It’s been awhile since I have done a live blog, so what better time to do one than the 80th All-Star game in St. Louis. I have always been a big fan of the All-Star game, so this should be fun. I am just praying this game does not go deep into extra innings like last year’s game.
Game – American League vs. National League
Date – 7/14/09
Starting Lineups
American League
1. Ichiro Suzuki, RF
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Mark Teixeira, 1B
5. Jason Bay, LF
6. Josh Hamilton, CF
7. Michael Young, 3B
8. Aaron Hill, 2B
9. Roy Halladay, P
National League
1. Hanley Ramirez, SS
2. Chase Utley, 2B
3. Albert Pujols, 1B
4. Ryan Braun, RF
5. Raul Ibanez, LF
6. David Wright, 3B
7. Shane Victorino, CF
8. Yadier Molina, C
9. Tim Lincecum, P
Top 1st
Tim Lincecum deals the first pitch of the 80th All-Star game at 8:50 est time and it is ripped by Ichiro down the rightfield line, but foul.
Starting this game at 8:50 est. pretty much eliminates anyone under the age of 15 who lives on the east coast from seeing the end of this game – good job Bud Selig
Ichiro rips a single to right. He is such a good hitter. Being down 0-2 in the count didn’t phase Ichiro one bit.
OUCH!!! With two strikes, Derek Jeter gets hit in the hand with a changeup. Every Yankee fan just took a deep breath. Jeter appears okay.
Lincecumis really all over the place in this inning. He quickly falls behind Mauer 3-1.
Wow, what a quick play by Molina. Mauer hits a ball a foot infront of home plate, Molina pounced on it, and got Ichiro at third. Wright made a terrible throw to first, which pulled Pujols off the bag. Mauer would have been out with a good throw.
Teixeira hits a slow groundball that hits off of Pujols’ glove and goes into short rightfield. Jeter scores to make 1-0 American League.
That was a potential double play ball that Pujols mishandled. Some bad defense by the NL in the first inning. They should be out of this inning.
First and second with one out for Jason Bay.
Bay singles to center. Bases loaded.
Boy, the NL is really asleep on defense. Hamilton gets a hard groundball to first, Pujols gets Bay at second, but Lincecum is late covering first, and the run scores.
2-0 American League. We can eliminate Tim Lincecum from winning the MVP award tonight.
Michael Young grounds to Wright for the third out.
Not a very good start for the NL.
Bottom 1st
Hanley Ramirez leading off for the NL, hits a rope, but right to Aaron Hill. One out.
How many recruiting talks do you think Roy Halladay has gotten in the past two days? 40? 50?
Halladay gets Chase Utley to ground out to Teixeira. Two quick outs here in the bottom of the first.
Now here comes Pujols. Maybe he will make up for that terrible error he made in the top of the first.
Pujols hitting, Mauer catching, and Halladay pitching – it doesn’t get any better than that.
Michael Young is the man. Pujols hits a frozen rope to third. I mean a real screamer. Young snags it and casually throws to first to get Pujols. Now that is how you play defense.
After one it’s 2-0 American League
Top 2nd
Hill grounds to Ramirez for the first out.
Roy Halladay is hitting. I don’t think he planned on this happening. With the luck the Blue Jays have been having with injuries, Halladay will get clocked in the hand here.
He doesn’t and Halladay K’s for the second out.
A much better start to the second inning for Lincecum.
Ichiro hits a linedrive, but right at Braun in rightfield for the third out.
Bottom 2nd
Braun flies out to center for the first out.
President Obama is in the booth with McCarver and Buck. Obama is neck and neck with Bill Clinton as the president you would most want to hang out with.
Ibanez grounds to Hill for the second out. Halladay is making this look easy.
Even when Halladay gives up hits, he splinters bats. Wright bloops one to rightcenter for a hit. His bat shattered in a 100 pieces.
Victorino singles to right. First and second with two outs for Molina.
