honestly, i think i’m giving up on watching the all-star game. probably not really. i’m sure i’ll watch next year. but right now, i can’t imagine watching it.
it’s an exercise in frustration.
if you missed last night’s game, the american league won 3-2. the national league had a 2-1 lead, in the ninth inning, with two outs and two strikes on the last hitter. and trevor frigging hoffmann, the vaunted san diego closer, couldn’t get the third strike.
he instead gave up a two-run triple to blow the save and lose the game.
there are multiple issues to discuss here. the first, i guess, is that the issue is less that trevor hoffmann blew the save than phil garner (the national league coach) sent in a closer who relies not on powerful fastballs but on offspeed pitches, and then didn’t send in defensive specialists to back him up. miguel cabrera misplayed what should have been the third out. if scott rolen had been in, like he should have been, the game is over and the national league wins.
next up is the inherent stupidity of giving the winner of the all-star game world series home field advantage. the american league, because it doesn’t play real baseball and instead fields the abomination known as the designated hitter, has a built-in advantage because they have a bigger pool of offensive stars from which to pull. i understand that you can’t have the pitchers hitting in the alternate-year national league-based all-star games–the game is for all of the fans and god forbid a yankees fan should be made to watch a pitcher actually play the game as god intended.
but, given that, the american league is always going to have an advantage, and that is unfair. so give world series home field advantage to the team with the best record.
duh.
finally, i’d like to point out to everyone that, but for the mets players on the national league team, we wouldn’t be having this discussion at all. they provided nearly all of the offense and all of the scoring for the national league. david wright’s home run, and carlos beltran’s double, followed by stealing third, followed by scoring on a wild pitch. and beltran got into scoring position on second base in the bottom of the ninth, against mariano rivera no less, and no one could bring him, the tying run, home.
either wright or beltran would have been the all-star mvp.
should have been.
two outs. two strikes. top of the ninth. one run lead.
aaaaaargh. i’m still fuming.