did they just say no mvp for this game either? man, should we just forget this day and the 4.5 hours we wasted watching it? if there's no winner and no mvp, maybe the game never happened and the whole world just had a remarkably similar dream tonight!
These guys just have no clue. They're there at the press conference shoveling the company line. I hope they get murdered in the press tomorrow.
I think they could strike tomorrow and no one would give a damn. I knew there was a game tonight but I didn't tune in until the 11th. I'm glad I did. The crowd chanting "let them play" was pathetic. Should have just kept booing.
Why didn't they just pick one guy off of both teams to have a little home run derby to decide the game? Pretty simple but noooooo...
I agree that this game felt like a microcosm of the whole season, especially if there is a work stoppage. However, i don't see how you could blame the managers or selig for this. Could the managers have managed differently? Hell yes, but then what if not everyone got in? They want to try to let every other player play, and as a kid, and even as an adult, i get bent when my favorite all stars make the team but sit on their asses on the bench rather than get an AB or a mound appearance. you do NOT risk injury to a pitcher by forcing him to work more than he expected in a MEANINGLESS game. You think that game means anything? If so, there is no way in HELL that players are used the way they are. That's the bottom line. Nothing at all is on the line, and the managers can only take crap if they further mess things up by hurting a staff ace to the point that he is ineffective for his team in the second half of the year. Now not naming an mvp, or co-mvp? THAT was a horrible idea....dude, give it to Konerko and Rollins or something. And i guess if you want to go homerun derby, or celebrity boxing or a game of jacks to determine a winner, whatever. The right decision, in this circumstance as it stood after 11 innings, was made. Not popular, but correct.
I'm amazed that they didn't get a non-pitcher to pitch the 11th inning. Playing for the tie -- so damn typical of Major League Baseball. We all heard the fans say "LET THEM PLAY, LET THEM PLAY!!" I think Brenly and Torre forget who actually pays their salaries (and it's not Colangelo and Steinbrenner, either).
Jungle... If the All-Star game is so meaningless, seriously, why bother having it at all? The fans going to the All-Star Game did not wake up saying to themselves, "oh boy, I hope tonight's game ends in a tie!!" Cardinal rule of management -- if you can possibly do it, YOU GIVE THE FANS WHAT THEY WANT! Having a pitcher throw for anything less than 2 innings at the All-Star Game is a travesty. What, his team couldn't juggle the pitching rotation to give an extra day's rest?
Ironically enough, I was just thinking to myself as the game was beginning how much more I enjoyed watching baseball's all-star break over the NFL or NBA. So much for that...
The pregame festivities were a joke. It was almost has if they were trying to force fans to feel good. I really enjoyed how they brought a buncha kids on to the field to act really, really excited when Ripken was introduced. Horrible. os
Of course fans don't wake up saying that. They go to the game to see their favorite players play, which is WHAT HAPPENED. Do you think they go home pissed that the national or american league lost? No, they don't care who wins. I certainly agree that they want some sort of closure to the game, typically achieved by a winning team and a losing team. However, you say yourself, give the fans what they want if you can possibly do it. Well, in this situation, they felt they COULDN'T do it without the risk of injury to a player. Yes, the managers could have managed differently at the risk of not letting everyone play. That is not the issue. Could the managers shuffle rotations in the wake of the all star game? Sure, they could. But why would you want to start off with anyone less than your best, who you want to get as many starts as possible after the break? Why would you want a meaningless game to get in the way of your attempt to reach the playoffs and the world series? I do believe that is the ultimate goal for all the teams, right? Simply put, you DON'T. I highly doubt there were too many owners out there upset with Selig's decision because it is their money that pays the players. Does the money come from the fans? Perhaps....But i bet they wouldn't have been too thrilled if a victory came at the expense of freddy garcia, or if a postional player jacked up his arm, not unlike canseco, by pitching when they shouldn't. I'll agree to disagree. I think things could've been done differently PRIOR to the 11th, but after the 11th, i say the right call was made, EXCEPT for not giving out an mvp award. If losing players have won mvp's before, why can you not give one out in a tie, when the trophy is supposed to commemorate teddy ballgame for the first time?? Bad choice.
Jungle -- tell the fans who paid $175 (FACE VALUE) that the game was meaningless. The fans who actually make it possible for these guys to play baseball with the salaries they make these days.
Like i said, we'll agree to disagree. I guess when i say the game is meaningless, I mean the outcome. I should do a better job of clarifying that. If the game ends 8-7 in 9 innings, rather than 7-7 in 11, we probably wouldn't even be having this discussion, though the fans got two more innings of watching their favorite players play, arguably more action for their dollar. But whatever. I guess to some, a winning outcome in a game that doesn't earn you home field advantage in the playoffs, doesn't really earn you any more money as far as i know, doesn't accomplish ANYTHING other than providing a showcase of the players to the fans, actually means a LOT. I would've liked to see a win or a loss, but it frankly doesn't matter that much to me. Not at the expense of the bad that could occur. And I will save my money for a playoff game, or at least a high stakes regular season game that means something- not a glorified spring training game. If the players cared about winning, maybe i would care more if the game was won or lost. But they don't care, because the outcome DOESN'T MATTER.
They name the All-Star MVP award after Ted Williams in the wake of his passing... and don't even give one out. THAT is the true farce.
I agree 100%. THAT pissed me off more than anything else....no co-mvp, no mvp, nothing.... If an all-star game is played, and no one wins, and no one gets an mvp, did it really happen?
I was hoping someone would beam Selig with a coke bottle. This All Star Game is yet another sad ending to a crappy year, in which baseball and the greed will take over and go on Strike. So why bother....Nobody won the MVP and Nobody will win a World Series........
That was pretty lame. They should just save a Brewer pitcher for the 11th so that everybody could go home. The weird thing is that in Japan, this would have been considered a glorius event, apparently they love ties.
