8:06- Candice Glover finishes the national anthem. Solid job.
8:09- Joe Buck is talking. Tim McCarver is doing his last All Star Game for Fox. Can he take Joe Buck with him?
8:10- Tom Seaver is wearing a hideous orange National League jersey to throw out the first pitch. I'm all for Tom Seaver throwing out the first pitch, but he should but wearing a Mets jersey.
8:12- Fox shows Seaver's pitch from a terrible camera angle. The pitch would have been down and away from a right handed batter. It was respectable, but certainly not as good as this.
8:16- They show Torii Hunter in the clubhouse before the game. I'm looking forward to his son playing football at Notre Dame. They also show Mariano Rivera speaking in the clubhouse. More on him later.
8:19- The game finally starts. This game should start no later than 7:40. Mike Trout doubles on the first pitch against Matt Harvey. As good as Harvey has been this year, Clayton Kershaw has been better. But the game is at Citi Field, so whatever.
8:21- Harvey hits Robinson Cano right on the knee. That's not good. If this wasn't the All Star Game, that would definitely merit retaliation.
8:23- Miguel Cabrera has 95 RBIs already? He's hitting .365 with 30 home runs? Wow.
8:25- Down goes Miguel Cabrera on strikes. Robinson Cano is leaving the game for Dustin Pedroia. I'm going to excuse Jim Leyland for this early substitution. I hope Cano is okay.
8:29- After getting Chris Davis to fly out, Harvey gets Jose Bautista swinging. He better come back for the second inning.
8:32- Max Scherzer has two different color eyes and he's starting for the American League. Brandon Phillips is leading off for the National League.
8:34- Chris Sale is warming up in the bullpen for the AL. Why?
8:36- Quick inning for Scherzer.
8:39- Harvey is back out for the second inning. Good. I just looked up the box score for the first All Star Game of my life. There were ten pitchers used in the game. Between the two teams. Dave Winfield, Ryne Sandberg, Dale Murphy, and Ozzie Smith played the entire game.
8:42- Erin Andrews just interviewed Tom Seaver. So I just looked up the 1967 All Star Game, which was finished by Tom Seaver. The game went 15 innings and the AL used five pitchers. There were ten players that played the entire game.
8:45- Harvey finishes a second scoreless inning. He's probably done. I would like for him to pitch another inning, but I can live with two. The problem is that everybody else is only going to go one inning.
8:48- Chris Sale is in to start the second inning for the AL. That's ridiculous. Max Scherzer threw 12 pitches. He could go another inning.
8:49- Erin Andrews is on TV again. It doesn't really matter who she's talking to.
8:51- I wasn't sure what the first All Star Game that I remembered was, but I checked baseball-reference.com and it was definitely the 1991 All Star Game. I remember an All Star Game in the SkyDome, but I don't remember the 1990 All Star Game at Wrigley Field. The nonsense had already started by 1991. Only two players played the whole game (future New York Mets legends Bobby Bonilla and Roberto Alomar) and 14 pitchers were used.
8:52- I chuckle at the thought of Bobby Bonilla being on the Mets' payroll until 2035. No, really, I'm not joking.
8:55- The best left handed pitcher in baseball is in the game.
8:59- X-rays were negative on Robinson Cano. Here's George Costanza's reaction.
9:01- 1-2-3 inning for Kershaw. One Bugs Bunny curveball that was fouled off by Pedroia. He's had that pitch since he came up, but he had been throwing more sliders the last couple of years. This year it seems like he's gone back to the curve a little bit more.
9:04- Jim Leyland sends Chris Sale back out for another inning. His arm is probably going to fall off after the game.
9:08- Ken Rosenthal interviews Robinson Cano and tells him he's the one Yankee that can't get hurt. But it's going to be okay, Alex Rodriguez is coming back soon.
9:09- Sorry, Yankee fans. That was mean. We can all agree that Alex Rodriguez just needs to go away.
9:10- They show a shorter version of this commercial featuring the Phillie Phanatic and the best mascot in baseball, Mr. Met. Really good.
9:13- Patrick Corbin is in for the National League. The good news is Clayton Kershaw won't get hurt. The bad news is Clayton Kershaw is out of the game.
9:14- Miguel Cabrera leads off with a double. This is what happens when you take Kershaw out.
9:15- Chris Davis is up. I really want him to hit 74 home runs. Obviously that won't happen. But he's right, we just need to agree that the real home run record is 61.
