All-Star Wrap

Jason Michael Barker

When a friend invited me over to watch the All-Star Game at his house "with the guys" Tuesday night, I accepted but didn't think much of it. Then it hit me -- we've never done something like this for the All-Star Game before. Sure, we normally get together for the big sporting events -- World Series, NBA Finals, Super Bowl -- but never for an All-Star game, be it MLB, NBA, or the worst one of them all, the NFL's Pro Bowl.

Still, I figured that by watching the game with a group of baseball fans (there wound up being eleven of us, although I'm not so sure all of them were actual fans) the column would basically write itself. After all, we'd just be sitting around all evening cracking jokes and talkin' baseball.

The game itself began with a mild disappointment, as I'd heard for several days how NL starter Randy Johnson had a "surprise" planned for his first pitch. Maybe I'm not easily amused, but somehow a low fastball leading to a Roberto Alomar ground out just wasn't very surprising.

The first real humorous moment came in the top of the third, when Mike Bordick pinch-hit for AL starter David Wells (being in Seattle, we of course were hoping the hitter would be Edgar Martinez). Bordick lined a ball to center field over the head of Jim Edmonds, who recovered in time to make a very nice over-the-shoulder catch. NBC blessed us with three instant replays, and (wait for it!) I'm sure somewhere Ken Griffey Jr. is complaining about how much coverage the play received.

For all the talk about how great an outfielder Edmonds is, I have to wonder how much of that is him taking bad routes to balls and then making up for it by throwing his body all over the place. On the catch in question, Edmonds got a late jump on the ball and turned the wrong way before righting himself enough to make the grab.

I watched Griffey patrol center for years in Seattle, and while some have said he was overrated defensively early in his career, in recent years he's become quite good at getting good jumps and knowing where the ball is going to be. That means less hilight-reel diving catches, of course, but it also means much better defense. He, or Mike Cameron, or Andruw Jones, would have caught Bordick's drive without all the hoopla.

The first run of the game came on a bases loaded walk. Talk about excitement!

The infield defense on both sides was pretty shoddy all evening, as the normally sure-handed Barry Larkin made an error, followed by Jeff Kent botching an easy double play on the very next batter. Later in the game Nomar Garciaparra threw one away and booted another, while Jose Vidro kicked one as well. Then there was Jeff Cirillo, the first fielder I've ever seen to have a chopper actually bounce over his head at the hot corner.

But speaking of defense, one play in particular stood out to me. I wouldn't have noticed it if not for Joe Morgan, who I've always thought does a good job (now if they'd just replace Bob Costas with Jon Miller, we'd be set...). I don't recall the inning or the batter, but a ball was hit up the third base line. Troy Glaus was at the hot corner, and just as he should have, he waited for the ball to go foul before fielding it.

Morgan mentioned that Glaus made a smart play, stepping all the way into foul territory and waiting for the ball to come to him. What's so great about that? As Morgan pointed out, Glaus moving allowed the third base umpire to have a clear, unobstructed view of the ball, so there would be no question that it had gone foul. Thanks, Joe. I wouldn't have noticed that otherwise.

I'm still not sure how Joe Girardi made the National League squad, and I nearly fell out of my chair when he was introduced before the game (with all the injuries, it was hard to keep up with who was going and who wasn't). I later read that Bobby Cox had wanted either Todd Hundley or his own Javy Lopez, but both players already had other plans and weren't available. Girardi is actually hitting better than I thought he was, but Houston's Mitch Meluskey would have been a better selection.

Some interesting conversations come up while watching a baseball game, not the least of which started when a friend wondered which other big slow guys the A's could still pick up before the trading deadline. David Wells seems an obvious choice, and another friend mentioned that he would have been a great fit on the 1993 Phillies. The debate then moved to which veterans the A's could trade the Orioles in exchange for said players. Consensus: The A's should ship Doug Jones to the Orioles for Ryan Minor.

Next up for discussion was baseball cards, though for the life of me I can't remember how that one got started. None of us has collected for years, so it was kind of scary to hear how much we remembered about the Topps set from each year. Somebody mentioned "the cards with the wood-looking border," and four of us said in unison "1987 Topps." That was the first year I collected cards, so I remember the set vividly.

At this point, hometown hero Edgar Martinez finally got his chance to hit. NBC, however, decided running a Jim Gray interview with Todd Jones from the dugout would be much more interesting than watching the greatest designated hitter ever at the plate, so all we were treated to were quick cuts each time a pitch was thrown.

These dugout interviews, featuring either Gray or Jimmy Roberts (ESPN's golf boy), were a theme throughout the evening. I suppose I wouldn't mind the audio, but when this "bonus coverage" means missing pitches thrown and balls hit into play, they've gone too far.

All in all the evening was entertaining, even though the game itself was its usual boring self -- I'm glad I watched the game with ten other people, or I might have fallen asleep listening to Costas drone on about how the game isn't the same these days.

Finally, here are a few ways they could spice up the All-Star Game (some borrowed, some original):

• Winning league gets home-field advantage in the World Series
• Replace managers with stat-crunching computers
  
• Eliminate the rule requiring one player from each team
  
• Homers count double in "lucky" seventh inning
  
• Allow unlimited substitutions, so that every player would get a chance to play but the best players could be in the game at the end when things are on the line
  
• Two words: Exploding baseballs

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