Giants All-Star Game Pitchers

As a life long Giants fan, I am grateful for their discovery of pitching in the last ten years.  Prior to the end of the Bonds era, the Giants were known for one thing: hitting.  Their long time fight song, "Bye Bye Baby" (please click on the link and treat yourself to a one-minute classic) is about the home run.  And their players have shown this.

Jason Schmidt ended a multi-generational fixation with the bat.  He was the first ace/stud/stopper the Giants had since Juan Marichal.  And the Giants were the only team in baseball during this era without one.  This one-sided approach to baseball - all time slugging greats amassing zero World Championships - showed its colors well in the Mid-Summer Classic.

In the 20 year period prior to Jason Schmidt's transformation of a franchise, some pretty amazingly abysmal statistics can be found for Giants pitchers in the All-Star game.  And I found them.

In the 20 years from 1983 to 2002, 13 Giants pitchers were selected to the NL All-Star team.  They made 10 appearances, for a total of 9.1 innings.  That's less than an inning per appearance!  And they were horrifying.  Almost all of them.  Only Mike Krukow pitched an inning without allowing the AL to score.  Okay, imagine those 9.1 innings as one nine-inning game.  Check out these statistics:

G	W	L	ERA	IP	R	H	ER	HR	OPP     AVG
10	0	3	18.32	9.1	21	24	19	5*	.462

(*Including the only grand slam ever)

And check out these ERA's:

PITCHER	ERA
Mike Krukow	0.00
Rod Beck	4.50
Robb Nen	9.00
Rick Reuschel	18.00
Shawn Estes	18.00
John Burkett	40.50
Jeff Brantley	54.00
Atlee Hammaker	94.50

A Giant All-Star Game

I've watched nearly every All-Star game of my life.  I've attended two.  And I have never seen the players and situations surrounding one team dominate the game in the way the Giants dominated this year's Mid-Summer Classic.

First, your fans step up to the plate and help vote three starters in.  Then, your pitcher is picked to start the game.  In the first inning, one of your players gets the first hit of the game.  He then scores the first run of the game.  This sparks a rally.  Later in the inning, another of your players walks to load the bases, then immediately after that another of your players hits a three-run triple.  He then scores on the next play.  All this is done against the other league's best pitcher, who is starting for them.

Because of this first inning eruption, and the fact that the game results in a shutout, your pitcher gets the win.  And, the player that got the first hit and run later hits a two-run homer.  Every run of the game but one is either scored, knocked in, or both, by players from your team.  A player in the dugout from your hated arch rival is overheard on national television note that this game has become your team's show.

Finally, your player that scores the first and last runs of the game wins the MVP award, and you have just obtained him this off season via trade from the team that is hosting the game.

I'm not sure how it's possible to do more.  Hopefully they just earned home field advantage for themselves.

Bonds Available

I follow Barry Bonds' attorney on Twitter. He just tweeted an announcement that Barry is ready and will be available for tomorrow's All-Star Game.

All-Star Marathon

Well, tonight's game had quite a bit to watch. It was a very good game. Fifteen innings, four potential game deciding plays at the plate. I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. I loved the pre-game ceremonies. I love when a bunch of hall of famers are gathered together and the current players get to meet them. It was so good to see all those players I grew up with, and a few that were before my time. My all time favorite is Willie McCovey.

One thing that really disappointed me was the huge number of people that left early. What was that all about? The last all-star game at Yankee Stadium, and they had to pay plenty of money to get in. Yet, in extra innings there were tens of thousands of empty seats. Mrs. Scott suggested that it might have been because it was late there. Late? You have a ticket to one of the greatest baseball events in decades and you leave early? That's one day when you tell the boss, "I'm going and I might be late to work tomorrow." I wouldn't have left early for anything. Must have been a bunch of corporate sponsor types, yes? No? I dunno.

The National League can't buy a win these years. They had plenty of opportunities to put the game away and didn't. Not like the AL didn't either. I'm not a fan of the late game substitutions every few pitches. It kinda ruins the game. The Giants' Brian Wilson was on in the 8th with a one run lead, got the first two batters out, then got replaced. Billy Wagner then coughed up the tying run.

The really exciting inning was when the AL had the bases loaded with no outs in extras, and there were two consecutive plays at home plate. The NL got out of a bad jam, and I wondered if the game would ever end. But it did, and there were some good memories.

All-Star Memories: Ichiro's Inside The Park Homer

I went to last year's All-Star game in San Francisco. I took many pictures. I just happened to get this one perfectly. It is right in Ichiro Suzuki's swing; the very swing that resulted in his inside the park home run. Click on the picture to see it full size. Pretty cool.

