2013 All-Star Game

[Farmer Ted]

Glad to see Carlos starting in the OF for the ASG.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Just two MFYs? With the game in New York? Verducci's head will explode.

What are the odds that at least one of these Yankee hacks demands that Jeter be named to the team as an honorary captain or something "for the good of baseball."

[stevejrogers]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Just two MFYs? With the game in New York? Verducci's head will explode. What are the odds that at least one of these Yankee hacks demands that Jeter be named to the team as an honorary captain or something "for the good of baseball."

Don't jinx it, Robertson is one of the AL Final Player candidates.

[stevejrogers]

Not to mention there are always players who are injured or backing out...

Shouldn't have said anything...any MFYers selected through the back door methods are ON YOUR HEAD!

[Frayed Knot]

bmfc1 wrote: Terry can pitch [Harvey] next Saturday and keep him on 4-day rest as Thursday is an off-day.

That sounds like what they're going to do.
If so I'd say it's almost certain that he starts the ASG

[bmfc1]

Which means that Harvey's next start is on FOX.

[G-Fafif]

Ken Levine has this All-Star Game business all figured out.

Major League Baseball just doesn�t get it. They never have. This is why Les Moonves needs to be the commissioner. MLB spends so much time arguing minutia that they miss the big picture. The latest raging controversy-over-nothing is this: Should Yasiel Puig play in the All-Star Game later this month? Yes, I know. Most of you are saying who�s Yasiel Puig? And how do you even pronounce his name? (It�s �Pweeg�) You will be among the majority of people not watching the All-Star Game, despite it�s claim that �that this time it means something.� So who is Yasiel Puig? He�s a young Cuban defector who joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in early June and turned in one the greatest single months any player has done over the last 140 years. That�s all. Record-breaking number of hits, monster home runs, spectacular catches, unbelievable throws, lightening speed. He has almost single-handedly turned the Dodgers� fortunes around. The only thing he hasn�t done is sung the national anthem. But many managers, and coaches, and executives don�t feel he should be in the All-Star Game because he�s only been on the scene for a month of the three-month season. His inclusion would tarnish the �integrity� of what it means to be an All-Star. Here�s the point they�re all missing: THIS IS JUST A FRIGGIN� TELEVISION SHOW. Nothing more. It's a spectacle. The Ice Capades with cleats. Who does the audience want to see? That's the ONLY question. Period. End of discussion. Statistics are meaningless. Time-of-service is meaningless. The game is meaningless! Hollywood understands this. When actors break out in movies or series they become All-Stars overnight. You think ABC told the producers of HAPPY DAYS to not use the Fonz so much because he�s taking too much screen time away from star Ronny Howard? You think Top 40 radio stations refused to play Justin Bieber because he was only 16 and hadn�t paid his dues? Or Neil Patrick Harris was forbidden from hosting the Tony Awards because he wasn�t on Broadway last season? GET REAL. My partner and I wrote a pilot for Fox once and we got the following note: "Add a hot babe. Make her a series regular." I asked: �To do what?� And they said, �We don�t care.� You gotta applaud their honesty. They knew why people watched Fox. Had we said, "But a hot babe will just destroy the integrity of our concept" they'd have laughed at us. For many baseball fans, Yasiel Puig is the ONLY reason they�d want to watch the All-Star Game. You think they�re tuning in to hear Tim McCarver prattle on incessantly about nothing? Or to see the big rivalry between the American and National League? Now that there�s so much interleague play the leagues have been blurred to the point where there no longer is any real novelty of seeing the AL and NL compete. In a desperate attempt to fool the fans into thinking the game actually means something (after it ended one year in a tie when they embarrassingly ran out of players), the winning league gets home field advantage in the World Series. No one gives a shit. Not even the players. Do you think the buried-in-last-place Houston Astros care if the American League gets home field advantage? Half of the team doesn�t even know they�re now in the American League. Fans get to vote for the players, but they get to stuff the ballot boxes. Karl Rove would like to replace the Electoral College with this system. You can vote up to 35 times on line or as many actual ballots as you want. As a result, guys with .200 averages have made All-Star squads. But again, so what? The fans vote for the players they want to see. Maybe one out of 100,000 checks the Sabermetrics before making his selections. One year Steve Garvey of the Dodgers took home reams of ballots and he and his (then) wife filled in enough write-in votes to actually get him selected. And then he wound up winning the MVP award of that year�s All-Star Game. So who are we kidding with the integrity of the Mid-Summer Classic? It�s a fun television show. For hardcore baseball fans like me I wouldn�t miss it for the world. But I don�t give a rat�s ass who wins. I want a 9-8 game. I want the home run derby to be part of the game itself. I want a manager to be ejected for arguing. I want to see incompetent umpire Angel Hernandez call a ball foul that sails over the centerfield wall. Yasiel Puig will be selected to the All-Star squad. How come? Because the fans get to vote one final reserve and he�s on the ballot. He�s up against Ian Desmond, Freddie Freeman, Adrian Gonzalez and Hunter Pence. Who do you think Fox would prefer � Yasiel Puig or Ian Desmond? Now, in the American League, these are the five household names vying for the last spot: Steve Delabar, David Robertson, Koji Uehara, Tanner Scheppers, and Joaquin Benoit. Do you know who any of these potential All-Stars are? (I do and vote for Steve Delebar.) Oh, and by the way, this is not the first time Major League Baseball has wrestled with this dilemma over whether a rookie who broke in mid-season should qualify for the All-Star squad. It happened JUST LAST YEAR. And Bryce Harper did make the team. So what are we arguing about? JUST ADD THE HOT BABE.