How about this. Molina singles to center, Wright scores, and Hamilton trying to throw out Victorino at third – hits him in the back and the ball rolls into foul territory.
Victorino scores andwe are tied at two. Molina goes to second on the throw.
Last night’s HR Derby champion Prince Fielder will hit for Lincecum.
Amazing how quickly things change in an inning. Halladay was crusing and a broken bat got a rally started.
Fielder smokes one down the leftfield line for a ground rule double. Molina scores and it is now 3-2 NL.
Ramirez grounds to Hill for the third out.
What an inning for the NL. Three runs with two outs.
After two complete in St. Louis, it’s 3-2 National League
Top 3rd
This is odd, Cardinals’ closer Ryan Franklin is in the game for the NL. I don’t think I have ever seen a closer come into an All-Star game this early before.
Jeter grounds to Utley for the first out.
Mauer lines to Pujolsfor the second out.
Teixeira grounds weakly to Pujols for the third out.
Well that was easy for Franklin. A very impressive inning.
Bottom 4th
Chicago White Sox lefty, Mark Buehrle into the game for the AL. With Buehrle pitching, this inning might last five minutes.
Utley hits a can of corn to center. One down.
Man, does Buerhle work quickly.
Pujols grounds to Teixeira for the second out. Teixeira showed his range on that groundball, as he played that way off the bag at first.
Braun grounds to Jeter at short and in less than five minutes the inning is over.
I wish more pitchers worked like Buerhle.
It’s still 3-2 NL after three.
Top 4th
We start the fourth and McCarver and Buck have been very tolerable tonight. It must be a full moon.
Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks is now in the game for the NL.
One pitch, one out. Bay flies out to Braun in right.
Hamilton flies out to semi-deep center.
Young singles to left. Michael Young loves playing in All-Star games.
Aaron Hill up. Every kid outside of Toronto just asked their dad “who is that?”
Hill grounds hard to Hanley Ramirez, but Ramirez gobbles it up, and gets Hill to end the inning.
Bottom 4th
Just saw a commercial for the new GI Joe movie. It looks terrible. I was a HUGE GI Joe fan growing up, so I hope the movie is better than it looks. I am not optimistic.
The Kansas City Royals’ Zack Greinke is in for the AL.
One pitch, one out. Ibanez pops up to Young at third.
I hope Greinke goes two innings tonight. It will let the world see who he is.
And this is why – Greinke throws a wicked slider to Wright to strike him out. That was nasty.
Greinke just toyed with Victorino. Got him to swing at a pitch in the dirt and two feet out of the strike zone.
One-two-three for Greinke
This game is moving rather quickly. Still 3-2
Top 5th
The next pitcher for the NL is the Dodgers’ Chad Billingsley.
Carl Crawford hitting for Greinke.
Crawford hits a single to center. With Crawford at first and Molina behind the plate, this should be interesting.
What a great play by Chase Utley. Ichiro hits a ball between first and second, Utley gets the ball, pivots, andgets the lead runner in Crawford at second.
What a great play. Ichiro now at first with one out and Jeter up.
My roommate from college Odie just sent me a text “Ichiro is a dope, let crawford steal.” I agree. The fastest man in baseball is on first and Ichiro is up there hacking.
The NL is flashing some leather. Jeter hits on his classic inside-out balls to the right side, but Pujols dives andgets the lead runner at second.
The first inning must have been a wake up call for the NL.
This brings up Mauer with Jeter on first and now two outs.
Is Joe Mauer the best hitter in the game right now or what? Billingsley throws a curve on the outer half and instead of trying to pull the ball, Mauer goes with the pitch and laces it down the leftfield line.
Jeter running all the way, scores from first. We are now tied at three.
Pujols really wants to make up for that first inning error. He makes another diving stop off of a Teixeira groundball and flips to Billingsley for the third out.
Pujols saves a run, but the AL ties the game heading into the bottom of the 5th.
Bottom 5th
Edwin Jackson the new pitcher for the AL
What is the story with hitters swinging at the first pitch when there is a new pitcher in the game?
