All-Star Tuesday Open Thread (and Gamer)

We like these free-for-alls, so here is another open thread for general ASG and baseball discussion.

I'll start it off with a link to Fire Joe Morgan's takedown of Rick Reilly, the famous religious philosopher.

Comments

[Atheose]

Uh oh, Lee has back-to-back strikeouts. He'd better not strike out Berkman! Only Pedro should have the record!

[SF]

Quick work for Lee.

Lance Berkman has a Belushi circa 1978 look. Is he wearing a "college" sweatshirt beneath that uniform?

[Atheose]

Good, Berkman flies out. No 3-straight K's to start the ASG.

Long live Pedro.

[sf rod]

hopefully tonite will be a good nite for atheists.

[Atheose]

Based on the length of this commercial break this game won't be over until 1:00am, even if the final score is 1-0.

[Atheose]

Here's a question: will Manny get boo'ed if he homers?

[Jackie (SF)]

sf rod - I have brownies, so it is shaping up to be a decent evening. For this atheist anyway.

[SF]

"Jeter has done nothing but win since the time he set foot in the Majors".

Does Buck think it is 2001?

[SF]

Jeets!!!!

(I can 't believe I just typed that. Someone kill me.)

[Atheose]

Wow, the announcer totally called that Jeter was going to hit to right field. Utley doesn't come up with it, one on one out.

[Lar]

Well, the Yanks have gotten to 13 straight playoffs. We'll see if they make it to 14th..

Jeter singles (scoring?) for the first hit of the game.

[sf rod]

if sabathia made the all star team, would it be with the AL or NL team? i'm sure it would be the NL but that doesn't seem right.

[Atheose]

JETER STEALS 2nd!

I just vomited typing that.

[Lar]

Jeter stole that one. Is he demanding the Ted Williams award?

mmmmmm. brownies. god hates brownies.

[Lar]

sf rod - I think he can partipate at the fun stuff, but can't actually play at the game. This happened a few years ago, though I can't come up with his name right now..

[SF]

I think A-Rod's pregame cheer was about the most appreciative cheer I have ever heard for him in New York, no joke. It sounded like a really warm cheer.

[Jackie (SF)]

Are people doing the tomohawk chop for A-Rod? What?

[Atheose]

Well the last time the Yankees won the World Series was when Jeter won the ASG MVP.

ARod pops up, Soto almost drips over Manny's bat.

[Lar]

The rest of the league seeing what us Yanks fan see a bit..

JK.. =P

[SF]

A-Rod with a borderline foul, caught for the out. Too bad he didn't fly to Holliday.

[Atheose]

This ball-girl catch video is great. It's totally faked though. It's been on the net for a while.

[SF]

Soto almost drips over Manny's bat.

He IS a very sweaty Cub.

[Jackie (SF)]

Ath, I was wondering whether that was real or not. Pretty cool either way.

[Atheose]

I stand by my typo. Soto was clearly sweating profusely.

[Lar]

There was even a YFSF post about it.. =P

[Lar]

Is it just me or Fox keeps half-missing the first pitches?

[Atheose]

Yeah Jackie, my grandma sent it to me about 6 months ago and I argued with her for WEEKS over whether or not it was real. She thought it was.

that commercial reminds me of the michael vick one where he's throwing balls out of the stadium. hopefully that ball girl doesn't get caught up in the seedy underworld of animal fighting.

[Atheose]

Great play by ARod! One out.

Can Lee pitch the entire game? I don't want to see Lackey come in.

[Lar]

There goes the perfect game!

[Atheose]

Anon, I don't know who you are but you just made me spit mountain dew all over my keyboard. I'm still laughing!

[SF]

A-Rod with a smooth, relaxed, nice play to get Pujols, definitely vogue-ing on the throw.

[SF]

WHAT A PLAY BY YOUK!!!

[SF]

Interestingly Ryan Braun looks a lot like Ryan from "The Office".

[Atheose]

McCarver: "Usually the ASG is low-scoring"

Five of the last Six ASG's have haad above-average scoring.

[Lar]

SF - whose name is actually, "Ryan Howard".. hehe

[SF]

Quick work for Lee again around the hit. Manny coming up!

[Atheose]

He kind of does SF. You know Ryan is one of the writers of the show?

Braun also looks like my Jewish roommate. Can't quite place why though... maybe the eyes? It's kinda creepy for me actually.

[sf rod]

anon was me. yfsf is loading super slow.

[SF]

Poetic justice tonight would be a long game, Tek comes in as the last guy off the bench and drives in the walk-off winning run.

Never gonna happen though.

[SF]

Braun also looks like my Jewish roommate. Can't quite place why though... maybe the eyes?

Yes, all of us Jews have creepy eyes. It's a curse.

[Atheose]

SF, John Kruck picked Varitek to be the MVP. No joke.

[SF]

John Kruk is a complete idiot.

[Atheose]

Creepy eyes, big noses and huge wallets! ;-)

Joe Buck: "Ben Sheets was chosen to start because he pitched a great game last week despite losing"

He's chosen because Lincecum and Volquez both pitched this weekend.

[SF]

Great pitch from Sheets to K Manny. Curveball down in the zone, just a tough pitch.

[Jackie (SF)]

And Lincecum has a really bad cold too, I believe.

[Lar]

66?

[SF]

Bradley walks, and Fox zooms in on Sheets as he utters a perfectly clear F-bomb.

[Atheose]

Why the hell is Bud Black on the coaching roster? His team is like 5-89 this season. Clint Hurdle must feel bad for beating them in that 1-game playoff last year.

