White Hat Sports Headlines

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Impromptu Jogging Diary for the 79th All-Star Game, 12th Inning Edition


As the 79th All-Star game is still knotted at 3 in the top of the 11th, I felt now is a good time to pound out some thoughts so far from tonight.

~I apologize for missing the live chat, the wireless went down at my house and left me with no other options and I had already banged out a column this afternoon sitting outside of the local hotel in town. (Hamilton’s Derby, a classic If I have ever possibly written one. I have to go Paulie Walnuts on this phrase, "Did you hear what I said, I said it's a classic if I've ever written one.")

~Corey Hart just came to the plate and I swear below Joe Buck I heard Sunglasses at Night being played. Bill Simmons should finally feel vindicated, he was bitter of this here.

~The fans of New York hate Jonathan Papelbon, they booed him. He is the home team and is playing with Yankees players. Yankees fans just booed their own team. Disgraceful. I was starting to get a nostalgic feeling about this all-star game, like when it mattered. Because for two days I’ve heard all about the old days when the Senior Circuit dominated and how bad guys like George Brett felt only winning one all-star game in his career. Now this sort of thing happens and the Yankee fans just took it all away. Not only did Ken Rosenthal say that Papelbon didn’t mean to say that he is better than Rivera or anything of that nature, Tim “I played for Boston but got cut during the Impossible Dream season and I’m still bitter about it so I hate the Red Sox to this day” McCarver just agreed with him! What a bunch of degenerates.

~On a shot of the line up card at the beginning of the 11th inning it showed that Francona had written Sandman in stead of Rivera after he came in for Rodriguez. Make me wonder if he is refered to that by the Red Sox all the time or what? I think about things like this, A LOT.

~ Is it Chevy or Fox who said “Hey, let’s play the sappy, “Shoeless” Joe is walking out of the cornfield music, coming and going from each and every commercial break?”

~Did Joe Buck really talking glowingly about Kevin Youkilis for 2 straight minutes before his first at-bat in the second inning? Another funny moment involving Youk and McCarver. Tim said that the Red Sox players got booed before the game, except for Youkilis, who got “The best ovation of the night for a Red Sox player.” They then play the clip of Youkilis being announced and the crowd boos him off the field. The great part is even after hanging himself with that statement, McCarver talks about his ovation like they threw a parade just for him when he came out of the dugout. I think McCarver might be self medicating.

~ Navarro just got gunned out at the plate in the 11th inning. By the way, if Kinsler doesn’t get hosed on the missed call on the caught stealing, J.D. Drew’s single would have won the game, won home field for the American League, and maybe even given Drew the game’s MVP award. I’m not bitter, I’m just saying. We’re now heading for the 12th and this is becoming an impromptu Jogging Diary! The first in history, “There is only one White Hat Sports Page.
~ My started making the battery is dying noise and the charger is all the way upstairs. You guessed it, my phone is now completely dead because I refused to go all the way upstairs and get the charger. You better be thankful that my laptop was laying at my feet the entire game or else this might never have happened.

~ They are now going for inning number two with the Joakim Soria Experience. I’m excited to see how it turns out.

~ Miguel Tejada is really playing like a seasoned veteran who doesn’t know how many of these year’s he has left. Honestly, nobody knows how many years’ he has left. Thank you, I’ll be here all week. (Presuming my wireless gets fixed tomorrow.)

~National League is threatening first and second with nobody out in the 12 off The Experience. Sac bunt and the runners are now in scoring position with 1 away. Speaking of the ageless wonder, Tejada is getting intentionally walked to face Dan Uggla with the bases loaded. Just to recap Uggla’s night to this point. He took over at 2nd in the 6th, he struck out in the 7th, hit into a DP his next at bat and then committed two errors in the 10th that the NL was lucky to survive. HE IS DUE!

~I will take this moment to announce this is now the longest all-star game in MLB history by time. Uggla strikes out and Francona is now going to his bullpen to bring in George Sherrill leaving him with only Scotty Kaz left in the cupboard. (That is the weirdest slang in the history of this website. Is that a niche? And with that I need a drink.)

~I’ve got some orange juice (straight…….from the carton) and George Sherrill chews up and spits out Adrian Gonzalez with the bases loaded. Here are some unofficial stats from tonight:
12 innings, 6 total runs scored and 896 runners stranded on base. These are the unofficial tally.

~ Had to flip channels during the commercial break and caught AWA Wrestling on ESPN Classic just in time to see Adrian Adonis put the sleeper on a guy and almost kill him. I take that as an omen that this game is about to end. (You will never see a comment like that on any other website, I swear.)

~ Dan Uggla looks like any Red Sox infielder from the pre-winning the World Series Era, just real afraid that he’s going to be the next guy blamed for the loss. Longoria is up, or as I see him, the closest person who if they hit a walk off would take the MVP tonight from J.D Drew. I can’t root against the AL, but I can root for Longoria to walk here. He strikes out and Aaron Cook looks like Don Newcombe right now. Glad he wasn’t like this in the World Series last year.

~ Justin Morneau is being walked so Cook can face Alfred P. Newman AKA Ian Kinsler. Someone should tell Hurdle that Kinsler is hitting .337 this season, Lou Pinella might want to at least mention that to Clint. (I have noticed lately that there is a serious lack of people named Clint these days. I think Clint Eastwood just set the bar so high that people look at their kids and say, “Naw, he’s not cool enough to name Clint.” I swear this is happening all over the country ever since Clint played Dirty Harry. Newman grounds out to 3rd and we head to the 13th inning.