Molina on the first pitch grounds to short for out No. one.
Ryan Zimmerman up at the plate. Zimmerman replaced Wright in the top half of the inning and is batting in the pitchers spot.
Zimmerman just missed one. He flies out to deep centerfield.
Ramirez on the first pitch grounds out to Young at third.
Wow what an inning for Jackson. Four pitches and three outs. Not a bad day’s work.
3-3 still as we head to the bottom of the sixth
Bottom 6th
The all-time saves leader, Trevor Hoffman into the game
The first batter he will face is the Orioles’ Adam Jones. Right now every Mariners’ fan is saying “I can’t believe we got rid of this guy.” Jones is hitting in Jason Bay’s spot in the lineup.
Jones hits a rocket to right, but Hawpe tracks it down at the warning track. One out.
Hoffman is not fooling anyone. Hamilton jumps all over the first pitch and singles to right.
Young hits a hard groundball, but right at Utley. After a brief bobble, Utley and Tejada are able to turn the four-six-three double play.
I was a little surprised Hoffman was used so early. I would have thought because he is the all-time saves leader, he would have been used to close out the game.
Bottom 6th
The Seattle Mariners’ ace Felix Hernandez has been called upon to pitch for the AL.
Orlando Hudson will hit for Utley andmost likely come into the game to play second.
Okay, once again we are first pitch swinging. This game counts right Bud?
Hudson hits one deep to right but Adam Jones is there for the first out.
Pujolsgrounds to short for the second out.
Not too many people on the east coast get to see “King Felix” pitch, but he is a dandy. He really can become a legit ace. He has no-hit stuff every time he goes to the mound.
Justin Upton is now hitting for Ryan Braun. A great matchup here of two of the best young players in the game.
Another groundball to short. The sure-handed Jason Bartlett gets Upton to end the inning.
We are getting down to the nitty gritty as Gorilla Monsoon used to say.
Top 7th
Classy move by Charlie Manuel as he lets Pujols go out to take warmups andthen replaces him with Gonzalez so he can get a standing ovation from the Cardinal fans.
Francisco Cordero is the new pitcher in the game for the NL. He is the Cincinnati Reds’ lone representative for tonight.
Aaron Hill up for the third time and he flies out to Upton in in left.
Crawford up for the second time. On the first pitch he grounds to Tejada at short. Two outs.
Justin Morneau up for the AL. He replaced Teixeira at first and is hitting Ichiro’s spot.
That was a quick inning for Cordero. He gets Morneau to line weakly to Zimmerman at third.
Bottom 8th
My buddy Tom just sent me a text “Close game and these idiot managers are using pitchers for one inning each.” Kind of agree. With a lot of the pitchers having pitched on Sunday and after last year’s marathon, I am surprised pitchers aren’t going more than one inning.
A new inning, a new pitcher for the AL. Jonathan Papelbon is in the game for the AL.
OH WOW!!! Carl Crawford makes the play of the game so far. Brad Hawpe on Papelbon’s first pitch (of course) hit a fly ball deep to left and Crawford leaped over the wall to make the catch and rob Hawpe of a HR. Great catch.
Two pitches and two bombs off of Papelbon. Miguel Tejada flies out to deep right but Adam Jones is there to make the catch.
Papelbon is pitching to Victor Martinez. A sign of the future?
Papelbon is throwing his fastball at 89 mph. Someone should tell him this game counts.
Papelbon strikes out Jayson Werth to end the inning. That fastball was 94 mph, so Papelbon got into the groove towards the end of the AB.
It’s still 3-3 heading into the eigth and this game has extra innings written all over it. Lovely
Top 8th
Heath Bell is into the game for the National League.
The first pitch he throws is over the head of Jason Bartlett. Nice pitch.
Bell does better on his second pitch as he gets Bartlett to ground to short.
Curtis Granderson up for the AL. He crushes one to left and the ball hits off the base of the wall. Granderson digs for third and he makes it.