All-Star Performance

The Giants two All-Star selections, Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson, on the last day before the All-Star break teamed up to defeat the team with the best record in baseball, the Cubs. Lincecum threw eight strong innings and Wilson saved it in the ninth. They showed why they're going to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday.

Players Hate Home Field Advantage Tie To All-Star Game

It seems that a majority of players hate the home field advantage for the World Series being decided by the All-Star game. Read the article here. I hate it too. What I didn't know was that it is apparently part of baseball's labor agreement through 2011.

All-Star Game Prevents Sox From Winning at Home

The really dumb rule of letting an exhibition game decide who has home field advantage in the World Series has failed again. Miserably. If fact it hasn't worked yet. In 2003, the AL won the ASG, eventually giving the Yankees home field advantage in the WS. It certainly didn't work for them, as the Marlins clinched in the Big Stadium. In 2004, it prevented the Red Sox from clinching their sweep at home. Great gift to fans waiting 86 years to see it. It happened on the road. Same thing in 2005 for the 88 years White Sox fans waited. Their "home field advantage" forced them to win on the road. In 2006, the AL won again, but the Tigers "home field advantage" allowed the NL team to win at home. Now the same thing in 2007 for the Red Sox.

Wonder how long it will take for fans to demand the All-Star game revert to alternating years between leagues for home field advantage so that somebody could see their team win at home?

Bad Vlad Wears Orange and Black

Okay, it happened for only a day and a half, but Vladimir Guerrero actually wore orange and black during the home run derby and the All-Star game BP. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Dang.

All-Star Wrap Up

The All-Star game on Tuesday was a spectacular event. I was struck by all the talent gathered together in one place. I have seats behind the visitor's bullpen (the American League for this game) and saw all the AL players. We saw each AL pitcher warm up, and there wasn't an inning where somebody wasn't warming up. A favorite moment of mine was seeing Ivan Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, two of baseball's best catchers, gather to watch Oakland's Dan Haren warm up before the game. They were discussing observation.

Willie Mays was honored in a graceful first pitch ceremony. He threw out the first pitch from center field, a fitting gesture to a great career. A really good game followed, with the level of play matching the level of talent. The home-town Giants fans never missed an opportunity to cheer for Barry Bonds, and likewise never missed an opportunity to passionately and lustily boo any announcement or performance of a player from their long time, bitter rival, the Dodgers.

The game had its share of bizarre moments, too. During the 7th inning stretch, an unknown to me pop singer named Paula Cole (Mrs. Scott is the entertainment buff in the family and never heard of her either) came out to sing "God Bless America." Technical difficulties - which were the norm rather than the exception at old Candlestick Park - prevented her from starting. The sarcastic San Franciscan crowd started singing it for her, as if urging her on from forgetting the words. Part way through I couldn't resist a sarcastic one-upish reaction of my own, and started singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", the real 7th inning song, at the top of my lungs. The clashing melody drew quite a bit of attention, and a number of people joined me, creating a cacophony of confusion. Say what you will about San Francisco, but this is one thing I've always loved about Giants fans. They have the best sense of humor of any fans in baseball by a mile.

The singer then whined out a sappy, drawn out chick-music love song version (search for it here under the heading "more game highlights". The technical difficulties were edited out and you can hear the announcer at the end say the wait was well worth it. Huh?). Gag. It was horrible, and really took the fun out of the 7th inning stretch. I think baseball should do away with this song during the 7th inning stretch. We should make "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" our national anthem. Anyway...

Also bizarre was Tony LaRussa's brain freeze managerial non-move in not pinch-hitting Albert Pujols in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and the game on the line. Whassup wit dat, Tony? The last hurrah was commish Bud Selig presenting Ichiro Suzuki with MVP honors. Selig is no fan favorite in SF with his waffling on the Bonds home run record issue. Selig's name wasn't announced as the one presenting the award. His voice simply started with "Ichiro Suzuki..." I'm guessing that was a political move designed to spare the commish the embarrassment of the loudest booing of the evening.

All in all, it was a night to remember, and I'll never forget it. I plan to be there in Fremont when the A's host the game in their new stadium.

What An All-Star Game

I was at last night's All-Star game. It was a great time of seeing all the great baseball players in one place. The game didn't disappoint, either, as the National League mounted a rally in the bottom of the 9th that brought the winning run into scoring position. More later.

Bonds Voted All-Star-ter

Barry Bonds was voted in as a starter for the All-Star game to be held in his own yard. Say what you want about his stats as compared with those others around the league, but Bonds is a clear fan favorite to be seen playing in this game. Bonds has had a fairly good year, with the first month and a half simply amazing. He hit over .350 with 11 homers. Not bad for an old guy.

