All-Star Recap

So last night's MLB All-Star Game turned out to be a marathon. The game was a marathon at 15 innings with the American League outlasting the National League 4-3. That stinks because the winning league gets home field advantage in the World Series and obviously I'm hoping the Cubs can make it all the way to promised land. This was the longest (time-wise) Midsummer Classic and tied for the most innings played in an All-Star Game.

Couple of comments...
1. Fuggla - Florida Marlin Dan Uggla put on a fuggly display at second base for the NL. He had three errors!!! That's right. Three. He also went 0-4 at the plate including a few strikeouts. Thanks for helping out the NL Danny. I'm sorry, but if you are an All-Star, you DO NOT commit three errors.

2. Overkill - I'm pretty sure that when I go to church and sing about heaven, they don't have a jumbotron, a short porch or thousands of disrespecting Yankees fans beyond the real pearly gates. However, if you had to listen to Joe Buck yak about Yankee Stadium for hours, you would have thought God had given the engineers of the stadium instructions for building the ballpark like he did for Noah and the ark. I get it that dozens of legends have played there. I get it that its a landmark. I get it that it's a special place to many. But oh my goodness, shut up Joe!!! He kept going on, and on, and on... If the place is such a Cathedral, then why are they building a new one? (Answer: So they can increase capacity by almost 50% and make even more money.) I think my most intolerable moment was when Buck said, "And she won't let it go," referring to another extra inning. That prompted me to adjust my volume to zero.

3. False advertising - Dear Fox Sports, please do not say the game starts at 8:00 p.m. if there are going to be ridiculously long opening ceremonies for 45 minutes. Thank you, Joe Lotstar.

4. Opening ceremonies - OK, so seeing all the Hall of Famers get introduced before the game was cool, but why for this game? It's the 79th All-Star Game - not exactly a landmark number. Oh yeah, this is Yankee Stadium. Pardon my sacrilege.

5. Rudeness - Yankee fans proved their classlessness once again while booing every Red Sox player (plus AL/Red Sox manager Terry Francona) at nearly every opportunity. Funny how they didn't boo Francona for giving A-Rod and Jeter a special moment in the limelight by subbing for them in such a way that they'd get a standing ovation. Very classy move by Francona. On top of that, Red Sox pitcher Jonathon Papelbon apparently had a very bad taste in his mouth about his All-Star experience because of the pre-game parade down 6th Avenue. Yankee fans boo'd him and threw stuff at him and his pregnant wife. Give it a rest people, you're on the same team this week. Very classless moves by the fans.

6. Eat Crow - Sheryl Crow's version of The Star-Spangled Banner was one of the worst I've heard since Roseanne Barr. Was anybody in the stands singing along? No. Because even Yankee fans don't sing that off-key. If you'd like to hear how it should be done go here. (This is Carrie Underwood singing at the NFL playoffs a few years ago and among the best performances of the national anthem I've ever heard.)

7. Go Cubs Go - While the Cubs batters didn't fare so well at the plate (not many players did over the first 7 inningsagainst magnificent pitching from the AL staff), the Cubs pitchers delivered. Zambrano pitched shutout baseball in the 3rd and 4th innings including a pick-off. Ryan Dempster struck out the side in the 9th and reminiscent of his best closer performances. And Carlos Marmol delivered in the 13th with a couple of strikeouts. Hello, rest of the league - we also have Kerry Wood, Bob Howry and Rich Harden plus some other solid guys named Lilly, Eyre and Marquis.

Anyway, on to the second half of the season. Go Cubs!