“Back, back, back, back . . . !” It was kind of sad. Chris Berman had called me to do the home run calls for this contest. I didn’t have the heart to hang up on him. He seemed so lost. His replacements, the Aaron Judge Fan Club, weren’t doing much to endear themselves to me in Berman’s absence. When media people are this desperate to find “The face of Baseball,” you know this story probably isn’t going to end well. Just what I want for baseball, the entire sport to revolve around one player, like Lebron James and the NBA.
At least Judge lived up to the hype. While a storm raged outside the stadium (actually I have no idea if it was that bad weather or not, but lightning was going off outside and the roof was closed), he managed to hit the roof and send balls into the concourse on his way to easily winning the contest. The Judge cosplayers in the stands were ecstatic.
I have to give an ESPN commentator some small credit (don’t remember who, who cares?). He accurately predicted that Miguel Sano of the Twins would do well, and he was in the finals. About the event itself, the time limit rule was a good idea. The problem is that the first round is usually the best one, and the guys are gassed after that. There should be a way to arrange this to keep the players from getting worn out at the start.
7-11-17 #ASG
For some reason, ESPN Radio sent some of their shows to Miami for the game. Why was I listening? I had some vain hope that they’d talk baseball. One host demanded the week off because, “Nothing was going on.” His replacement spent his time doing Social Justice Warrior commentary. The others just apologized for talking about baseball intermittently. When they did talk about the sport, it produced such gems as, “The season should end in August. With nothing else happening, the World Series would take center stage.” There was an admission that the baseball regional networks (which ESPN doesn’t make any money from) are actually killing it in the TV ratings. In some markets, the games are easily the number one show of the summer.
As for the Fox Sports coverage, unfortunately, Joe Buck and John Smoltz were there for the commentary. Fortunately, the light-hearted nature of the game itself, kept them from becoming too histrionic. Buck’s finest moment was listing a litany of Aaron Judge’s disadvantages in growing up, including being “bi-racial.” Yes, it’s true. If you’re “bi-racial,” you’re limited in life to being a rich, famous athlete or just being president. Smoltz, meanwhile, still had some lingering bitterness over being tagged with the loss in two All-Star Games. Buck consoled him by saying, “Let it go. Nobody cares.”
I will praise Alex Rodriguez’s performance during game. I saw him out on the field, in a suit, interviewing the National League infield. It was a bit surreal, but I kind of enjoyed it. (This is terrifying. I disliked Joe Buck to the point that I liked A-Rod?) The shocks kept coming though. George Springer and Bryce Harper both wore microphones while out playing in the outfield and were interviewed there. (I question why they were talking to Harper about football.) There were even microphones at the bases and you could kind of hear the conversations going on. Again, I liked it, but it was totally weird. Buck and Smoltz even told people to join them live on Facebook for an inning.
One gets some impression that MLB is trying out some stuff to enhance the game, such as the prevalence of Statcast. (In this game’s case, somebody actually needed to hit the ball for Statcast to be useful.) On field interviews aren’t going to fly in a regular game, but I could see using more sounds of the game stuff. In-game player tweeting and dugout confidential stuff could be around the corner. Nelson Cruz may have already broken the seal. In the seventh, he started off the inning and his at bat by handing his phone to Yadier Molina and asked him to take a picture of him and umpire, Joe West. (This will never happen during a regular game.) The collective media keeps calling for baseball to promote itself better. I don’t know what they mean. More social media? More betting? Bribe the networks and commentators? More social justice (take a knee for the anthem)? More off-field player scandals? More commercial endorsements? (Actually, I liked that new commercial with Jose Altuve.)
It was a full house for the game, just like for the Home Run Derby. I saw gear from several teams represented. The Marlins Man was noticeably absent for most of the game. I didn’t see him behind home plate until the ninth. It looked like he was sporting a beard and was tweeting like crazy. Before that, there was some obnoxious a-hole with a cell phone, waving behind home plate. It’d been a while since I’d seen this, and I’d hoped that maybe it had finally gone out of fashion. If you just kept a sniper by the outfield camera, you could take care of these people. You only have to make an example of one for these dimwits to stop doing that.
On the game itself, more or less. Both coaches’ emphasized in their interviews that this game no longer counts for anything. World Series home field advantage will no longer be determined by the outcome of this game. Brad Mills, subbing for an ailing Terry Francona for the AL, said, “If we win, it’s icing on the cake.” Joe Maddon for the NL said about the same. I have mixed feelings about the change. For this year, nothing was affected in game play (maybe), but I’m sure that will change in the future. For now, it’s still a legit game, unlike the All-Star games in the other sports.
Actually, there wasn’t a whole lot to report from the game. Fox managed to miss an out early out thanks to a long commercial break. I’ve seen that happen at the Superbowl, so it wasn’t a diss on baseball. In the second, Harper had the defensive gem of the game with a great dive and catch. The guy is still playing all out, even in an exhibition.
Pitching dominated. Everyone watching had to be getting a little concerned about this one finishing in a nil-nil tie. Finally, the AL scored on a bloop single by Miguel Sano to take a 1-0 lead. One of both managers’ goals was to get everyone in the game. They might have succeeded. Thank goodness I wasn’t trying to score this. Yadi came in in the sixth, wearing metallic gold tools of ignorance. I was e-mailing my Aunt Judy at the time. She’s in Missouri and a big fan of his. In the bottom of the inning, Joe Maddon called it and Yadi hit a homer to tie it. Aunt Judy was thrilled.
Thankfully, even with extra commercials, the game was humming along. By the ninth, the specter of a tie game was looming large. Smoltz wanted baseball to implement the WBC extra innings rule, which puts a runner on second each inning. I could kind of see this in minor league baseball, and perhaps for this game. Spring Training games only go 10, regardless of the score. [I’m writing this a couple of days later. I may have changed my mind from what I was thinking at the time, because of a game I heard about on Thursday. More on that later.] However, Major League Baseball games that count need to play it out and have a winner.
The NL got Yadi to third in the bottom of the ninth. You could hear Mets fans there chanting for Michael Conforto to bring him in. However, Craig Kimbrel struck him out, and the Red Sox fans in Miami cheered. Top of the tenth and Robinson Cano led off with a home run off Wade Davis (I missed it while working). That wasn’t hardest hit ball of the frame. Mike Moustakas fouled a pitch into the unprotected part of the first base camera well and hit a photographer. Both Moose and the umpire went over to check on him. I think he was okay. Kyle Seager and Francisco Lindor both flashed leather in the bottom to seal the 2-1 AL win. Ender Inciarte, former Chihuahua, made it into the game at the end.
Cano won the MVP, but I was busy again and missed it. I flipped over to the MLB Network, but didn’t have time to watch their analysis. Not a great game, but an interesting spectacle anyway for different reasons. Lastly, I really enjoyed seeing the players introduced and bringing kids out with them. Baseball should do this all the time. I remember the Double-A Diablos used to always have Little Leaguers out on the field with them for the anthem.
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