helped. (Also a factor – the AL streak. It meant the NL players were really digging for the pride of their league, and the AL players worked just as hard in response.)
As for the actual game last night, it was a great game to watch – those pitching performances were so hot, and because of that it was quite zippy. And finally the Senior Circuit wins one!!!
–Cliffy
Has anyone leaked what sort of shennanigans Ichiro got into before the game started? He’s traditionally given the AL pregame motivational speech the last few years, and they’ve been curse-filled tirades that takes everyone totally off guard.
Fixed.
But no, really, I’ll stop doing it. It’s comedy gold when it’s done right, though.
How much of the boredom is due to Joe Buck announcing the game?
I wouldn’t trade you one baseball game for the entire history of the NFL.
Ditto. Make that “including Minor League games, for the entire history of the NFL and the SEC.”
I was including Little League, softball, and pickup games, too.
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Oh man. Prolly good thing you’re on the Left Coast then. I’ll notify the border guards to let you enter home again when you certify that you have genuflected towards Tuscaloosa, and sought forgiveness from the Bear.
You misunderstand. I’m giving you my baseball, in exchange for your football. More of what you like for you, more of what I like for me. Win-win.
The downside being I don’t own MLB, or any other league, and vice versa for you and football.