More thoughts on the All-Star Game

First off, Batgirl (a Twins blogger) absolutely NAILS everything I was going to say about the travesty to baseball that is "FOX Sports." Since my thoughts appear to be in her words, read all of it.

Second off, the more I think about it, the stupider the whole "This time it counts" thing is, and for a number of reasons.

1. It's a stupid idea to have players from teams that are out of the division race playing for who gets homefield advantage in the World Series. Last year the Red Sox, a Wild Card, got homefield advantage over the Cardinals, the team with the best regular season record in baseball. No way that should happen. Plus, say the Yankees end up in the Series this year. No one in the AL really wanted to help them out like that.
2. The concept of the game itself as it's played right now favors the American League. The American League is more of an offensive league than the NL (I guess that could be argued this year with the NL having a higher league ERA). The basic style of the All-Star Game, lots of pinch hitting, starting pitchers pitching an inning or two and not settling in, favors an offensive game, which thus favors the AL team. There's no chance in the All-Star Game for the NL to stick it to the AL with pitching like the Marlins did to the Yankees in the Series two years ago. If you're playing for home field advantage in the Series it should be a level playing field.
3. Of course I'm going to complain about how Jason Bay got slighted last night. The way the game is now it allows managers (like LaRussa) to put themselves ahead of the players. The game isn't about Tony LaRussa, it's about the players. It's about the fans getting to see their favorite players on a national stage. Jason Bay isn't a "Mike Williams" All-Star, he deserved to be there last night. So far this year he's been one of the best hitters in the NL, so LaRussa's charge that "we had a chance to win it" is completely unfounded. Maybe Bay isn't offended, but I really hope he is. I hope he takes this personally and shows LaRussa just what the pride of Trail, BC can do.