Keith Burgess-Jackson

Yesterday’s Major League Baseball All-Star game, played in Yankee Stadium during its final year of use, was one for the ages. It went 15 glorious innings, with the American League prevailing, 4-3, over the National League. I enjoyed the pregame festivities, especially the part that involved the Hall of Famers. It angers me that no member of the 1984 World Champion Detroit Tigers has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. All of the following players should have been inducted long ago: Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, and Jack Morris. Sparky Anderson (their manager) has been inducted, but he wasn’t on the field with the others. I hope he’s all right.

The four Texas Rangers did well. Michael Young went 1-4 and drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly. He could and should have been named the Most Valuable Player, but J. D. Drew of the Boston Red Sox, who hit a game-tying two-run home run early on, was chosen instead. Josh Hamilton went 1-3 with a stolen base. Milton Bradley went 0-2, but drew a walk and stole a base. He was picked off first base, which was not good. Ian Kinsler went 1-5 with a stolen base. On another occasion, he was caught stealing. Actually, replays showed that he was safe. All told, the boys from Texas went 3-14. It was great to see them on a national stage.

Yankee fans once again proved to be assholes. They booed every member of the Boston Red Sox, usually quite lustily. Perhaps they sense that the Yankees have been eclipsed by the Red Sox as America’s team. Boston has won two of the past four World Series and has a good chance of making it three of five. The Yankees haven’t won a World Series since 2000 and are going backward. I didn’t mind the announcers, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. There are far worse announcers than these. Some of the commercial advertisements were funny. I’m looking forward to the second “half” of the season. Expect pennant runs from my beloved Detroit Tigers and my adopted Texas Rangers. Expect the Yankees to continue sucking.

Did I mention that the highest-paid player in baseball, Choke-Rod, choked? He struck out and popped out before being removed from the game. I’m sure Yankee fans noticed that Derek Jeter stayed around for the entire game, while Choke-Rod, by all indications, left the stadium as soon as he was removed. What a classy man! Come to think of it, he’s as classy as Yankee fans. They deserve each other.

Addendum: Here is the New York Times story.

Addendum 2: Mariano Rivera continues to embarrass himself. There were 23 pitchers in the game. Only two of them gave up more hits than Rivera.

I’m tingling with excitement about tonight’s All-Star game. This may seem silly to those of you who don’t care about baseball, but I’m sure there are things that make you tingle as well. I’ve been a baseball fan since 1967, when my neighbor, Roger Young, introduced me to the game in Millington, Michigan. (I was in fourth grade.) By the time the 1968 season began, I was head over heels in love with baseball. It didn’t hurt that my team, the Detroit Tigers, won the World Series that year. You might say that I was spoiled early on. Little did I know that it would be 16 years before my Bengals won another World Series. I’m not complaining. Some teams go half a century or more without so much as a World Series appearance. I have said many times that, with two World Series victories in my lifetime, I can die happy.

I have always loved the All-Star game. It’s been said that the only All-Star game that means anything is the Major League Baseball All-Star game. The basketball, football, and hockey All-Star games are jokes. I have no idea why anyone would even watch them. Baseball is a team sport, but it pits individuals against one another. When Alex Rodriguez steps to the plate against Brad Lidge this evening, it doesn’t matter that the game is already won or lost. There is pride at stake. A-Rod will be trying as hard as he can to drive the ball; Lidge will be trying as hard as he can to strike A-Rod out. It’s always man against man. I love that. I like seeing which players perform under pressure and which players crack or choke. It’s a morality play. It’s about pride, self-respect, honor, and character.

My first All-Star game was in 1967. My family lived in a farmhouse on Brown Road in Mayville, Michigan. We didn’t live there long, but that’s where I watched the 1967 All-Star game. I was 10 years old. I remember lying on the hardwood floor in front of the television set. The game went 15 innings, and I remember being very tired by the time it ended (on Tony Perez’s home run). I may have dozed off for part of the game, but I saw the ending. It was magical. That was 41 years ago. I have watched every All-Star game since, and enjoyed every one immensely, even the one that ended in a tie. May tonight’s game be one for the ages!

