After giving up yet another home run while working two innings in middle relief on Wednesday against the Nationals, Cardinals’ pitcher Ryan Franklin sounded off on the boo birds that have recently come out at Busch Stadium.

“You should go write stories about the fans booing,� Franklin told reporters after Game 1 of a double-header on Wednesday. “They’re supposed to be the best fans in baseball. Yeah right.�

Never, in the history of sports, has it ever been wise for an athlete to bash his own fan base. There’s just nothing good that can ever come out of it. Even if the athlete is right (and I’m not saying Franklin is), the fans will likely only respond with more booing. It’s not like 40,000 fans are going to collectively get together and go, “You know what? Ryan Franklin is right. We’re better than this, people! Let’s get behind our red birds whether they have a 1.57 ERA or a 11.57 ERA!�

Franklin later backed off his remarks and somewhat apologized. The quote below is from a story on MLB.com.

“Obviously these last 2 1/2 weeks have been frustrating for me, and I’m frustrated with myself,” Franklin said. “I can understand why the fans are frustrated. I’ve loved my time here in St. Louis. It’s my favorite place to play. It’s just a frustrating time for me right now, because I feel like I’m letting everyone down.”

It’s funny, whatever athletes usually say in the follow up interview is the thing they should have said first. Had Franklin come out and said what he did above, he may still have gotten booed but at least fans would respect him for owning up to the suck. But when a player bashes a fan base and then later says that he’s just frustrated, people tend to have less empathy.

Ah, well. Do you know how Franklin rectifies this? By pitching well. We fans will turn on a dime when a player starts producing again. Athletes can go from being a bum to a hero overnight.

The American League was once again victorious over the National League in the Midsummer Classic, as the AL topped the NL 4-3 to run its unbeaten streak in the All-Star Game to 13. Below are six quick-hit observations from the game.

1. Carl Crawford is a bad man.
How many times when you were growing up did you go in the backyard by yourself, stand up against a fence and practice robbing home runs? Crawford’s highway robbery of Brad Hawpe in the seventh to preserve the 3-3 tie was the play of the game. The way he sprinted to the wall and timed his jump to make the catch was flat out sweet.

2. The National League will never win another All-Star Game…again.
Or so it seems. It’s not like the NL is getting blown out, but 13 straight years without a win? How does that happen? It’s not like the NL was devoid of talent with names like Pujols, Fielder and Lincecum gracing its roster. But the league can just never get over the hump and the AL’s dominance over the past 13 years has been impressive.

3. Tim Lincecum was incredibly nervous.
Or too hyped up, either way, you didn’t see the best he had to offer tonight. You could tell the excitement of the game got to him, because most of his pitchers were missing high and he had no command of his changeup, which is usually un-hittable. I don’t blame the young man (pitching in his first ASG) for being a little wound up, but I was excited for Lincecum to show the nation what kind of talent he has and it just wasn’t in the cards.

4. Great piece of hitting by Fielder, Mauer and Jones.
You know what the difference is between All-Stars and your run-of-the-mill major leaguers? They can go opp-o. Prince Fielder, Joe Mauer and Adam Jones all displayed great opposite field hitting tonight and that’s a skill often overlooked in the baseball world these days.

5. Mariano Rivera has still got it.
Watching this guy pitch over the past decade has been an absolute treat. It’s amazing – even after all of these years, when he comes into a game you know it’s essentially over. Although I will say this, I would have loved to have seen Ryan Franklin get an opportunity to save the game in the 9th with the NL leading because he has been flat out un-hittable this season. If you blinked at all in the third inning, you probably missed Franklin’s ASG outing, because that’s how quick he ran through the AL hitting.

6. Nice AB, Jayson Werth.
After Werth struck out to end the seventh inning, somewhere Matt Kemp and Pablo Sandoval said to themselves, “Hell, I could have done that.� It’s incredibly unfair to hammer Werth for striking out against Jonathan Papelbon because after all, many have struck out against the Boston closer. But Werth didn’t make his manager Charlie Manuel look too good with that AB, seeing as how the Philadelphia skipper chose his own guy over the equally deserving Kemp and Sandoval.

Tony LaRussa is much more than a World Series-winning manager and current skipper of the St. Louis Cardinals. Along with his wife Elaine, Tony is also is the founder of a foundation that reaches out to animals that are very much in need.

Tony and Elaine started Animal Rescue Foundation (or ARF) in 1991. The goal of ARF is to find families for adoptable animals before they become euthanized and according to the foundation’s website, the foundation now has a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator, which is America’s largest charity evaluator. Considering only 25 percent of charities reach a 4-star rating, it’s quite an achievement.

This Sunday, January 18, Tony will host “Stars to the Rescue�, which is an event that benefits ARF and other St. Louis area animal non-profits. “Stars to the Rescue� will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Chaifetz Arena on the campus of St. Louis University and will feature music and entrainment such as country music star Vince Gill, rockers Huey Lewis and The News, Kevin Cronin and Dave Amato from REO Speedwagon, as well as comedians Lewis Black and Kathleen Madigan, and 2008 CMA Horizon Award winner Lady Antebellum. For tickets and general information, please call Metrotix at 314-534-1111, or visit the foundation’s website at www.arf.net.

Tony was gracious enough to sit down with us recently to talk about “Stars to the Rescue�, ARF, and whether or not he would ever consider concentrating solely on his charitable work in the wake of Tony Dungy retiring from coaching to work more on his off-field contributions.

We also had the opportunity to ask him some baseball questions, including what it meant to add shortstop Khalil Greene this offseason, how the Cards look heading into the new season and what the health status was of Albert Pujols.