[Guest themetfairy]

It�s a fun television show. For hardcore baseball fans like me I wouldn�t miss it for the world. But I don�t give a rat�s ass who wins. I want a 9-8 game. I want the home run derby to be part of the game itself. I want a manager to be ejected for arguing. I want to see incompetent umpire Angel Hernandez call a ball foul that sails over the centerfield wall.

Classic!

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

For many baseball fans, Yasiel Puig is the ONLY reason they�d want to watch the All-Star Game.

I disagree with this. Matt Harvey, Bryce Harper, and a bunch of other guys might disagree with this.

[MFS62]

Angel Hernandez will be one of the umpires?
Good joke.
Good knowledge of the game (actually, you only have had to watch him umpire one game to know his incompetence).
But scary shit nevertheless.

Later

[Guest themetfairy]

If you want to check out the All Star Game apples, check out Studious Metsimus' guide.

[Frayed Knot]

Commentators, citing recent WS results as PROOF that home field advantage matters (and therefore shouldn't be connected to the ASG) while ignoring the fact that none of the recent series have gone seven games for the HF edge to even matter make themselves sound really stupid.
Fine, you're against linking the ASG to the WS, welcome to the club. But stop pretending that stats from 4-game sweeps somehow back up your point.

It's gotten to the point where the only reason some broadcasters even bring up the ASG is so that they can knock the whole HF-advantage angle.
It's a gimmick idiots designed to boost TV ratings, get over it.

[bmfc1]

If the game really "mattered", then it must be moved to Wednesday so that all pitchers can be used. Now, someone that started a game on Sunday can't pitch. If the ASG is so important, then the schedule should be altered to ensure that everyone can participate. Until then, yes, it's just a gimmick devised by FOX and MLB to help Selig save face after the tie game.

[Frayed Knot]

Best record in MLB since last year's All-Star Game? ... that's right, the Oakland A's

Number of Oakland ASG reps? One, and it's 67 year old Bartolo Freakin' Colon of all people!
And somehow Oakland closer Grant Balfour [22 saves, 1.82 ERA] doesn't even rate a spot on an all-reliever final AL showdown while the likes of David Robertson [0 saves; 2.29] does.

[Ceetar]

bmfc1 wrote: If the game really "mattered", then it must be moved to Wednesday so that all pitchers can be used. Now, someone that started a game on Sunday can't pitch. If the ASG is so important, then the schedule should be altered to ensure that everyone can participate. Until then, yes, it's just a gimmick devised by FOX and MLB to help Selig save face after the tie game.

I don't care that they tied. You know what? I love it. Got all the All-Stars into the game. everyone played. Isn't that sorta the point?

[bmfc1]

To you and me, yes. Play 'em all. (It's not like every fan is lucky enough to root for a team which has all of their All-Stars in the starting lineup.) Isn't that why each team is represented? But Selig was looking for a gimmick after the being criticized for the tie.