Addendum: Here are my predictions:

American League 7, National League 4
Home Runs: Derek Jeter, Milton Bradley, Chipper Jones
Most Valuable Player: Derek Jeter

Make your predictions now, if you dare.

Four Texas Rangers should be starting the All-Star game. At most one Yankee should be starting. See here.

Addendum: Here are the All-Star rosters. Four Rangers—Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, and Milton Bradley—made the team.  They are the first four batters in the Ranger lineup. I am privileged to watch them play every day. Only three Yankees—Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Mariano Rivera—made the team. By the way, I can’t find the final vote totals anywhere on the Internet. If someone finds them, please send a link.

Addendum 2: Thanks to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, I have the final vote totals. Josh Hamilton finished first among American League outfielders! Unfortunately, Ian Kinsler came up just short at second base.

Shea Stadium. Top of the ninth inning. The New York Mets lead the New York Yankees, 3-1. Nobody out. Derek Jeter on second base. Alex Rodriguez, who earns $28,000,000 per year, strides to the plate. A home run ties it. A single makes it a one-run game. Choke-Rod flies out, leaving him 0-4 for the day. Billy Wagner retires the next two hitters and the Mets win. Yankee haters rejoice.

Addendum: The Yankees are closer to last place than to first place.

Guess who’s the most overrated player in Major League Baseball? Hint: He plays for the Bronx Bombs.

Did you submit your All-Star ballot? Here are the latest figures for the American League. Here are the latest figures for the National League. It’s heartening to see that there will be only two Yankees (Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter) in the starting lineup in Yankee Stadium next month. There shouldn’t be any.

Addendum: Rick Ankiel of the St Louis Cardinals—the man who couldn’t pitch straight—continues to amaze me, both at the plate and in the field. I’ve seen footage of Willie Mays’s catch off Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series. This catch by Ankiel is in the same category.

Addendum 2: To show that I’m not biased, only one Detroit Tiger should start the All-Star game: Magglio Ordonez. Four Texas Rangers should start: Ian Kinsler at second base, Michael Young at shortstop, Josh Hamilton in the outfield, and Milton Bradley at designated hitter. Name someone who deserves to start ahead of any of these four. Please look at the statistics before saying anything.

1. Is there life for the New York Yankees after Derek Jeter? If so, is it a life worth living?

2. Which division is strongest, and why?

3. Here is a blurb from today’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Detroit’s Placido Polanco made a throwing error in the third inning—his first error since July 1, 2006, after 911 chances and 186 games, both major league records for a second baseman.

Incredible.

4. I hated the name “Devil Rays” when Tampa Bay came into the American League. Reducing it to “Rays” is just plain idiotic.

5. Why is 44-year-old Randy Johnson still pitching?

6. The Detroit Tigers are 0-7, but they’ll win 100 games.

7. I see that Boston fans cheered Bill Buckner. Would they have done so if the team had not won two World Series in the past four years? Magnanimity is easy when you’re rolling in dough.

8. There were only two Caucasions in the Tiger lineup yesterday: Brandon Inge and Kenny Rogers. Whatever happened to diversity?

9. Will Barry Bonds play again?

10. Do you agree with me that there should be no music in Major League ballparks?

Keith:

On the question of whether Yankee fans want Rodriguez back, I can only speak for myself. The answer is yes, albeit with some reservations.

Without him, the team loses more than 25 per cent of its home run production and around a 6th or seventh of its total RBI production. Plus he is a good fielder, good base runner, good base stealer.

It’s true the Yankees need serious starting pitching to be a potential winner. But they also need runs, and where can they get a right handed hitter to even acceptably fill the gap Rodriguez would leave.

Given recent years, what is most likely is that with or without Rodriguez, the Yankees will not be a champion team, likely not even a World Series participant. So then the question is: will they be a more exciting, interesting team with him or without him. This seems to answer itself . . . a guy capable of hitting 50+ home runs and driving in way over 100 is exciting, and adding fielding, good average, stolen bases are pluses.

