It was great seeing Ryno there as well.

Seeing replays this morning, it appeared that Dioner Navarro got his foot to the plate just before he was tagged in the 11th inning, so the game could have ended an hour earlier than it did. And Justin Morneau looked like he got tagged just before he scored the eventual winning run—so the worst night last night was had by plate umpire Derryl Cousins.

That’s a pretty subjective claim. I thought the plate umpire was calling a good game. Had a pretty consistent strike zone the whole time back there.

Even though it didn’t end in a tie something has to be done to prevent that from happening. Aside from the stupid home field advantage thing, they need to introduce free substitution and re-entry by position players.
To solve the pitching problem, each manager shoud have to have two of his minor league pitchers sit in the bullpen and they could be the long relievers.
Imagine being a Baltimore fan this morning, your closer just went longer than he had in any regular season game, and it will most likely benifit a team in your division.

because of the game last night and I didn’t even stay up till the end. The entire game I felt the NL would somehow lose the game and they did.

It is ridiculous that the All-Star game determines homefield in the World Series but with a contending team like the Cubs I definitely watched a lot more than I would have without that rule.

i just cant get over the fact that this guy is legitimately a shutdown pitcher when he commands his pitches. the AL can have their home field advantage, with our pitching and our offense this cubs team doesnt need it come october—if they get there.

2 Games in Detroit, 3 in STL.

hated the outcome. Uggla probably wishes he stayed home LOL. The one thing I am glad is that his fielding didn’t affect the outcome, but his at bats did.

ALso glad the Cub pitchers pitched very well, too bad our bats didn’t show up, but most of the NL’s bats were silenced all night as well.

If the Cubs get to play in the big dance, hopefully we’ll be a better road team by then.

I had the same view last night, remarking on the fact that none of the recent world series games even went to game 7. But then right after I said that I thought about the fact that the team with home field advantage plays their first two games at home (correct?) allowing them to gain a huge momentum (confidence?) boost. But what is the saying… momentum is only as good as tomorrows starter?

Boston was down 3 games to 1 against Cleveland last year, IIRC. If a team can play them one at a time and forget the previous game, it has and can be done. Look at Boston a few years ago when they were down 3 games to none to the Yankees , down to the 9th inning.

I know the stats show 2 k’s, but I can’t find MLB’s video box score that would allow me to watch his inning. How did he look? How was the slider? Did he hit three or more batters?

mostly magical. When I realized what they were doing, I was laughing inside waiting to see Ryne and Joe Morgan shaking hands. I never saw Joe, did I miss him?

I also saw my first zombie last night. I guess the reports that Steinbrenner’s health is poor is an understatement. He looked beyond awful.

I saved the rest of the intros on Tivo so my son can watch it later this week.

Where were those guys?

I thought Whitey Ford looked incredible for a man pushing 80. I can only hope to look that good at that age.

Z, Demp, Marmol all looked very impressive last night.

....to think of how many HOFers from the golden age are going to be gone soon. It feels like a small part of baseball is dying with them. I’m not sure the future of the game excites me that much beyond the prospect of the Cubs winning. Nevertheless, it was very moving to see those greats out there.

Also, it kinda blew my mind how quickly the crowd left. There was a large number gone in 9th inning.

Fox turning the game into the “Terry Francona Angst-Fest”. Ohhh… Terry’s such a nice guy but he’s got to be agonizing over his short pitching staff. Kazmir, Kazmir, Kazmir and how Terry’s such a nice guy blah, blah, blah. How about the NL? Webb, Lincecum and Dempster all went deep on Sunday (although I only remember them mentioning Dempster once, and even that was an afterthought)

Finally, one time they were talking about Francona and his “predicament”, then mentioned that “the guy in the other dugout” had to make some tough decisions, too.

I felt sad watching Mike Schmidt and Wade Boggs up there taking their bows, thinking that the man that probably paved the way the most for them (meaning the guy who helped turn 3b into an offensive power position) was back at home in Chicago, probably in bed already.

I’ll be making the trip with all of you to Cooperstown next year, and I look forward to giving Santo the high five he deserves.

