Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 1388 of 1503)

Anyone who tuned into the Midsummer Classic last night saw a lot of exciting things, such as Ichiro’s inside the park home run (first ever in ASG history), Ken Griffey’s laser to throw out A-Rod at the plate, and a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the ninth.

What you wouldn’t have seen, however, is any sign of Albert Pujols because his manager, Tony La Russa, left his ass on the bench the entire game. La Russa tried to explain afterwards that in case of extra innings, he wanted to have the versatile Pujols to come off the bench, but his first basemen wasn’t having it.

“If I wasn’t expecting myself to play, I wouldn’t come up here,” he said. “Believe me, if I couldn’t play, I wouldn’t show up here. I’d rather stay home with my family. But that’s the way it is.”

I get how La Russa would want to have Pujols come off the bench if the game went extra innings, but the contest was 5-4 with two outs left in the ninth and the NL was the home team – so go for the win Tony. Not to take anything away from Aaron Rowand, but we’re talking about Albert Pujols, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded and he’s completely fresh. You take your shot in the ninth because at that point, there is no extra innings. Pujols has ever right to be pissed.

No offense to any of the fine National League All-Stars, but is there any way the American League loses tonight? Jake Peavy, Brad Penny, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels are fine pitchers, but A-Rod, Vlad, Mags and Big Papi are going to eat these guys alive.

Final: AL 9, NL 4.

Of course, if the above prediction turns out anything like my home run derby prediction, an NL team will be hosting the World Series in a few months.

For the sake of being over the top, I’m going to give an in-depth analysis of tonight’s, thrilling/riveting home run derby. Here’s the field:

National League:
Ryan Howard (Phillies), Prince Fielder (Brewers), Albert Pujols (Cardinals), (Matt Holiday (Rockies).

American League:
Justin Morneau (Twins), Alex Rios (Blue Jays), Vladimir Guerrero (Angels)
Magglio Ordonez (Tigers).

First, cross off Fielder because he’s so young – he’s not going to be able to handle the pressure that the derby brings. Secondly, cross off all right handed batters because the left field porch at AT&T is ridiculously short. As long as they can pull the ball and keep it out of “triples alley”, left-handers have the edge. So that leaves Ryan Howard and Justin Morneau in the finals and just for the sake of not going with the defending champ, I’ll go with Morneau to win it all.

Update: As usual, the guy/team I picked didn’t even make a dent in the game…well done Justin – you freaking bum! Congrats to Vlad Guerrero for winning such a distinct honor as the home run derby!