[sf rod]

everyone has been late on sheets fastball. does it have a ton of late pop to it or are batters looking breaking stuff?

[Atheose]

Holy crap, Bradley steals 2nd! Who saw that coming?

[Lar]

.. except for Derek Jeter..

[Lar]

He corrected imself, but ah well.

His breaking stuff is just nasty though.

[Atheose]

Sf rod, I've heard that Sheets' fastball explodes at the end.

[Lar]

Wow, ~40 pitches. That's a lot for All-Star, no?

[Atheose]

Time for Pedroia to be the hero!

[sf rod]

late, late, late. every single batter so far.

[Atheose]

Pedroia hits it hard but to the deepest part of the park. Damn.

[SF]

Pedroia "gets under one" to center, sayeth Buck. It actually looked like a rope about 385 feet straightaway, I wonder if Pedroia can even hit one out to center at YS.

[SF]

Pedroia "gets under one" to center, sayeth Buck. It actually looked like a rope about 385 feet straightaway, I wonder if Pedroia can even hit one out to center at YS.

[sf rod]

alright, thats it, we need to sign sheets.

[Jackie (SF)]

I don't know what it is, but I have him on my fantasy team and I can tell you he racks up the Ks.

[Atheose]

I absolutely hate Yogi Berra. I'm probably the only one.

[Lar]

Yogi sharing us wisdom.

Also, interesting on the Japanese characters for his stats.

[Jackie (SF)]

I wouldn't say I hate him but I'm not really enjoying him in the booth. Can't remember Mo's name? (and calls him "Muscles"?)

[Atheose]

Manny and Hamilton joking around with each other in the outfield on that play.

[Lar]

Hey now, go easy on the 83 year old..

[Lar]

Though I was surprised he didn't know Mo though.

[Atheose]

Yeah I dunno, I always thought Berra was horribly overrated player, both as a player and in his retired career.

[sf rod]

mc carver was rubbing yogis back the entire interview. creepy.

[Nick-YF]

Yogi just gave Mariano a new nickname: Muscles. I'm going with it.

[Lar]

... he won the MVP 3 times, 15 times All-Stars.. do we have to go there?

[Jackie (SF)]

Oh yeah, I think it is totally normal for an 83 year old to forget names now and then... I just don't know why you'd put an 83 year old in the booth for a national broadcast.

[Lar]

Seriously, Muscles is a great nickname. Hahaha.

[Lar]

It's true, though that's probably more of a Fox move.. =P

[sf rod]

ath- i think for us younger folk we have to respect the ambassadors of the game. yogi is truly that.

[Lar]

I don't know how the voters will vote, but Ichiro should be a first-balloter. The only question is how they would weight the Japanese stats.

[Atheose]

Sorry, not trying to hate on Yogi. It's just always been a dirty secret of mine.

Jeter GIDP. Way to kill the buzz asshole.

[Lar]

Jeter also showing the world what he's doing a lot of this year...

[SF]

Jeter wrecks the inning. Thanks, DJ.

[Nick-YF]

God, I hope Muscles has a chance at closing out the game tonight. It would be something special, considering how much Muscles has meant to the Yanks and all of us these last 13 years.

[sf rod]

not gonna say a word. it's the yankees day.

[Atheose]

Okay the love for Hamilton is getting really old.

Oh and Lar, all 3 of those MVP's should have gone to Ted Williams. But that's a different argument for a different day ;-)

[Lar]

By the way, did anyone caught the (probably unintentional) Yogi comment by Buck? Asked him about Sarah Jessica Parker.. and of course, a few years ago, I think Yogi sued Sex and the City for using his name or something..

[Lar]

Wikipedia tells me this:

"In February 2005 Berra filed a lawsuit against Turner Broadcasting System. He alleges that they used his name in a racy advertisement for Sex and the City. The advertisement asked what the definition of a "yogasm" is: a) a type of yo-yo trick; (b) sex with Yogi Berra; or c) what Samantha has with a guy from yoga class. (The answer given was C.) This case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum of money."

[SF]

Well, that was quick.

Here's something I don't get: "people say that in batting practice this guy hits tons of homers" and then wax about how the player doesn't do that in regular games. Isn't it F*CKING HARD to hit homers off ML pitchers? I mean, MANNY RAMIREZ only hits like 30 and change a year. Why does hitting batting practice homers mean anything, other than that against batting practice meatballs a Major Leaguer, one of the elite athletes in his sport, can hit home runs.

[sf rod]

good tid bit lar. had no idea.....you were such a sex in the city fan.

[SF]

I can't believe that anyone even had to settle that lawsuit. What a joke.

[Atheose]

Halladay in. I love Halladay... and he quickly puts Berkman away.

[Atheose]

Holy shit Mo is showing Halladay how to throw a good cutter. The LAST thing Halladay needs to do is get much, much better.

[sf rod]

berkman is more like "the big peugeot".

[SF]

Buck and McCarver cooing about pitchers talking about...PITCHING.

[Atheose]

ICHIRO THROWS PUJOLS OUT! Yeah!

[Lar]

Ath - same here. Halladay is so good and probably deserves to start the game.

Wow, Ichiro gunning Pujols out..

[SF]

Fantastic play by both Ichiro and Jeter. Great throw and tag.

[Lar]

Though apparently he's safe, but needed a good throw to make that happen..

[SF]

Except that it wasn't the right call!

[sf rod]

upon further review...jeter missed the tag.

[Lar]

Ath - I was thinking the same thing, hahhaa.. "You want to learn this cutter, you come to New York!"