Hope this ASG experience gave him some hints to bring himself back to getting into full swing.
I’d sometimes witnessed his slump when he was a Dragon, but his bad time was shortened after he changed his hitting form in 2005-2006 training camp.
Below is a Japanese news show to tell about this ASG… I am not sure who those 2 big guys are ;-)

I was in and out of the threads so perhaps I didn’t grasp the full context, and who knows – maybe you did something to deserve it, but I don’t see how that’s possible.

Anyway, I just want to apologize for all the “AL sucks” comments last night. I have no idea where they were coming from or why, but you don’t deserve that. No one does…

...well, except for a certain left handed slugger in denial, a certain right handed pitcher in denial,a certain commish in denial, and a certain woo woo we wish was in de Nile… ;-)

Anyone catch Yogi Berra call Joe Buck “Jack” about 3 or 4 times? Joe just kind of looked down each time he said it.

I was dreaming at this point but how did Marmol’s inning go?

I’ve always had a crush on Marlee (even though she’s 15 years my senior), and apparently she’s from Morton Grove. This picture just completes the fantasy. The Greek braod in the middle ain’t bad either.

Just missed his flight. It went right between his legs. He tried to get on the next flight but he struck out.

He will probably not be near the bleachers during batting practice next weekend.

and they continued to use the old system, I think the AL would have had home field this year anyway.

I believe that the AL had home field in even years and the NL in odd years…

while the AL had legitimate all-starss

I sure it was written about earlier, but the Umps at 2nd and home had a bad night.

Fox had more Camera angles than normal, but 2 runners were clearly safe at 2nd that were called out on Steals and two plays at the plate were wrong one each way.

Perhaps the MLB needs a Room like the NHL in Toronto. just kidding

Clint Hurdle running Aaron Cook out there 3 innings is beyond me. I was at a sportsbar in Denver watching last night and all the Rockies fans were blown away by this. Talk about favoritism. After letting runners get to third base in the first two innings he pitched, being bailed out on a call by the umpire, he goes out there AGAIN!

the best part was seeing Ryno out at 2nd base during the pre-game festivities WITHOUT seeing Joe Morgan’s smug ass out there too.

Bud could of said teams that make the WS with best record at end of season gets home field.

Both the CUBS & Angels are tied for best record right now so the AL & NL are at the same spot

If Cubs make the World Series I have to fly in from New York for the games, as the
Cubs would have the middle 3 games at least two would be weekend games so I don’t
have to take the days off of work and it is also easier for me to book a flight. I have
enough miles ( roughly 250,000 on 3 different airlines) to hopefully cover post season needs. I am hoping new airline cutbacks won’t be a problem. I have never used miles
for anything but Cub “special” occasions.

My wife usually runs and hides every time I say this, because a matter-of-fact speech soon follows:

First off, blow up the ASG. A meaningless exhibition that only serves as a needless injury risk, Give the players, managers, coaches, etc. a much needed week’s rest to visit the family.

Second, make the World Series experience more like the Super Bowl, in that you designate one locale as the site of the contests ahead of time and hype the hell out of it. Ideally it should be a warm weather city or one with a retractable roof and plenty of hotel rooms. Or invest in the infrastructure of Cooperstown and build new roads, accommodations, and a 40,000 seat stadium. As far as home field advantage, award it to the club with the best record. What’s most important is to sell this concept as a NATIONAL CELEBRATION OF THE GAME as well as a championship series.

maybe i’m reading into it too much, but i saw it as a playful “payback” pitch for manny not moving his warm up bat and causing soto to fall

funny moment none-the-less….aramis agreed

The league that posts the best interleague record for that season?

