Question #28: This one counts?
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- July
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All-Star weekend, or whatever you want to call these three days, has been terrific so far, much better than I anticipated. The home run derby was shockingly good … at least while Josh Hamilton was hitting in that first round. Today the collection of Hall of Famers was amazing. I’m sure the ceremonies at the Stadium tonight will be all you could imagine and more.
But what about the game? Do you think it could be a great event on its own … say, if this weren’t Yankee Stadium. And what do you make of that “it counts” thing with the home field for the World Series on the line?
I think it’s bogus and contrived. Home field only means something if a series gets to a seventh game, and only one series has gone six since the All-Star game began “counting” in 1993. And there’s no way anybody’s going to go to extraordinary lengths to win the game because of that, especially somebody from a team that’s not going to be competing for the World Series.
I think the guys want to win, but only to a point. In other words, I don’t think Terry Francona is going to pitch Mariano Rivera three innings tonight.
PS, a lot of nonsense has been printed about Francona doing wrong by not naming Rivera his closer tonight. Francona will do the right thing. Trust me. Rivera will close it out if the AL has the lead in the ninth. Francona has known that since his roster was set eight days ago. Probably before that.
From the way I understand it, too, Papelbon’s comments were taken way out of context, and he apparently said all the right things about Rivera. So he said if he were the manager he’d pick himself, based on being the World Series champ and having more saves. So?
He apparently also said a bunch of nice things about Rivera and how he deserved to close here at Yankee Stadium.
What do you think?
Oh, one more thing. I thought of this during the home run derby, and somebody sent me an email today saying the same thing. Do you think the ball might have been juiced for the contest? I mean, did you see where that kid was hitting them? I really think, the next time Texas is here, when he takes batting practice he won’t be able to hit balls where he hit them last night.
7:44 p.m., Sam says:
Here I am, live in the press box at Yankee Stadium getting ready to watch the All-Star Game and, yes, in fact, I’m glad it “counts.” I think one of the best things about the MLB All-Star Game is that it mostly closely resembles a real game, whereas the NBA, NFL and – sorry, Carp – even NHL All-Star Games are such shells of themselves that it’s pretty difficult to justify watching.
Does home-field advantage in a potential Game 7 really make this game that much more important? Hardly. But sometimes something has meaning in what it represents as opposed to what it actually is, and this is one of those times. Having the game “count” helps make the All-Star Game even more real, which is one of the greatest characteristics it has.
Now, as for Papelbon – sorry again Carp, but I was standing right there and absolutely nothing about Papelbon’s comments was blown out of proportion. He spent the better part of an hour saying that choosing the AL closer is “not as cut and dried” as people thought and opining on how the Red Sox winning the World Series (and thus having Francona as the manager) made him somehow equally deserving of the role as Rivera. Did he backtrack later on with the Boston Globe? Yup. But you can’t erase 60 minutes of being an idiot. It doesn’t work that way.
Rivera will close tonight and, hopefully, you’ll all read about it in my column in tomorrow’s paper and on lohud.com.
I probably won’t be watching the all-star game. Better things to do – like watching paint dry. (As I’m literally painting my basement). But also, I don’t think the “counts” think is worth diddly. The AS game didn’t mean much to me before the “counts” thing, and it doesn’t mean much more to me now. The whole World Series thing seems contrived and ludicrous. Honestly, stars from teams that are already out of contention (Indians, Braves, Padres, etc) are going to play harder for teams that are in it?? I don’t think so. So it seems ludicrous that the MLB says “it means something” when to the players in the game, it doesn’t.
As for Papelbutt – Yankee fandom aside, he’s a nincompoop and seems to suffer from foot in mouth disease. See Pete Abe’s blog for said reasons and I won’t polute this blog with them. Good grief.
Thanks Sunny.
I agree, generally, about the all-stars and paint drying. But this being the first big ceremony as we come down the homestretch in this final season of the Stadium makes it pretty special to me. I think this is going to be a fabulous night … before the game begins.
Rick, if you think the ball is juiced, you should watch BP of Josh in Texas or ask a scout. He can really hit that far. It’s amazing the Yankees got another Josh, period Phleps at the same rule 5 draft pick that the reds traded for Hamilton with the Cubs for $50,000. It know he was a high risk then but do any major league team really care $50,000?
Rick, I agree that the Stadium here is the winner of the All Star weekend. But with the MLB trying to make the game something more than the good players in the season (so far) hanging around and having fun is silly. It is what it is – a game that’s supposed to be fun for the players and fans. That 15 inning disaster of a game should have been a 1 1/2 hour tie game. From what I’ve been reading around the news – Kazmir didn’t want to pitch but had to, Mariano went 2 innings, Longoria saved Papelbon’s butt (should have been the closer… next time, just say “Mariano is the best closer ever and this is his time.” The end.), and it was basically a empty nest by the time the game ended. Good job Selig. Totally worth it. (End sarcasm).
I’m really glad to hear tho that you, Pete and Sam had some great moments there. The stadium again, was the star of the show and deservedly so. Now if Selig would just read my new All-Star Game proposal…
Oh and I’d have to agree 100% with Sam’s take on Papelbon’s miscue. He said all the wrong things the entirely wrong way. Pap = Boston’s Arod.
Although, I’d argue that Pap’s idiotic tendencies last a lot longer than 60 minutes. (think years Sam).
I’m not saying that Papelbon’s not a big-mouthed jackass. He is.
All I’m saying is that several Boston writers said he backed off the statements considerably after a while.
And all I’m saying is that this particular quote, which was the anchor to all the negative stories about Papelbon on Tuesday, is hardly incendiary:
“If I was managing the team I would close. I’m not managing the team, so it don’t matter.”
Or this one: “We’ve both earned that right, us by winning the World Series an dhaving the opportunity of having our managter ther and our team being represented, Mariano by what’s he done for this role, we’re in Yankee Stadium, blah, blah, blah.”
If he hadn’t added the blah part, the remark makes a lot of sense. And if those are the two worst things he said, that’s not so bad. And if they aren’t, then why didn’t everybody write the bad stuff?
Backed off or not, the simple fact that he had to back off in the first place indicates that the remarks we’re (and being capable of) interpreted as “I’m better than Mariano.” (Rightly or wrongly). The comments he made were not outright incendiary (like calling Rivera a loser or something equally stupid), but they were implicit enough for people to get an “I’m better than Rivera” implication whether he meant it that way or not.
The appropriate behavior would have been “it’s Riverra’s time and I’m here to support the team in any capacity they see fit”. That’s all he had to say and that would have been the end of it – in fact – there would have been no beginning to this. There’s honesty, which is good, but then there’s brutally honest – which is Pap… He just needs to learn some tact. I know he tried to blame is “competitiveness” (in his retraction) but Pap is in dire need of a filter between his brain and his mouth. I keep thinking of the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon where it goes something like this:
Calvin: Sometimes when I’m talking, my words can’t keep up with my thoughts. I wonder why we think faster than we speak.
Hobbes: Probably so we can think twice.
Paps could learn a thing or two from Hobbes.
not to beat a dead horse… BUT SI.com’s John Heyman also adds this little tidbit:
• Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon was wrong to say he believed he deserved the ninth inning. Francona had it right. That was Rivera’s time. The Yankee Stadium crowd awoke for Papelbon, chanting, “Mar-i-a-no,’‘’ during Papelbon’s one-run eighth inning. Then Rivera followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Even putting aside sentimentality, Rivera has simply been better than Papelbon this year.
You gotta love it when somebody quotes Calvin and Hobbes. Great job, Sunny.