The 2010 MLB All-Star game was a feat for the National League, winning the midsummer classic for the first time since 1996. The game was a tense one, from what I could tell.
After sifting through the normal Fox routine, which means the terrible commentating trio of Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, and Chris Rose, along with about 37 minutes of pre-game corporate thunder shoved down your throat, my roommate and I sat down to watch the game. Since it’s 2010 and he owns a nice television, we utilized the HD capabilities. Fox once again dropped the ball on this one, their HD version sound was in-and-out, and the last thing I needed to hear were echoes of Buck and McCarver. Talk about nightmares.
To standard vision we switch, God forbid, we can’t watch the sweat trickle down Price’s face in the top of the first, what a travesty. We make it through the fifth inning with the AL up 1-0 before we once again use the blessing of 2010 technology, the ability to pause live sports.(Longoria scores on a Cano sacrifice fly) My roommate then decides it was a good time to make a run to the store.
At the time this is perfectly fine with me, these three days are some of the worst days of summer. There is only one important sporting event in 72 hours, and even that is a mix between your normal Fox circus and an honorable event. With the NBA fiasco put to bed, and the FIFA World Cup over, the next big thing is the British Open, but even that doesn’t start until Thursday. Football doesn’t start for another month or so and without 15 baseball games a night, I’m not content. In the end, the run to the store would delay the only sporting event for days just a little while longer, taking live sports deeper into the night, which is often a problem for a sports junky like myself. The last game of the night just means there is nothing happening until 7 p.m. the next day, unless of course, there is a day game. Many times this 18 hour break is hard to handle, for tomorrow, is yet another important game. The anticipation causes lack of sleep many a night. Delaying the game by 45 minutes sounds perfect, just a few more minutes. Please.
We resume the game sometime later when we reach the top of the seventh. With the bases loaded, Brian McCann emptied the bases to putting the NL up 3-1.(Holliday, Rolen, and Byrd score). At this moment Tim McCarver actually made a good call in a baseball game. I thought I was going crap my pants, I didn’t think that was possible. After McCann’s hit, McCarver stated;
“That’s the biggest hit for the NL in 13 years.”
This is the only good thing I have ever heard this man say. In a sense, it’s nice knowing that it was possible, but I hope I never hear another somewhat intelligent call from McCarver again. I can’t believe those buttholes( Buck and Rose included) get to fill me with nausea and anger every World Series.
Onto the bottom of the seventh. Thoughts that NL might actually win started to fill my baseball mind. Many questions arose, such as, the NL, really? Does this shift the power for the World Series, or is the AL still too strong, even on the road? Which NL team will feel the relaxation and realize the notion of starting the World Series at home, and make a strong second half push to get there? Can the NL hold on? Whoa, a lot to think about in a sports riddled mind.
The bottom of the seventh is where things went wrong, very wrong. With Buck on third, and Ian Kinsler on first, hometown All-Star Torii Hunter stepped to the plate, trying to play the role of hero to the home crowd and the AL. This at-bat is filled with excitement and intensity. Hunter falls into a 1-2 count. Next pitch may be the biggest of game, can Hunter pull off the theatrics?
The wind up, and the pitch…… Wait. In the haze of a five pack my roommate realized that we withhold the power of 2010 and goes for the remote, for the clarity of HD was on his mind. Immediately I start to scream, but it was too late. Mind you, we had paused the game for 45 minutes.
Next thing we saw a pitch, except it was Broxton getting AL batter Kinsler to pop out to center with a man on first. Yes folks, I went from Torii Hunter in a 1-2 hole with two outs in the seventh, to Kinsler flying out to end the game. It was the bottom of the ninth. The roommate flipped to HD( which was in real time), henceforth fast forwarding the game from the most important pitch in the game, to the last pitch of the game. This is when I flipped out, a string of four letter words fell out of my mouth for a few minutes. I couldn’t believe it, really? The All-Star game, the only game for three days, it was all over? I quickly put it together and realized that Hunter struck-out. I see the NL won 3-1. I see McCann won the MVP. But the thing I didn’t see was the most important pitch of the 2010 MLB All-Star game. The pitch that put the NL over the hump for the first time in the new millennium, the pitch NL teams and fans will be thankful for come October. I didn’t see it. Biff. What can I say, I am baffled. There are no sports tomorrow and I just time warped like Mario under the influence of a star through the All-Star game. I don’t think it would have been so bad if I didn’t go from what turned out to be the biggest pitch, to the absolute last pitch. Defeat.
When the roommate was asked what the hell is was thinking, he released this statement;
“I didn’t eat anything damn it.”
Major fail.
All is forgiven for the 2010 All-Star game mishap though, for 2011 will be nine innings of great ball players playing America’s game, a dream shared by the youth of America since 1869. I can’t wait, because I won’t forgot this one. Here’s to the love of baseball.
In a Giants note, I later read the box score and saw that Brian Wilson served up a perfect eighth inning, putting the NL in the driver’s seat.
Go Giants.