[Edgy MD]

Yasel PuigRecord-breaking number of hits,

I think Wright has more hits than him over that period.

[Benjamin Grimm]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: For many baseball fans, Yasiel Puig is the ONLY reason they�d want to watch the All-Star Game. I disagree with this. Matt Harvey, Bryce Harper, and a bunch of other guys might disagree with this.

He's not saying that Yasiel Puig is the only reason that anyone would watch the game. He's saying that there are many people who are only interested in Yasiel Puig, people who aren't interested in Bryce Harper or Matt Harvey. And that may very well be true.

[Frayed Knot]

Part of what has happened is that ESPN--in their never-ending search for the next **STAR** to obsess over--has adopted Puig as their fun go-to guy for hi-lights and updates during what for them is the interminable down period* between the end of the NBA and the beginning for NFL training camps where they can go back to constant updates on the likes Tebow, Brady, Manning^2, and RGIII.

So while I don't know who Ken Levine is, it sounds like he's running with the idea that if the media only cares about Yasiel Puig then that must reflect how most of the country feels as well.




* I even heard one talking head declare that the conclusion of the NBA playoffs marked the end of this year's sports calendar, until the next season starts up again in September. IOW, there's nothing going on right now that any REAL sports fan cares about.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Maybe, FK. But would you argue that Puig isn't the most intriguing/entertaining choice of those offered... even for people who actually follow the game?

[seawolf17]

Dan Uggla's all like "oh, Freddie Freeman deserves to be there" on Twitter. Shut up, Dan Uggla. Nobody wants to see Freddie Stupid Freeman.

[Edgy MD]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Maybe, FK. But would you argue that Puig isn't the most intriguing/entertaining choice of those offered... even for people who actually follow the game?

Well, for some it may be Harvey. For still others, Harper is still the man, and for Yankee fans, it's about Rivera.

So who is Yasiel Puig? He�s a young Cuban defector who joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in early June and turned in one the greatest single months any player has done over the last 140 years. That�s all. Record-breaking number of hits, monster home runs, spectacular catches, unbelievable throws, lightening speed. He has almost single-handedly turned the Dodgers� fortunes around. The only thing he hasn�t done is sung the national anthem

And please note. He writes from the perspective that he's introducing Puig to his audience, taking the perspective that baseball is an exotic interest outside the purview of the mainstream sports fan, who need hardworking journalists like him to investigate this diversion called "base-ball" to inform them if there's anything worth taking note of, and then to blame the sports governors for their inability to engage fans with star-sational presentations of their sport.

Listen, Puig is a sensation. There's a sensation like him happens every year --- Harvey, Harper, Trout, Dickey, Strasburg, Bruce, Votto, Hamilton, Willis, Pedro. And it indeed makes the game fun. But there's a reason star-driven hyperbole doesn't work. When Michael Jordan was at the height of his power, he was averaging 35 points a night. That's a typical night. On a good night, he scored 45, and on a bad one, 25. He'd take a lot of shots, but even then, once or twice a night, he'd do something spectacular.

A typical night for Barry Bonds at the height of his ability was a 1-3 evening with a double and a walk. You couldn't promise a nightly spectacle because baseball can't deliver on it. Not regularly enough It's a humbling game where the good and poor players hover closer to the mean. And if all you understand about the game is the WOW factor, then you are going to tune in, watch Puig for a few innings, and unless you're lucky enough to catch one of the two nights per week where he really shines, you're likely to shrug and switch back to MMA.

And Puig, as triumphant as he stands now, will soon stop being the story, and fall back into being a a part (though still perhaps a remarkable part) of the tapestry like all of those sensations above. Baseball marketers instead sell the greater game. The best footabll teams win 90% of the time. The best basketball teams win 80% of the time. A baseball team that wins even 70% of the time comes along maybe once every 50 years. Fans understand and accept this.

[Vic Sage]

Dan Uggla's all like "oh, Freddie Freeman deserves to be there" on Twitter. Shut up, Dan Uggla. Nobody wants to see Freddie Stupid Freeman.

i'd rather see Freddie Fender... before the next teardrop falls.

[metirish]

Vic Sage wrote: Dan Uggla's all like "oh, Freddie Freeman deserves to be there" on Twitter. Shut up, Dan Uggla. Nobody wants to see Freddie Stupid Freeman. i'd rather see Freddie Fender... before the next teardrop falls.

lol

seriously , I conflate Freeman with Heyward, I am always surprised to see he is white.

