NL Wins Second In a Row as Joyce Represents the Rays Well

The National League makes it two wins in a row since 1995-1996 with a 5-1 win in the All Star Game tonight.

Some thoughts:

• The last few All-Star Games have been really good, especially the 15 inning thriller in 2008. Tonight’s game–not so much.
• Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee retired the first 11 hitters of the game before Adrian Gonzalez hit a homer.
• Prince Fielder answered back with a three run homer in the fourth that went off the top of the wall in left center.
• It kind of felt at that point that this game was over. Manager Bruce Bochy had way too much firepower in his bullpen to let even a two run lead get away.
• The NL added two more runs against AL relievers Jordan Walden and Brandon League. Where was Kyle Farnsworth? Why wasn’t he in this game?
• Fox made a big deal about the pitchers that weren’t available for the American League. They even showed a graphic displaying all the pitchers. Somehow, they left out James Shields.
• Matt Joyce got into the game midway through, caught a ball in left and then went one for two at the plate. He made it as far as second base in the ninth inning before the American League comeback failed.
• I grew up a Cubs fan, so I usually rooted for the National League. I didn’t have a strong rooting interest one way or the other. I just wanted to see Joyce do well. At least now if the Rays make it to the World Series, they’ll be starting out somewhere other than Tropicana Field.
• I thought it was interesting that Bochy used three different pitchers for longer than an inning while Ron Washington didn’t use anyone longer than an inning.
• Josh Beckett started warming up to go into the game in the second, but apparently didn’t feel comfortable enough to actually pitch.
• The game was played under three hours, but it would have been a lot quicker than that without all the mid-inning pitching changes.
• And finally, I think this needs to be mentioned. I’ve watched a few games on Fox this year and every time, I hear Joe Buck, he sounds more and more disinterested. I finally found out why. Earlier this year, he was really sick as he had a nerve ailment in his left vocal chord. It is obvious that Buck can’t engender the type enthusiasm with his voice that he displayed for the most recent Super Bowl. Major League Baseball and Fox have to go in a different direction if Buck’s voice does not improve before the World Series. There was a petition a little while back to get Vin Scully in front of the mic for the World Series and Joe Buck is on record for saying he would step aside. It may be Scully’s last year as an announcer and what better time to honor him and also solve a problem at the same time than let him finish up the baseball season on the biggest stage.

Player of the Game: Prince Fielder

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