Grandersonat third with one out and the infield comes in.
Victor Martinez is up and he is getting intentionally walked. That stinks for Martinez. Manuel is walking Martinez to get to Adam Jones.
HeathBell looks like his heart is racing a million beats per second.
Well, Manuel’s strategy backfires as Jones hits one to the warning track in right. Granderson scores to make it 4-3.
Kevin Youkilis is up for the first time and he promptly singles to center.
First and second with two outs for the Rays’ Ben Zobrist.
Bell gets Zobrist swinging, but the damage was done. One run on two hits and two runners left on base.
At the end of seven and a half, it’s the American League four and the National League three
Bottom 8th
New York native Joe Nathan in the game for the American League. The AL is going to go with Nathan for the eighth andthen Mariano Rivera for the ninth. The NL is in trouble.
The Braves and Ron Kittle impersonator, Brian McCann up at the plate to face Nathan.
McCannon a 2-1 pitch pops up to Martinez behindthe plate. One down here in the bottom of the eighth.
Zimmerman swinging at the first pitch, flies to right for the second out.
Here is the best player that nobody knows about – Adrian Gonzalez
FOX just showed Bud Selig with George Will. And there is your reason for a baseball team in Washington.
Good AB by Gonzalez. Down in the count 1-2 and he works a walk.
Another two out rally by the NL. Hudson singles up the middle and now we have first andthird with two outs.
Ryan Howard is coming up to pinch hit. Manuel was picking his spot for Howard and this is it. Very similar to the 2003 All-Star game in Chicago where Mike Scioscia was picking his spot for Hank Blalock in the late innings.
Blalock hit a pinch hit two-run HR off of Eric Gagne to give the AL the win.
They just showed Brian Fuentes warming up. Well, if he is not in the game to face Howard why on earth is he warming up?
Howard is swinging for the downs. Two fastballs, two Ruthian cuts, and now it is 0-2.
Hudson steals second. That’s kind of a good and bad move. Good in that it eliminates the double play and now a single scores two runs. Bad in that this might take the bat out of Howard’s hands.
No 2003 moment here as Howard swings at a pitch in the dirt for strike three.
We head to the ninth with the AL still clinging to a 4-3 lead
Top 9th
The next pitcher up for the National League is the New York Mets’ Francisco Rodriguez.
His first batter will be the Tigers’ Brandon Inge. Of course Inge swings at the first pitch and grounds to short.
Carl Crawford up. He is 1-2. With his catch and with nobody else really standing out tonight, he might win the MVP.
Striking out won’t help his cause. That was a great changeup by Krod.
Morneau rips one into the left-centerfield gap, Werth tracks it down, and makes the catch. What a catch by a guy who is normally not a centerfielder.
This is it. We head to the bottom of the ninth with the AL leading 4-3
Bottom 9th
If the NL is going to come back, they are going to have to do it against the best in the business in Mariano Rivera
Justin Upton will try to get things started for the National League.
Barlettis silky smooth at short. He made a tough, back-handed play look very easy. He gets Upton for the first out
Brad Hawpe, who was robbed of a HR by Carl Crawford will try to hit one a little further against Rivera.
Joe Buck just said Brad Hawpe is a very good defensive rightfielder. I am guessing Buck hasn’t seen Hawpe’s UZR lately.
Hawpe goes down looking on a perfect pitch on the outside corner.
Now it’s up to Miguel Tejada to keep it alive. He doesn’t.
Tejada pops up to Zobrist at second to end the game.
That’s a wrap. The American League wins again 4-3. The American League will have homefield advantage in the World Series.
Like I suspected, Carl Crawford wins the MVP award. This might be the first time in All-Star game history that a guy won the award for a catch.
It was a good game, well played, and it only took 2:31 to play. A little disappointed that Tim Wakefield didn’t get to pitch, but what can you do.
Over 3,000 words later, I am calling it a night. Good night everyone!!!
