All-Star Game Open Thread: July 10, 2007

Last win: Dizzy Dean 1937

Last game MVP: Stan the Man 1948

So, final score:

AL 13
NL 2

Really if there is one place that the DH should be used it's the Allstar game. It's like field goal kickers in the pro bowl. Does America really need to see Haren bat? Isn't it unfair for a player on the bench to be burned in the 2nd inning?

Everyone is going out for the 3rd and the pitcher hitter is told "Hey thanks for playing. You want a beer or something?"

A couple of interesting comments:

First, from Haren -- "Asked why he is having a breakout season, Haren said, "primarily, because I'm keeping the ball down. You can take into account a lot of factors but pitching becomes simple if you throw most of your pitches below belt level.""  You listening, Anthony?

Second, "While La Russa stopped short of saying the deal has been a bad one for the Cardinals, he did admit that it still burns highly regarded pitching coach Dave Duncan. "Dave Duncan and I have been together for a long time, been friends for a long time, and it's probably the closest to disrupting our relationship that it's ever been when we made the trade because Dave was adamant that he wanted Dan to be part of the Cardinals' future," La Russa said. "He was young and we asked more of him than we really should have at the time. We were all very impressed with his competitiveness, his toughness, and obviously his stuff. We really liked him. Dave really loved him and we're not surprised by his success.""

Interesting that Duncan thought so highly of Haren.  He was, obviously, correct.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6435

1. Pregame intros Cal starts with Hey im cal ripken this is how great i was...Ozzie just reads the lineup(ya i knwo maybe they told cal to do it)
2. ON XM he was there being interviewd and was asked at short who excites him..He mentioned Reyes and Vizquel, then went back to Reyes...said reyes has the potential to be Great but wonders if he will work at it He said at one time in NY york they werepretty excited about Rey ordonez, who had similar potential, but never put it to work...interesting comments, but not sure Rey had the hype that Reyes does...

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7009112

But the only player NOT to hit for the NL tonight was ALBERT PUJOLS?

I'm sick to my stomach.

Hopefully not, maybe it was decided last night he wouldn't hit?  

Now I am worried.

LaRussa is saving him for extras in case of an injury

That's it. Are these plausible?

If Tony didn't play Albert for some stupid reason, EVERY NL team in contention deserves some answers.

1 AB wouldn't hurt a thing.  So either Albert...

1. Is sore/hurt and asked not to play.
2. Or Tony is a just a moron.

/sarcasm

Really?!?

Because if it does count like you say. then Albert better be suffering form a gun shot wound.

Maybe he's under strict orders to do so from Bud in order to avoid another fiasco.

Rowand's line isn't much different than Pujols' this year:

        avg  hr  rbi  obp   slg
Rowand  .310  11  43  .385  .478
Pujols  .310  16  52  .411  .516


Remember a base hit wins it; getting on base ties it.  So Pujols doesn't give the NL a better chance of winning but arguably increases the NL's chance of a tie by 2.6%.  And since this game was in an NL stadium game, if we tied it, a pinch hitter would be nice in the next few innings.

To use an analogy pinch hitting Pujols for Rowand is the statistical equivilent (and likely the defensive consequence equivilent) of pinch hitting So Taguchi for Aaron Miles.

         avg  hr  rbi  obp   slg
Taguchi .293  2   15  .348  .377
Miles   .290  0   14  .328  .332

I wonder what everone here would say if So batted for Miles in a one run game without anyone else left on the bench...  I am pretty sure we'd ask: What was Tony thinking?

-No Royal has appeared in an All-Star Game since 2005.
-No Royal has appeared in the field since 2002.
-No Royal pitcher has appeared in the Game since 1999.
-No Royal has recorded an ASG hit since 1989.

http://www.royalsreview.com/story/2007/7/10/23532/0846

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AqxywBrevcmZjtSl_4.QqS.FCLcF?slug=ap-all-stars-pujolsupset& ;prov=ap&type=lgns

"It's the All-Star game. He can do what he wants," Pujols said Tuesday night. "He does whatever he wants. If I wasn't expecting to play, I wouldn't have come up here."
...
"If he wants to get upset, he can get upset," La Russa said. "Whatever he wants to do, he can do. It's America. That wasn't the most important thing tonight."

What's up with that? I know TLR wants to do everything to win, but it's hard understanding him holding Pujols out unless he's absurdly paranoid about the appearance of favoritism.

It's definitely not the ideal position to take toward your franchise player....

I can only imagine where he went.  I doubt he was injured, more than likely he went to get stretched out.

LaRussa in the postgame said that Albert had agreed to be his 10th inning utility guy.  That is bullshit.  LaRussa could have put Pujols in for Hudson.  LaRussa could have put Pujols in for Lee.  In either of those situations, he could have played 1st base or 3rd base in the next inning and Freddy Sanchez could have moved to 2nd or 3rd.

LaRussa wanted to waive his 'you know what' in everyone's faces for selecting Rowand over Byrnes.  He had HIS guy, the questionable choice that he had a 'gut feeling' about and he sent him up there.

I don't tune in to watch Aaron F'ing Rowand in the 9th inning with the bases loaded in the All-Star Game.  I want the most clutch hitter in this generation up there.

Tony had the opportunity to give us a memorable All-Star moment.  A Ted Williams moment if you will.  Instead, he gave us another 'Crazy Tony' moment.

His 'I am the smartest man in the room' stuff gets old.

But I'll say this..If Albert and Tony become like Rolen and Tony last year during the post season (not talking to each other) there is no way will will make a run for it the rest of the season and Tony just punched his ticket out of St. Louis.

But now there is another subplot within the Cards' clubhouse that was unnecessary.

That said, I don't pay much attention to all the post game furor...you'd expect a competitor like AP to be pissed at not playing, you'd expect an old school manager like TLR to try and wave it off, and you'd expect the media to try and find a story and stir up the sh*t, so none of this is exactly breaking news...it's just frustrating that  the NL had a real good chance to win the game, and  we did not utilize our best chance to do just that.

Pujols: .313/.593/.563/1.156,  5 for 16 with 1 HR and 8 RBI, 10 walks (5 IBB)
Rowand: .395/.500/.605/1.105, 15 for 38 with 2 HR and 19 RBI, 6 walks.

Late and close -

Pujols: .385/.520/.744/1.264, 15 for 39 with 4 HR and 13 RBI, 11 walks (6 IBB)
Rowand: .489/.537/.766/1.303, 23 for 47 with  2 HR and 10 RBI, 5 walks.

I can see why LaRussa wasn't eager to replace Rowand with Pujols.  I don't agree with it, but it wasn't a totally baseless non-move.