If I ran the Yankees, I would pay what is required, get rid of old pitchers . . . Mussina, Clemens, Petit, go with young, rookie pitchers, try to buy one excellent veteran starter and hope for some gold in the young pitcher crop. They will need that because even with Rodriguez, he will not match what was something of a career year, Giambi, if still on the team, is in bad decline, Posada is older, also had a career year, and catchers tend to go, Jeter is not getting younger, Matsui looked overmatched at times, Cabrera probably played as good as he can, etc. The back up catcher and back up first baseman cannot hit, and Abreu is solid but stolid. Without Rodriguez, they would be relatively punchless, with him they will probably be worse than last year but still good run wise. The one guy who they can really expect to be even better is Cano, who has the makings of a batting champion with power. He has to learn to play the first halves of seasons though.

Paul

Can we talk—about Alex Rodriguez? I like to think I understand him, and the effect he has on a baseball team, since (1) I used to like him (when he played for the Seattle Mariners and my adopted Texas Rangers) and (2) I now dislike him (once he began playing for the New York Yankees). He played for the Rangers for three years. During this time, I watched every game on television, saw every one of his plate appearances, read everything he said to local reporters, and listened to what his manager and teammates said about him.

A-Rod is a cancer. It’s hard to articulate why. First, understand that no current teammate of A-Rod’s would dare criticize him publicly. So the fact that A-Rod’s fellow Yankees haven’t said anything bad about him during his time there is not evidence that they liked having him as a teammate. It’s even reasonable to believe that his teammates will say good things about him even if they don’t believe them, for the sake of team camaraderie.

The first negative effect A-Rod has on a team is that he consumes a large proportion of its salary. This means that the team can’t spend as much money on other players. Yes, A-Rod puts up big numbers. He always has and always will. He is a wonderfully talented athlete. But are his numbers big enough to justify the expenditure? Maybe not. Second, there is this thing called envy. It’s one of the seven deadly sins. Every human being experiences it, even if few are willing to admit it. How do you think Derek Jeter feels when he looks to his right while playing shortstop and realizes that A-Rod earns several million more dollars per year than he does? Envy eats away at people. It can’t but hurt a team’s performance. Once again, Derek Jeter would never say that he’s envious, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t. If anything, we know that Jeter wouldn’t say anything even if he were envious. He’s a classy person.

Third, if you listen to A-Rod, he talks mainly about himself. He’s egotistical. His teammates hear this and come to the conclusion that, if push came to shove, he’d look out for himself before sacrificing for his team. Just look at A-Rod’s career. He has always sought the main chance. He fled Seattle; he fled Texas; and now he is fleeing New York. Loyalty isn’t the only thing, to be sure, but it’s important. Players who don’t demonstrate their loyalty, in both large and small ways, forfeit their teammates’ respect and trust. This is not good for a team. Would the Yankees have won more games with Mike Lowell at third base than they did with A-Rod at third? Don’t just mindlessly answer no, based on A-Rod’s numbers. Look at the whole picture, including the intangibles. Players don’t win World Series; teams do.

It would be inaccurate to say that A-Rod cares only about money. He wants to win, and that’s good. But what is he willing to do to win? Is he willing to take a pay cut? Is he willing to sacrifice individual awards? Would he lay down a bunt in an important situation? A-Rod quarreled with Buck Showalter because Showalter told A-Rod that he would no longer be allowed to call pitches from the shortstop position. I kid you not. Several Yankee fans have said during the year that A-Rod was thoroughly integrated into the team. They said that A-Rod’s teammates genuinely liked him. The teammates (it was said) looked on in amazement when A-Rod hit towering home runs, and celebrated uproariously whenever he hit a walk-off home run. All this shows is that A-Rod’s teammates wanted to win. They valued A-Rod’s contribution. This may offset any negative feelings they have about him, but it doesn’t negate those feelings.

I realize that this is not a knock-down, drag-out argument. Much of what I say here can (and should) be contested. It just seems to me, having watched A-Rod for many years, that he has a number of subtle but negative effects on a team. I don’t think it’s an accident that he’s never played in a World Series. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never did.

