What an All-Star game!! For a National League aficionado, my lasting impression of it will be Russ Martin catching Nate McLouth's peg from centerfield on the short hop, then whirling to nail a hustling Dioner Navarro at the plate to send the game into the 12th, making his bid to join the legion of fine catchers of yesteryear.
Then he did it again in the 12th on the receiving end of a Dan Uggla dart to once again keep the game tied, nicely blocking the plate to cut down Carlos Guillen of the Tigers, the AL's designated extra-innings guy. Martin also made some beautiful throws to second; on one occasion nailing his man.
An All-Star game should be a chance to watch the best players in the world go head to head and last night's affair afforded quite a few opportunities to do just that.
Yeah, there was all the pre-game excitement, the Stealth aircraft and all those stars from ages past, and the poignant moments with the Boss. George Steinbrenner showed the courage to make an appearance despite his health problems. And there was a terrific rendition of "God Bless
But we saw baseball at its finest. There was the overpowering starting pitching with both teams scratching to score a run. Although the Rockies Matt Holliday did manage to catch up to a high fastball and send it into the right field seats, the other runs were scored through good base running and sacrifice flies.
There would be good pitching all night long. The game ended, in fact, with two pitchers who were not supposed to make an appearance at all, Scott Kazmir for the Americans and Brandon Webb for the Nationals. If the game had gone any longer, the managers for both sides would have been excoriated for their shortsightedness, and we may have seen position players taking the mound.
But the game mercifully ended in the 15th, predictably enough on one last sacrifice fly. This time, there would be no final outfield assist. Michael Young’s fly ball would end it. Corey Hart’s peg didn’t quite have it and new catcher Brian McCann had a chance but it was not to be. The game was over.
The good pitching came from all sides, American and National, starters and relievers alike. Mariano Rivera delighted the home crowd with a typically great outing, appearing in the ninth to relieve Francisco Rodriguez, who had walked the Cubs Aramis Ramirez.
With a man on and one out, Mariano initiated the delivery of a decidedly handy strike’em out throw ‘em out double play. After he fanned Ryan Ludwick on a very nasty pitch down in the zone, his catcher Dioner Navarro sprang up to throw a strike to Ian Kinsler, thus nailing pinch-runner Carlos Guzman at second, thus ending whatever hopes the Nationals had in the ninth.
You have to be lucky in life and Mariano is. (Yeah, I know, people make their own luck, blah-blah-blah). He stayed on in the tenth, much to the delight of the crowd. But he gave up consecutive singles to Russ Martin and Miguel Tejada with just one out.
But here was Mariano at his finest. Here was the tough guy who had just the right pitch for just the right occasion. He needed a ground ball for a double play, and that’s what he managed to deliver, via a nice breaking pitch down in the zone to the remarkably unlucky Dan Uggla. And one couldn’t help but notice Mariano’s acknowledgement of his infielders after the play, just the right gesture for just the right moment.
Mariano is a class guy. He was earlier seen giving pointers to some of the finest arms in the American League, on his cutter by all accounts, another graceful gesture by an unassuming guy. Besides, he knows they’ll never throw it as he can. There’s watching and then there’s doing.
It was especially painful for a Mets fan that Mariano’s “thing” followed Mets closer Billy Wagner’s allowing the tying run to score in the eighth. The Rays’ Evan Longoria smacked a ground rule double to left off a tough pitch to plate Grady Sizemore, who had greeted Billy with a single to right. But Billy did manage to get out of the inning, inducing Justin Morneau into a weak grounder, then making the play himself for the out.
And the Mets David Wright couldn’t do much either, but he did strike out once on a pitch that had every appearance of a ball. David and I certainly thought so but the umpire and Jonathon Papelbon did not. ( It was altogether a forgettable performance for our Metsies, but we’ll see you at the World Series).
Papelbon made out better in the game than he did in the papers, but only barely so. He got killed in the NY tabloid of choice for a totally innocuous remark, but in the game he was victimized too, watching helplessly as Navarro’s throwing error advanced Miguel Tejada to third, who scored on a fly ball by Adrian Gonzalez.
Red Sox representation was not to be totally denied on this night though. It was J.D. Drew’s two-run homer that tied the game in the bottom of the 7th and he wound up being the MVP of the game.
But the real story of the game was pitching. George Sherrill, an unheralded relief pitcher for the Orioles, could have been given the MVP. He pitched over two scoreless innings in the clutch, striking out Adrian Gonzalez with the bases loaded in the twelfth.
Ryan Dempster of the Cubs gets kudos for his striking out the side in the American ninth. And Colorado’s Aaron Cook looked really tough in the tenth, surviving two Dan Uggla errors by inducing three ground balls in a row against some really tough hitters, Sizemore and Longoria and Morneau.
Yeah, it was mostly pitching and pageantry but I’ll remember the catching too. And those very nice pegs to the plate.
No comments:
Post a Comment