Not an All Star Experience

Last night was the first All Star game that I really felt like watching in a long time. And, all that I accomplished was remembering why I never felt like watching them in the first place. It is cool to see the game's best players on the field at the same time, and the game itself looked to be a good one; going down to the last out. I say "looked to be a good one," because I fell asleep around the 7th inning. And that brings me to my first annoyance from All Star night.
Looking through the guide on my TV, I saw that pregame started at 7:30 and the game started at 8:00. Most of that pregame stuff doesn't really interest me, seeing as how everything has been covered in the days leading up to the game. So I decided to skip it, and tune in at 8:oo for the start of the game. Now, I'm no dummy; I realize that sporting events never start exactly when they say. There is always some intro, the starting lineups, national anthem (don't even get me started on the Chris Issac A Capella version last night), etc. But last night went to new extremes in my experience. 8:54. That is when the first pitch was! I sat there for nearly an hour watching pregame stuff I purposely chose to skip, constantly thinking the first pitch would be right around the corner. Hell, it took 12 minutes just to announce the rosters. New rule: A sporting event may not start later than 20 minutes past its scheduled time.
On to the game. I really thought the NL had a chance to win their first game in a decade. Add that losing streak to the fact that the All Star game is no longer just an exhibition, with the winner gaining home field advantage in the World Series, and you have a lot of pressure on the NL to win. That pressure should not exist in any All Star game. Which brings me to that joke of a rule which gives home field to the winner. This all came about after the All Star game ended in a tie a few years ago. I have one simple question to ask: What is the big deal?! Why must an exhibition game have a winner? Isn't this game for the fans to recognize the game's top performers? Why must there always be a winner in this society? Ok, so that was actually like four questions; some not so simple. But really, it doesn't make sense to me to give the winner of an exhibition match an advantage in the most important series of the season. The vast majority of the players involved in the decision won't even be able to redeem their reward in the World Series. And vice versa; many players in the World Series will have had no say in who has home field advantage. New (old) rule: The team with the best regular season record earns (and actually does earn) home field advantage in the World Series. And in the case where the two pennant winners played in interleague play, then the winner of that series should get home field.
Despite the fact that I have made it abundantly clear that it is asinine to have a meaningless game mean something, it is still important to win the game. NL skipper, Tony LaRussa, made a couple bone-headed moves in my opinion. First, he had Barry Bonds batting second in the lineup. I am by no means a Bonds fan, but I do think he deserved to be in the game because he is still a very dangerous power hitter. That being the case, there was no reason he shouldn't have been hitting cleanup. On top of that, he is about the worst person I can think of to put in that spot. While giving Bonds a few extra hundred home runs in his career, steroids appear to have taken any and all speed this guy used to have. And you don't want your 2-hole hitter who can run, clogging up the bases. Which is exactly what Bonds would have done, had he actually gotten on base. The other move by LaRussa came in the bottom of the ninth, the NL down by one run and down to their final out. Aaron Rowand steps to the plate with the bases loaded and Albert Pujols on the bench, yet to get into the game. Obviously, being a Philly guy, I would have loved to see someone from the Phils win the game for the NL, but I'm not stupid. Pujols is one of the top 5 hitters in all of baseball. AND, LaRussa is his own coach back in St. Louis. LaRussa has gone on record saying that he was saving his guy in case the game went long. My comment to that is: If you don't get a hit right there at that point, the game is over. I hate when managers/coaches, in any sport, conserve/save someone or something for "a future critical time," instead of using them/it during the critical moment they immediately face. New Rule: No player chosen to the All Star team should sit on the bench the whole game. I know this is professional sports, not intramurals, but its ridiculous. Which brings us back to why the All Star game should not count towards anything other than pleasing the fans.