Addendum: Have you heard the expression, “Love is blind”? Think about what it means. When you’re in love, you literally don’t see the faults in your beloved. Your friends do, but you don’t. I came to dislike A-Rod at about the time he left the Rangers. There are two explanations for this. The first (cynical) explanation is that it’s sour grapes. Keith can’t have A-Rod, so he pretends he doesn’t want A-Rod. The second explanation is that his leaving gave me detachment. I was blinded. When he left, I was able to see things that were hidden from me. (If you’ve ever broken off a relationship, you know what I’m talking about.) The person who is best able to understand A-Rod is someone who has both liked and disliked him. I’m one of those people. If A-Rod leaves the Yankees, as he almost certainly will, Yankee fans will gain the necessary detachment. They will begin to see the subtle ways in which he harmed the Yankees.

Addendum 2: Here is a New York Times story about A-Rod. If you’re a Yankee fan, tell me what you want. Do you want the Yankees to pursue A-Rod as a free agent? Do you want the Yankees to pursue Mike Lowell? Should the Yankees trade for a third baseman? Also, do you think A-Rod will insist on going back to shortstop for whichever team signs him?

Addendum 3: Is Joe Torre going to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers? See here.

1. Every baseball fan knows that regular-season success doesn’t translate into postseason success. Some teams perform well during the regular season, only to collapse in the postseason. The Atlanta Braves come to mind. They grind out victories during the six-month season, but when they get to the playoffs, they fail to increase the intensity. This year’s New York Yankees are another example. They played well after the first two months of the season. But during the Division Series against the Cleveland Indians, they played as though it were just another weekend series. Even Derek Jeter, who is usually fiery, showed no intensity. Even Roger Clemens, for God’s sake, looked uninspired! What was that all about? Some Yankee players never look inspired. I’ve mentioned Bobby Abreu (“Good Time Bobby,” always with a smile on his face) and Hideki Matsui (who appears to be emotionless). What about Robinson Cano? He showed me nothing. Does he have any fire in his belly? One Yankee who plays with passion is Doug Mientkiewicz. He’s a gamer. It’s clear that he wants very much to win and will do whatever it takes, within the rules, to help his team prevail. Chien-Ming Wang looked like he didn’t give a damn whether his team won. Alex Rodriguez wanted to do well, but one suspects it was for personal reasons (viz., being the star) rather than for the sake of his team. He is the most self-absorbed player I’ve ever seen. Remember: I watched him every day for three years. I’m curious about what Yankee fans think of this. Does your team need to be remade? Do you need a different breed of player? And shouldn’t the man who hired these uninspired players be fired? I refer, of course, to Brian Cashman. It’s Cashman, not manager Joe Torre, who should be fired.

2. Now that the hated Yankees have been eliminated, my goal is to get rid of the Boston Red Sox. Go Indians! I like both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies, so I will be saddened to see one of them eliminated. I’m almost certain that I’ll be rooting for the National League team in this year’s World Series, for, while I don’t dislike Cleveland, I don’t like the Indians as much as I like the Diamondbacks and Rockies. The television networks are probably (at this point) rooting for a Diamondbacks/Red Sox World Series. Phoenix is a larger television market than Denver, right?

3. Let’s make a list of players who have fire in their bellies. Here’s mine: Gary Sheffield, David Eckstein, Pudge Rodriguez, Michael Young, Jake Peavy, Derek Jeter, Kevin Youkilis, Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Zambrano, and Miguel Tejada. Feel free to add players to the list, as a comment to this post.

1. The Cleveland Indians crushed the hapless New York Yankees this evening, 12-3, in the first game of their five-game division series. Alex Rodriguez continued his postseason ineptitude by going 0-2. He is a roiling cauldron of doubt at the plate. He is Mr NonOctober.

2. A couple of readers have commented on my posts about New York’s payroll. My point is simple. New York outspends every other team by a significant margin. This gives New York an advantage. There should be no such advantage in a sport. That New York hasn’t won a World Series in seven years only testifies to the incompetence of team management. When you outspend your rivals by as much as the Yankees outspend theirs, you ought to win every year. Did I mention that it’s a great time to be a Yankee hater?