But Tejada played great. and I hate the astros more then almost anybody. But he made a couple of really good plays both with his baserunning and his glove. I think you gotta hand it to him, he gave it his all. If everyone played like him that game for the NL we would have killed the AL. However, I still strongly dislike the guy and the team he plays for.

no one has berated Hart for his awful, inexcusably bad technique on that shallow fly ball that scored the winning run. He didn’t wait to charge the ball so he had any momentum, and he caught the ball practically flat-footed behind his head. Oh yeah…and the runner tagging up at third base was a catcher. FAIL.

included in ESPN highlight package here

if not Clint Hurdle for bringing him in the first place. Wilson was throwing gas last night and I saw no reason to bring him out. Wagner did a fine job of giving up a GR double to Longoria to tie the game though. Reminds me of I think 06? when Hoffman was brought in and gave up the go ahead HR to Michael Young (who coincidentally had the GW RBI last night).

I understand lifting him for a pinch runner and all. However, Guzman, (as well as he played), isn’t a third baseman.

Carlos Quentin says of the game last night, “Both teams were going at really hard.” Anyone?

The legends intro was outstanding. 2 things. Wade Boggs wears a Yankee hat? He played the majority of his career in Boston. I bet if the game was at Fenway, he would’ve wore a Sox hat. Tony Gwynn? What the hell? He looks like he’s pushing 400 lbs.

Pujols was safe at 2nd initially but he took his foot off the bag anyway so he really was out. Navarro was safe at home, I watched that replay 10 times. Great game all in all.

Dan Uggla needs to have a movie night!

He did well last night, but he still did not have the killer stuff that he sometimes does. For example, when he is really on, he can consistently throw the backup slider that appears to be coming inside to a right-hand hitter, but pops into the strike zone at the last second. He tried for that one once last night, but it did not pop all of the way back in the strike zone. He made that pitch once last night, too, and got the backup movement.

I am not sure whether some rest will get him back to the consistent, electric movement that he used to have. I hope so. He does need more composure, as Dempster and Wood have learned to have, when he does not have his best stuff, or when the umpire is not calling the edge of the plate slider. Maybe that is what Lou is trying to drill into him.

I think for most All-Stars that don’t give a rip about the final score. I can understand why.

I’m just sayin. Youkilis is a dead ringer for Al absent some of the wrinkles.

“so the worst night last night was had by plate umpire Derryl Cousins.”

My vote goes to Uggla by far. Not only did his three errors almost lose the game for the NL, but he also grounded into a DP with a runner on 3rd.

Discussion was how to change ASG to protect players and avoid embarrassment.

How would you feel if they limited the game to 10 innings and brought in 12 pitchers with the rule that no pitcher throw more than one inning?

Would anyone feel cheated about not having a ‘winner’ if they saw 10 innings? Use some equally random determinate as a tiebreak for Home Field

Traditionally, ML teams don’t announce trades between the Friday before the ASG and the game itself—so as not to detract from the game itself. Now it’s the day after the ASG, so…

I wonder if the Cubs are going to be finalizing a trade for Marquis or Wuertz today or tomorrow? There is no reason to keep Marshall on the roster as a RP (Cotts has done a good job and Eyre is almost ready to return) - he would be better off staying stretched out at Iowa - except that Lou may have him penciled in (with invisible ink) to make Jason Marquis’s next start after a trade.

(Note that the 10 day rule for options is not waived if a player is traded, only if a player is put on the DL.)

Eyre would probably replace Hart on the roster (and honesty compels me to admit that Hart doesn’t look like a ML pitcher this year), but that would still leave them with 13 pitchers.

Anyone have any ideas?

Next question: which position player comes up when they go down to 12 pitchers? Hoffpauir (who basically duplicates Ward)? Pie? Do they just wait for Sori? The one downside of the Harden trade is that it robs us of our ML ready position player depth.

because of his contract. He has also had a few good starts ( admittedly against the lowly
hitting Giants) Marshall will stay till Eyre comes back. I think the move you are missing
is Lieber. He is the pitching version of Murton, a useful player Lou has no faith in but
could be very useful to another team. I am sure Phillies, Yankees or Mets would be glad
to have him and not like we use him for much of anything.

all of the game but saw highlights this morning. I wish the NL would have won but they didn’t. This just means the Cubs have to find ways to win on the road. They do that and if they make it to the WS they should be ok.

Very happy to see that our pitchers did very well. Hope Marmol’s outing is a step to him being his old self.

Friday seems years away doesn’t it?