9:18- Sacrifice fly by Jose Bautista to give the AL a 1-0 lead. This is what happens when you take Kershaw out.
9:19- Joe Buck says Jim Leyland is managing to win this game. We'll see.
9:21- I just went through Paul Pierce's #THANKYOUBOSTON album on Facebook and liked all 44 pictures. Lots of good pictures, but this was probably my favorite:
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| Thank you, Paul Pierce. |
9:25- They're talking about how long it would take to ride the subway between the old stadiums in New York. I wish I could travel back in time to the 1950s and go to baseball games at Ebbets Field, old Yankee Stadium (as in pre-renovation Yankee Stadium), and the Polo Grounds.
9:27- Andrew McCutchen pinch runs for Carlos Beltran and steals second. Why are starters coming out of the game in the fourth inning? And Felix Hernandez is pitching, but I'll give Chris Sale credit for going two and putting up an astronomical pitch count. Those 24 pitches might ruin the rest of his career.
9:30- David Wright grounds out to end the inning with a runner at third. The AL still leads 1-0.
9:38- With runners on the corners for the AL, a fan ran out on the field. I tried to find the Seinfeld clip of George in the bodysuit on the phone with Jerry after running onto the field in Yankee Stadium, but I couldn't find it on Youtube.
9:40- J.J. Hardy grounds into a fielder's choice to give the AL a 2-0 lead.
9:52- The NL has made a bunch of changes. We're more than halfway through the game now, so I can live with this. The AL still hasn't taken out any position player other than Cano. As Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo might say, excellent job out of Jim Leyland in that scenario.
9:53- They're interviewing Jason Grilli. It's nice that's the Pirates are having a good season and he's doing well, but I don't really care about this.
10:01- Grant Balfour is pitching for the AL. I'm excited that an Aussie's in, but come on, Matt Moore threw nine pitches. He should pitch another inning.
10:02- Balfour walks Michael Cuddyer on four pitches.
10:08- After a bad start, Balfour gets out of the inning without any further trouble.
10:11- It's the Midsummer Classic, I have to drink a Summer Ale.
10:12- Aroldis Chapman is in for the NL. I saw him hit 104 on the radar gun on Friday night in Atlanta.
10:15- Chapman just got a double play, but he's only throwing mid to high 90s right now. Is he okay?
10:17- There we go, 101. Adam Jones just struck out to end the top of the seventh. He started the game. Leyland has let his starters play.
10:24- Nice play by Manny Machado to throw out Paul Goldschmidt leading off the inning.
10:25- Mike Trout, David Wright, and Michael Cuddyer are the only starters still in the game.
10:26- Speaking of David Wright, he just singled for the second hit of the game for the NL.
10:27- Greg Holland is coming out after pitching a third of an inning. Leyland has done a good job with the position players, but his use of his pitchers has been pretty ridiculous.
10:29- Big shift on for the left handed hitting Dominic Brown. Come on, Dominic, get the tying run on base. Lay down a bunt down that third base line.
10:30- Nope. Dominic Brown goes down on strikes and Jim Leyland makes another pitching change.
10:34- Buster Posey strikes out to end the inning. I'm rooting for the NL, but it's hard not to enjoy Buster Posey striking out.
10:39- Mariano Rivera might come in for the 8th inning because Leyland is worried about the NL taking the lead in the 8th and then not having to hit in the 9th. Come on AL, score some runs. Rivera should pitch the 9th.
10:44- RBI double for Jason Kipnis. Can we get Rivera in the 9th please?
10:46- We're going to the bottom of the 8th. It looks like Rivera is coming in. This is wrong. Rivera should finish the game. Neil Diamond, the greatest songwriter/performer of this or any generation, is singing Sweet Caroline. That's extra time for somebody else to warm up. Come on, Leyland.
10:51- Nuts. The greatest baseball player I have ever seen is taking the mound one inning too early. Great reception for Rivera from the other players and the fans. There have been so many things wrong with baseball for the last 25 years. Mariano Rivera has been one of the things that was good about baseball. Great pitcher, great person. Baseball won't be the same without him.
10:56- Jean Segura grounds out for Rivera's first out.
10:58- Allen Craig lines out.
11:01- Carlos Gomez grounds out to end the inning. Game over, right? No, it's not? In my mind it is. I'm ending the diary here. The American League wins 3-0. Mariano Rivera gets the save. That's the way it should end.
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