3. In my 40 years as a baseball fan, I have never seen anyone as uninspired as Bobby Abreu or Hideki Matsui. I have no idea how or why Yankee fans tolerate these duds. By contrast, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada are among the most inspired players I have ever seen. As much as I hate the Yankees, I have never been able to dislike either Jeter or Posada.

4. I told you about Cleveland. The Indians are relentless. If I were a Yankee fan, I’d be worried.

5. Kenny Lofton of the Indians went 3-4 and was named Player of the Game by TBS. I’ll bet not many of you know that Kenny was a star basketball player for my Arizona Wildcats when I was a graduate student. I had no idea, at the time, that he also had baseball talent. Kenny, now 40 years old, is one of the true gentlemen of the sport. He played for my adopted Texas Rangers this season.

Now that the New York Yankees are out of contention for the playoffs, will the team unload its overpaid “stars”? The Yankees are old, slow, and lackadaisical. They embarrass themselves every time they walk onto the field. Mariano Rivera should have been unloaded years ago. Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens, and Andy Pettitte are washed up. They’re kept on solely for the sake of nostalgia. Robinson Cano is erratic. Johnny Damon is injury-prone. Alex Rodriguez couldn’t field his position if his life depended on it. Bobby Abreu and Hideki Matsui are happy just to show up and collect their paychecks. The only players I’d covet if I were a general manager on another team are Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada. If I were Brian Cashman, I’d trade everyone but them and start a five-year rebuilding process.

Addendum: My fellow Yankee haters will enjoy this site.

Addendum 2: There are rumors that A-Rod will sign with the Los Angeles Angels next year. Can you blame him? He has a better chance of going to the playoffs with the Angels than he does with the Yankees. It could be years before the Yankees get back to the playoffs.

Mark Spahn sent a link to this blog post by Steve Sailer. I’m delighted to learn that Sailer is a baseball fan. All the best people (and writers) are baseball fans. (I might add that baseball is the conservative’s sport.) Sailer makes a good point about a team’s most valuable player. As I said yesterday, I watched Alan Trammell day in and day out for two decades. It’s incredible how many little things he did—whether at the plate, on the bases, or in the field—to help his team win games. Many of these things didn’t show up in the box score, or indeed in any statistic. That he was beaten out for the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1987 by George Bell still sickens me. Bell had more home runs than Trammell, but that’s about it. Home runs are vastly overrated. Why? Because they awe casual fans. They are the Grand Canyon of baseball statistics. Anyone can be awestruck by a big hole in the ground. It takes a more sophisticated person to be awestruck by, say, a properly executed rundown, a perfectly placed bunt, a clutch hit, or a deft cutoff of a throw to the plate. Alan Trammell was Derek Jeter before there was a Derek Jeter.

The All-Star teams have been announced. Here are the rosters. Six of my eight American League picks—David Ortiz, Placido Polanco, Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez, Ichiro Suzuki, and Magglio Ordonez—will start. Two of my eight picks—Carlos Guillen and Grady Sizemore—were named as reserves. They were outvoted by Derek Jeter and Vladimir Guerrero, respectively. Five Detroit Tigers made the team. Three New York Yankees made the team. One Texas Ranger (Michael Young) made the team.

Only one of my eight National League picks—Chase Utley—will start. Three of my eight picks—Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Lee, and Matt Holliday— were named as reserves. They were outvoted by David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Barry Bonds, respectively. Four of my eight picks—Todd Helton, Edgar Renteria, Benji Molina, and Eric Byrnes—did not make the team, which is disgraceful. They were outvoted by Prince Fielder, Jose Reyes, Russell Martin, and Ken Griffey, respectively. They should leave the All-Star rosters to me.

The New York Yankees just beat my adopted Texas Rangers, 6-2. That makes five victories in five games this year, with one game left to play. As much as I hate the Yankees, I cannot hate their star player, Derek Jeter. I want to hate him; I should hate him; I’ve tried to hate him.  But I can’t. He plays the game properly; he’s a good sportsman; he has fire in his belly. I hate it that I can’t hate him.