On a brighter note, the Bums lost too 
My Dodgers and your Giants have been pacing each other pretty exactly the past few weeks. I’m ready for someone to make a move.
As long as it results in my Bums widening their lead…
So if every AL All-Star starter is a Royal, should the commissioner step in and do something about it?
There is of course some precedent for this, and it’s shaping up to be, frankly, stupid. God bless Omar Infante, but come on.
Of course, I must, as I always do, stress that I think fans should vote on All-Stars. Fan voting raises fan interest, and the game is after all about presenting entertainment to the fans. The problem here is not that fans can vote, it’s that the system for voting, where you create an email address and get 35 (for some reason) votes, encourages people to cheat and, probably in this case, cheat using some sort of automated program that votes for you. There simply isn’t any way, really, that the insane vote totals are just individual KC fans being especially motivated.
Being surprised that this system is yielding a stupid result is exactly like if you set up a system for running Presidential elections where people could not only vote online but vote as many times as they wanted, and then being surprised when the results were wonky. What the hell do you expect is going to happen?
You’re referring to 1957. Commissioner Frick used his plenary power to replace a couple of the Reds who had been ballot-stuffed onto the field.
Should the commissioner step in and do something about the 2015 All Star Game? No. Gotta live with your own rules.
Should the voting system be changed? Yes. I don’t know if it’s 1 vote per IP address or back to voting in stadiums only somehow. I just know the current system is dumb and has been dumb ever since they allowed the online voting.
Lorenzo Cain is the only Kansas City player who deserves to be a starter.
Mike Trout will start in the outfield and he should be joined by Cain and Jose Bautista.
Donaldson should be at third, Iglesias at short, Kipnis at second and Miguel Cabrera at first. Eric Hosmer is a good player, but starting over Cabrera? He shouldn’t even be ahead of Mark Teixeira on the depth chart.
Steven Vogt should be the catcher and Nelson Cruz the DH. I would happily penalize Cruz for being a P.E.D. user, but A-Rod is the second best DH this year so screw that.
That’s nine players from seven teams. Much more in line with how the system should work.
Obviously, it’s just an exhibition game so I can’t get upset about it. On the other hand, I won’t be watching although I usually catch at least part of the game.
Speaking as a Blue Jays fan I could be very easily convinced that Jose Bautista should not start, but Russell Martin should.
Jose’s great and all but it’s not his best year ever.
Somewhere Bud Selig is smiling. 1) That he doesn’t have to deal with this crap, 2) That some other guy is getting blamed for a clusterfuck involving the All Star Game.
Crazy Cubs game , win 17-0. Two position players pitched for the Indians. I’ve been following baseball for a long time and even with these larger bullpens in current MLB rosters, it seems like we have more position players pitching in lost cause games.
great game for the Cubs
Kris Bryant gets his first career grand slam against a LF
I’m all for letting an entire All-Star team be Royals. Then everybody will see how stupid the whole game is and maybe baseball will drop it in favor of three days off for everybody. Stupid game, especially now that we have inter-league play. Make it look like the joke it is and everybody wins.
For perhaps the first time ever, I completely and wholeheartedly agree with a baseball-related statement of yours.
So Carlos Correa is pretty good. Apparently.
There is value in the All Star Game. I think it’s fun for the most part. To be honest, even with the baseball ASG problems, it’s still the best one among major sports. The problem is this “make it count” attitude but at the same time you have this crap with the voting and the rule that every team must be represented. Not every team has an All Star caliber player.
0-0, bottom of the 9th, 2 out and the Dodgers win on a balk. Kiki Hernandez fakes a break from third and it’s enough to break Kela’s motion. Nobody argued the call either. Ugly win, but we’ll take it!
Seen here, with Keone Kela committing his first major league balk, and Texas pitching coach Mike Maddux perhaps remembering what it’s like to be 22. Per the postgame comments, third base coach Lorenzo Bundy told pinch runner Kike Hernández to fake running home so as to distract the rookie pitcher. This was the last TEX-LAD matchup this year. The Rangers will later play the Giants, D’Backs, Padres, and Angels, so Kela learned at the right time for Dodgers fans.
Baltimore’s demotion of Wei-Yin Chen has been somewhat fascinating. They optioned him to A ball citing “general soreness” but he says he’s good to go. The truth is they don’t want him facing the red hot Blue Jays in Toronto. Dan Duquette basically said as much. I don’t understand why they’d waste an option just to skip one start, though. And I do understand why Chen is upset.
Well, yeah, that is dumb. Put him the 15-day DL back dated to whenever, or, you know, just skip the start citing “general soreness”. There is no rule saying you can’t change your rotation.
Which would lead me to think there is something actually wrong that they need to work on.
Something in his head, most likely - sending a guy down to A ball for reasons other than a tuneup coming off the DL is more often a disciplinary measure, something to shock the guy into realizing he still has to work hard and staying on the big club roster is not a given.
I appreciate that the Blue Jays can absolutely rake - they sure did a number on Eduardo Rodriguez, who looked unhittable until they tore into him - but if Chen is good enough to start, he’s good enough to start. By definition, his replacement must be worse than he is. If the replacement isn’t worse then Chen shouldn’t have been in the rotation in the first place. But obviously he should have been, he’s pitching very well, as he always has.
Yeah, the Jays are brutal on pitchers. They are REALLY brutal on lefties; they hit over .300 against them with serious power. But obviously they aren’t invincible, starters have had good games against them and beaten them this year, and you’d think a 29-year old first rate starter in his fourth year in the big leagues is as good an option as you’ve got. I don’t get this at all.
Chen is quite justifiable in feeling insulted unless, as Elvisl1ves suggests, there is an issue to which we are not privy, be it a disciplinary issue or an injury Chen refuses to admit (and athletes will do that.) If it’s not one of those two things it’s amazingly stupid, which leads me to believe it MUST be one of those two things because Dan Duquette is not amazingly stupid.
What’s interesting about this of course is that if Chen has a minor injury this is a neat work-around, rosterwise. If Chen goes on the DL you lose him for 15 days, which is a minimum of two starts if you time it as well as you possibly can. A minor league option, however, allows you to recall him in 10 days, which means he can miss just one start.