I have a ticket for next Tuesday's game, and can't wait to see him bat against whoever will be the AL starter. How storybook is this that in what may be his final year, the All-Star game is in his own yard, he's voted in as a starter, and he's within five homers of the all time record? Will he hit a home run?

All-Star Hecklers

All the star players will be there. Former all-stars, too. And some veteran hecklers will be just behind the American League's bullpen mound. We'll get to razz every AL pitcher that pitches, because each of them has to warm up, and maybe a few more that don't get the nod. I just realized this a few days ago. It will be the heckling experience of a lifetime. My heckling line of choice this year to visiting pitchers has been, "I'll be at the All-Star Game and you won't!," but I won't be able to use it during the game, obviously.

I just hope that all the regular hecklers in our area will be there to put on an All-Star heckling show and won't have sold out to special event groupies that will whine to ushers about our time-honored, traditional baseball conduct of heckling the opponents. People like that really suck.

Got All-Star Game Tickets?

Tickets just arrived today for the All-Star Game in San Francisco. They look pretty cool. It'll be interesting to see what the Giants have in store for the day of the game. I'm betting that Mays, McCovey, Perry, Marichal and Cepeda will be on hand, most likely together for a pre-game ceremony of some kind. Stay Tuned.

All-Star Ripoff

I received an email from the Giants explaining what All-Star week will look like as San Fran hosts this year's All-Star game. It turns out to be much more than we bargained for. We've been looking forward to this game for quite a few years now, and we've yet to receive our invoice. So the Giants released information about tickets to the game.

Not only do we get to buy tickets to the All-Star game, but we are also required to buy tickets for the All-Star workout and home run derby, the futures game (kids they think will be stars someday), the legends and celebrity softball game (if you can freaking believe it), the All-Star fan fest (not even held at the ballpark) and an all-star week program. All this adds up to nearly 2 1/2 times the price of the game itself.

I don't even care about any of this other stuff, except the home run derby, yet we're required to buy all of it. My partners and I are kinda pissed. I just wonder if it's the Giants bright idea, or whether MLB dictated this from on high.

All-Star Memories

The one All-Star game I attended was the 1987 game in Oakland. I have no idea why I would have missed the 1984 game in San Francisco, other than the price of a ticket. I was a college student with no money, but I don't know why that would have kept me away. Anyway, '87 was the only year I had A's season tickets. I bought the cheapest plan in the cheapest seats to get "3rd deck or bleacher tickets" for the All Star game (bleacher tickets weren't yet offered as season ticket plans). I assumed that meant I could choose bleacher tickets. Then I traded in all my 2nd deck tickets down the line for a full season of bleacher tickets. Come All-Star ticket time, the A's offered me 3rd deck tickets. After a go around with the front office, several of us ended up with our coveted bleacher tickets.

The workout and home run derby on Monday was spectacular. The bleachers were packed full of ball hounds. I was one of them. One player threw a ball up into the bleachers (Jack Clark, I think?) and I was at the bottom of the scrum, with my face in the standing puddle of beer, soda and I don't know what else, but I got the ball. It was an actual All-Star game ball, with its red lettering, as opposed to the standard American League extras that both teams used in batting practice. It didn't have the umpire's mud on it; it was extra white, but it's an All-Star ball.

The game itself was a non-hitters duel. With the west-coast twilight starting time and the weak hitting during that era of games, I predicted a 1-0 NL victory in 25 innings. I wasn't too far off as the NL won 2-0 in 13 innings. (box score) A full twelve with no scoring at all. Man, what a game. When you're there it doesn't matter as much, it's an exhibition worth just seeing all those players together at the same time.

Can't wait for 2007 when the game comes to SBC Park (or whatever it will be named then) in San Francisco. Bonds will either be retired or a DH in the AL.

"This Time it Counts"

So the All-Star game finally counts for something after all these years. It determines which league's team has home field advantage in the World Series. Novel concept, but too bad the All-Star game's managers can't do what they can to win. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes, because it's all a game of politics.

They've got huge rosters, with the expectation that every player will play. If they don't, fire is called down from heaven. Their management of other teams' pitchers is under a microscope, and any arm problems will be blamed on them. The stupid rule, IMHO, that requires one All-Star from each team should be done away with. If that team Royally sucks (pun intended), then maybe they don't deserve a player there. If their best is batting .270 with 12 homers, then he can go fishing with his buddies. The late innings of an ASG are filled with substitutions every few outs. Pinch hitters that get on base have a pinch runner. Defensive replacements every inning. A new pitcher every batter. Why not just pick the best nine and have a nine inning game? Play it like a normal game, which is to win!

The managers aren't allowed to try to win. The tie game a few years back proved this. I can't blame Bud Selig for his decision to call the game. There are too many ideals that contradict themselves for a perfect ending to always happen. Leave the World Series out of it.