The Sports Rumors

A Look Back at the All Star Game

(I’m a baller, pretty much)

I’m sure by now you have checked the headlines on the sports site of your choice and seen the final score of the MLB All Star game last night (for the slower ones, the AL beat the NL 5-4). I have to say, that was a very entertaining game, especially considering the fact that it’s an All Star game and those usually end up really boring regardless of what sport it is. I can’t even remember the last time I watched a full quarter of the Pro Bowl, the worst of the All Star games. Anyway, there were some good storylines from last night that you can talk to your coworkers about around the water cooler today.

Starting with the inside-the-park homerun by Ichiro and a 3 for 3 night for the Japanese superstar. He’s had a hell of a week. First he signs a $100 million extension with the Mariners, then hits the first ever inside-the-park homerun in MLB All Star game history, en route to going a perfect 3 for 3 at bat, all leading to him winning MVP honors. Doesn’t get much better than that folks. I saw an interesting poll on espn.com asking who is the best center fielder in the game right now. My snap judgment was to say Carlos Beltran but then I looked at some of the things Ichiro has done all year, and the past few years for that matter, and I am rethinking my opinion. I think it’s because I’m on the east coast and see a whole lot more of Beltran (plus he’s in the New York media market) that I think of him as better than Ichiro. You don’t really hear much about Ichiro nationally unless he does something big, like his consecutive games with a hit streak a while back. Seattle isn’t really a bumping market either so we sometimes under appreciate guys like him. Point being, what a performance.

Barry Bonds almost knocked one out of the park last night but fell a few feet short. He went 0-2 for the night, got the loudest ovation obviously and that was about it.

Now for the juicy headline from last night. Bottom of the 9^th, 2 outs, bases loaded. La Russa is the manager for the NL. Krod is not playing well and his pitches have been erratic. Game is on the line. Albert Pujols, La Russa’s superstar on the Cardinals, has not stepped into the game yet. Perfect time for him to come in and at least get a single and tie the game up, right? Not according to La Russa.

La Russa was apparently saving the star incase the game went extra innings because of Pujols’ versatility. La Russa explained, “Once we lost [Miguel] Cabrera and [Freddy] Sanchez, he was the guy we were going to use to protect ourselves in case we kept playing because of Albert’s versatility, I think we had the right guy at bat.”

Pujols was very upset after the game and made some understandably angry remarks saying, “It’s the All-Star Game. He can do what he wants. He does whatever he wants. If I wasn’t expecting to play, I wouldn’t have come up here.”

To which La Russa responded, “If he wants to get upset, he can get upset. Whatever he wants to do, he can do. It’s America. That wasn’t the most important thing tonight.”

Umm, yeah so the Cardinals clubhouse is going to be an uncomfortable and awkward one later this week. La Russa is a winner and a hall of fame manager so I’m not going to sit here and knock his decisions because I’m sure he was trying to win the game. However, I don’t see how in the situation they were in, he can not put Pujols in. Also considering the fact that he’s his own star player and hasn’t gotten to play in the game at all. I know his job is to manage the game without bias towards his own players but come on, we all know that’s not how things really work. Can you imagine if Phil Jackson was coaching the NBA All Star game and didn’t put Kobe in? I’m not saying Pujols is Kobe by any means, talent wise or attitude wise for that matter, but, you’ve got to play your star at some point in the All Star game! I don’t know much about Pujols attitude or personality. I know he’s a good guy and I’m predicting that he and La Russa will have a talk and everything will be fine. Fun stuff to watch though.