~Did I just see correctly on ESPN Classic’s bottom line that the Clippers just got Marcus Camby for a 2nd round pick in 2010?

~ “Yankee Stadium just doesn’t want to let go of this one,” I swear Joe Buck just said this coming out of the break.
David Wright just hit a milestone on a broken bat flair to centerfield, the first hit I’ve even see him get in a game I was watching. I swear the guy makes an out every time I’m watching him. Guzman is squaring to bunt, Carlos Marmol is warming and Brad Lidge has warmed up and thrown 6 innings and has given up 3 home runs in the bullpen tonight.

~ How tempting is it for Terry Fracona to throw Scott Kazmir out there right now for the 14th inning if we get there? The guy just threw 100+ pitches on Sunday and Francona could push a guy over the edge who has had a lot of trouble with injuries while his team is just a half game up on the Rays? That is tempting.

~ The teams are a combined 3-27 with runners in scoring position. This is probably cutting into my Sopranos Bedtime.
“They’re not respecting the Bing.” Silvio Dante

~ Random note that I texted Jackson during the pre-game ceremonies. How bad does George Steinbrenner look right now? In the words of my grandmother he looks like death warmed over. I put the over under on time until he dies on September 1st.
Drew is facing Carlos Marmol, I have a feeling. That feeling apparently was that Dan Uggla was going to botch another play. Is it a hit? If it is, its Drew’s third hit of the night? Nope, error, third of the night for Uggla.

~Clint Hurdle is chewing gum so hard right now that it’s causing his hat to bounce up and down on every chew. How alert am I over here?
It’s weird, up until about 3 weeks ago I always pictured Sergio Mitre when I thought of Carlos Marmol, and I’m really not sure why. I’ve seen Marmol pitch this season but come to think of it, every time I have seen him pitch it has been at a distance and usually at a bar.

~ Drew steals second, just buffing that resume right now. Something from Quintin right here could end this. (How many times have I said that tonight? 37.)
Quintin strikes out, and we head to the 14th inning. Joe Buck comments on how much we have heard the majestic music tonight, I have a feeling he’s going to bubble a bottle of Wild Turkey after this one’s over with.
Now for the moment of truth, does Francona bring in Kazmir? Nope, and George Sherrill gives up a shot to Nate McLouth that doesn’t quite get out of the yard. WHEW.

~ George Sherrill has pitched longer tonight than in any other outing this season. Somewhere Dave Trembley is drunk and angry right now.

~ Jeter is signing autographs for fans behind the dugout and Brandon Webb is now in the game. Lincecum is unavailable because he’s in the hospital right now. So Webb is the “break glass in case of emergency” pitcher for the NL, Kazmir is for the AL. Who knew when I started this Jogging Diary that I’d end up going for than an inning or two we are going on 3 innings now and I’m getting worn down. Someone needs to knock one out of here and soon. Joe Buck says the clock is ticking on this one if Kazmir comes into this game.
By the way, Clint Hurdle has gone to Brandon Webb before he went to Brad Lidge. He is saving his closer in this game and throwing a guy who just had a start two days ago. This game just got a weird playoff feel to it and I’m afraid it might be in part because it’s being played at Yankee Stadium. Wow, Fox’s brainwashing efforts took hold of me there for a second. I’m back now and Longoria is gone, 15th inning, here we come.

~ Kazmir is in, all hell has broken loose and Dan Uggla has struck out again. Kazmir gets out of the 15th inning and apparently Ken Rosenthal is texting with the Rays GM right now. I think we might look back at this moment as a milestone for baseball sideline people. Peter Gammons is the pioneer of it, Chris Myers was steady and Ken Rosenthal was the innovator that took the art to the next level.

~ Lidge is in, I smell soul crushing home run. Morneau singles, and of course the AL isn’t bunting right here. I guess they feel confident in the power of Ian Kinsler in this situation. Ryan Ludwick makes a great catch to rob Kinsler of a base hit. What a game this really is, runners have been stranded, caught stealing, pick offs, home runs, comebacks, and I just found out that Kevin Youkilis drinks something called Slump buster. How did they get a fat woman in a can?
Navarro singles and now J.D Drew is now up with two on and one out and Joe Buck is practically begging him to get a base hit. The count runs full, Francona check his watch, Lidge looks into Brian McCann, Lidge has the one he wants, the pitch: ball four. Michael Young comes up with the bases loaded. Joe Buck isn’t even masking it anymore, he just said “Here we go again.”
Fly ball, the play at the plate, SAFFFFFFEEEEEE. The American League wins it, 4 hours, 50 minutes long and the game ends. Francona looks like a little kid who just got a new bike for Christmas when the game ends. Kazmir wins, Lidge loses, and now the only question is who wins the MVP and the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid? You know who gets my vote, Drew. It’s pretty wide open though, we shall see.

~ J.D wins it, the trophy and a 2009 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid. What a night for J.D Drew and for Baseball. A great night a 5 hour all-star game and now I get two days to rest up before the Red Sox resume play on the West coast on Friday night.


Sterling Pingree

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