Running Diary of the All-Star Game . . . Sort of

Alright so here we go. This is my All-Star game running diary. However, there was a slight problem with the recording of the game and I only got from the pregame through the top of the 3rd inning. So we have a running diary of approximately 1/3 of the All-Star game. Its probably best this way seeing as its my first go at a running diary and really a whole baseball was awfully ambitious. Don't worry there will be more running diaries to come and hopefully I will be able to do those events live so we don't have anymore taping fiascos. Also there are some half innings missing due to nothing interesting happening in those frames. Hope you enjoy.

Pre-Game:
Jeter and Griffey had a nice little conversation with Willie Mays. To be honest I can’t really understand anything Mays is saying, he just kind of mumbles and then laughs and then Jeter laughs with him like he understood every word. I don’t buy it Derek. I tell you what though, Mr. Jeter probably has a career in politics after his playing days are over, he just has that vibe. Meanwhile Griffey is just sitting there and giggling like an idiot for half of the interview, leaving one of two explanations. Either he was stoned during the whole thing, which I doubt, or he went into little kid mode being that close to Willie Mays. My bet is on the second one seeing as that’s pretty much exactly what I did when I got within 100 feet of the Red Sox the first time I saw them play in person. The whole thing just kind of reminded me of Charlie Murphy retelling his stories of things that happened with Rick James on the Dave Chappelle Show. I just kept expecting Mays to pause for a moment before saying “Cocaine is a helluva drug.”

John Groff of San Diego, California is now stepping up to a batting tee to see if he can hit a ball 280 feet to win a million dollars. My question is how bad do you have to be to not be able to hit a ball 280 feet off of a tee. I could literally do this at the age of 11. This guy is atrocious. He got one ball to leave the infield and looked much worse than the guys trying to get a hit off of John Rocker on Pros vs. Joes. I would not be surprised at all if John Groff’s family disowned him after that pathetic display. Just embarrassing.

The AL roster being announced received little fanfare with a couple of interesting exceptions. First of all you have to appreciate that the Giants fans at the game still boo-ed the representatives from the Angels even though it’s been almost five years since the Angels and their rally monkeys swiped a World Series right out of San Francisco’s grasps. You have to love fans with long memories. Secondly, Jorge Posada was also boo-ed by the crowd, with the only possible explanation that it really is true that everyone hates the Yankees.

The NL roster announcements reminded everyone that rivalries are alive and well in baseball as both Brad Penny and Takashi Saito from the Dodgers both received resounding boos from the crowd. Nice to see people still care about arbitrarily hating an opponent. There’s really not enough of this in sports these days. I’m completely serious.

The biggest ovation was obviously for Barry Bonds, but honestly it was a lot tamer than I expected. Don’t get me wrong it was still pretty loud but I expected the place to just go crazy and that didn’t really happen. A little disappointing to be honest.

A nice tribute to Willie Mays going on before the first pitch. Not a lot to say about it really except that I hate when people over dramatize an event such as Joe Buck was doing during the whole thing, saying Willie Mays may be the greatest player of all time. To be honest, I have had the G.O.A.T. discussion with several different people and Willie Mays is never in the running. Should he be? Maybe, but he’s just not. You have Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds in that discussion with Ruth almost always coming out on top due to his dominance as a pitcher as well as a hitter. Alex Rodriguez will likely join in on the debate if his career continues as it has to this point. Of course the same was said about Griffey and look what happened. Still Junior has some juice left and if he squeezes out a few more years of hitting like he is this year and maybe reach 700 homers and if he can play a good right field he probably lands in Mays territory as a player on the fringe, just outside of the G.O.A.T. debate.


Top of 1st Inning:
Ichiro takes Jake Peavy for a single through the infield. If you have ever watched some clips from professional games over in Japan, just about 90% of the players over there have the running slap swing like college softball players. And just for the record, I hate it. That’s not a swing its an abomination.

I am pretty sure Tim McCarver just compared Jake Peavy to Brandon Webb. First of all no disrespect to Brandon Webb, but as far as stuff is concerned, he’s not anywhere close to Peavy’s league. Please Tim, just stop talking you sound like an idiot.

Just by watching the hacks these American Leaguers are taking against Peavy, I can bet you none of them will be requesting a trade to the NL West anytime soon.

After a double play, and an error, David Wright makes a nice diving stop to end the inning.

Bottom of 1st Inning:
Seriously how did the Oakland A’s get Dan Haren in the Mark Mulder deal with the Cardinals? St. Louis just got absolutely robbed blind in that deal. Did Billy Beane wear a ski mask during negotiations?

As Ken Griffey Jr. bats I just can’t help but wonder how people are disappointed with his career. I mean when you draft a kid out of high school, if someone told you that by the age of 37 the kid would be tied for 6th all time on the home run list, I am fairly certain you would make that pick every time. I don’t care how much more he could have done if he wouldn’t have gotten hurt, the guy is probably going to end up 4th in the history of the game behind Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth and if he gets lucky he could even pass Ruth. This guy’s had one of the best careers of all time, so shut up.

Griffey gets an RBI single for the NL and they take the lead 1-0 at the end of the 1st.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:
Prince Fielder seems like a very nice young man so I hate to say this but I noticed that Prince has a tattoo on his neck which means that he without a doubt will at some point in his life spend some time in prison. It’s a sad but true fact of life. People with a tattoo on their neck = people who have or will spend time in jail in their life. It’s just the way the world works.

Top of 3rd Inning:
David Ortiz really just does not look right at the plate. Even when he makes good contact you can tell that his injured quadriceps is really giving him issues. With the Red Sox as far out in front as they are they should really just consider sitting Ortiz for a couple weeks and sticking Wily Mo Pena in at DH. This just feels like one of those injuries that’s going to nag at him for the rest of the year and keep getting worse until it renders Big Papi essentially useless. I mean if they can keep a decent lead out, sit him out for a month, let it heal up give him a rehab assignment and bring him up in time to get his timing back in time for the stretch run.

Well this is where the tape ran out, but hopefully you enjoyed what you go. Have a nice days folks.