[Frayed Knot]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Maybe, FK. But would you argue that Puig isn't the most intriguing/entertaining choice of those offered... even for people who actually follow the game?

Hey, I have no problem with him being on this 'Final Choice' ballot and I'm fine if he gets in as a result (and would be shocked if he didn't).
I'm just saying that the writer of that piece is a bit over-stating Puig's importance to baseball as a whole, quite possibly because he's listening to his media brethren many of whom think Puig is the only interesting thing about baseball right now.

"Puig ... who joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in early June and turned in one the greatest single months any player has done over the last 140 years."

No, he's had one of the greatest debut months over the last 100+ years. A very nice accomplishment indeed and a great month even for someone NOT new to the league, but overall it's a very different category than saying it's one of the great months of any kind ever.
It's that kind of fact-twisting (intentional or otherwise) and lack of perspective that makes for a poor soap-box on which to lecture his audience on what is or isn't the best thing for baseball.

[G-Fafif]

Ken Levine is an Emmy winning writer/director/producer/major league baseball announcer. In a career that has spanned over 30 years Ken has worked on MASH, CHEERS, FRASIER, THE SIMPSONS, WINGS, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, BECKER, DHARMA & GREG, and has co-created his own series including ALMOST PERFECT starring Nancy Travis. He and his partner wrote the feature VOLUNTEERS. Ken has also been the radio/TV play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres and has hosted Dodger Talk on the Dodger Radio Network.

Levine brings a West Coast bias to his Puigcentric view of the forthcoming festivities. I'd rather see Puig or Freeman or Pence than any American League setup guy. Then again, last year all I wanted to see was Dickey and Wright start. With David at third and Matt most likely on the mound, they can do anything they like with the rest of the game. Baseball can be beautifully provincial that way.

[G-Fafif]

Terrific choice to throw out first pitch at ASG, continuing to recover from effects of Lyme Disease, reports Bill Madden.

It has been a slow but steady road back � Seaver still takes a bunch of pills, most of them vitamins, every day, has changed his diet and no longer drinks his beloved wine, not even the highly rated Cabernet he produces in his GTS (for George Thomas Seaver) Vineyard � but Seaver, who was grateful a few months ago for feeling good for two to three straight days, now has mostly good days. The other day, when I caught up with him by phone in his vineyard atop Diamond Mountain in Calistoga, was definitely one of them. �Ohhhh, how could you ask me that?� he shrieked in response to my question about whether he was feeling any pressure about bouncing that first pitch at the All-Star Game. �That was like a knife to my heart! Pressure, hah! My winemaker and I have been throwing back and forth in the vineyard every day. Thirty-five minutes. He�s a lefthander and, God, does he throw hard. You have no idea the bodily pain he�s inflicted on me.� OK, so the arm�s gradually rounding into form. What about the pressure of being the grand marshal in the All-Star parade? �That�s no pressure,� Seaver said with a laugh. �Where�s the pressure of riding in an old 1945 Ford with fans on the sidewalk booing you?�

As for his favorite All-Star memory...

�I remember walking into the National League clubhouse and looking around and seeing Aaron, Mays, Banks, Gibson, Clemente and thinking �What am I doing here?"� Seaver said. �Then Lou Brock broke my thoughts by walking up to me and saying: �Hey kid, mind fetching me a Coke?� I looked at him, stunned at first. Then, after realizing he wasn�t kidding, I had to tell him I was really a player, not the clubhouse kid. To this day, I�ve never let Lou forget that and every time I see him at Cooperstown or wherever, I�ll yell at him to fetch me a Coke!�

[Edgy MD]

Seaver could put that story to a dignified rest by bringing Brock a Coke on the field before the game. Maybe Brock will be his catcher.

how awesome to have somebody to play catch with every day. I'm glad to hear he's still somewhat engaged in the game. I've gotten the notion that if he wasn't on the Mets payroll, he'd be completely detached from it.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: Maybe Brock will be his catcher.

Too bad Johnny Callison is no longer alive; that would have been a good get for the ASG return to Queens.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

That Madden article made my teeth rot. Very chummy with his HOF pal.