Until the players take the AS game seriously again, it will remain a media event. It really lost me when that batter kept bailing on Randy Johnson. (Was that Kruk?)
Until the players take the AS game seriously again, it will remain a media event. It really lost me when that batter kept bailing on Randy Johnson. (Was that Kruk?)
You're saying that like there's something wrong with it.Originally Posted by westofyou
Yeah, it's a showcase. What's wrong with a showcase?
"I prefer books and movies where the conflict isn't of the extreme cannibal apocalypse variety I guess." Redsfaithful
Hey I went to one as a kid, best game of my life...nothing wrong with it at all, except for the 3 days that they aren't playing real games.
I just don't care if they make decisions about the game, whilst I do care about the decisions that are made because who won the game.
If it's a showcase, call it a showcase and not a real game. Don't tie home field advantage to it because there was a tie one year.
People want to bag on the ASG but they fail to take into account that it's the only pro ASG game where the players are giving full effort. The hitters are trying to hit. They aren't swinging and missing at easy pitches to make the pitcher look good and they hit as hard as they can. The pitchers are trying to make the best pitches possible. No one's serving up BP fastballs to Pujols to make him look good. And no one's just throwing fastballs either because the rules say you can't throw breaking pitches. The fielders are doing their part to look good out there. No one's letting a ball fall in front of them that they could catch easily if they ran hard. These guys are taking this game as seriously as one can take an exhibition game.
For me it was another event that showed me once and for all that they aren't playing it to win. A couple years ago LaRussa was managing and the NL was down 1 run, 9th inning, two outs and the bases loaded. Albert Pujols is sitting on the bench and LaRussa does not send him up to pinch hit. If that's the 7th game of the World Series, no way does Pujols stay on the bench in that instance. I lost respect for the game at that point.
That said, perhaps the AL is taking the game seriously and the NL is not...
OK, if they are taking it seriously why didn't a healthy Pujols hit in the situation I described above?
The Pujols incident has some of the weakest logic in AS Game history
http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzon...ols-kerfuffle/
That's on the manager, not the player. You'll have to ask Mr. Tony why he didn't pinch hit Pujols.
My point is that in the MLB ASG you don't see the teams not play defense like in the NBA and NHL ASGs. Nobody checks in the NHL game and you end up with 12-10 scores. In the NBA ASG, they don't play defense like they should and that's why you end up with 130-120 games. In the Pro Bowl, they don't allow blitzing.
I won't quibble with the effort of the players but if the manager isn't playing to win there's still a big problem.
Can't argue with that but the main criticism that comes from fans and the media seems to be that the players don't care as much about winning the game as their predecessors do. Maybe they do or maybe they don't. There's not really a way that you can find out for sure unless you use anectdotal evidence.
And that alone is reason enough to continue it. For us older fans, we've "seen that, done that". But for the kids, it's a HUGE treat. No way they should dump it. If a player's concerned he may get injured...guess what, same thing could happen in ANY game. Yes, it may suck for his team if he gets injured, but there's a bigger picture here. This game (baseball in general) is played for the FANS...all of them, big AND small.
I think everyone who watches even a single baseball game would agree that home field advantage should be based on regular season won/lost record.
There are some other things MLB could do to attach some form of meaning to the All-Star game without interfering with the actual season.
"I prefer books and movies where the conflict isn't of the extreme cannibal apocalypse variety I guess." Redsfaithful
Why add more meaning to it? It is what it is: A glorified exhibition. It doesn't have any more meaning now than it did in 1933.
I guess I'm one of the few that still enjoys watching the All-Star game? I also enjoy watching Home Run Derby and I LOVE the Futures Game. The Celebrity Softball Game is a lot of fun too.
If you don't, then the chorus of "why bother playing this game at all?" gets louder and louder.
The idea is to make it important, but not have it affect the regular season.
"I prefer books and movies where the conflict isn't of the extreme cannibal apocalypse variety I guess." Redsfaithful
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