Quit Complaining About The Game!

Every year, you hear a couple of the same complaints at All-Star Game time.  After hearing some on the radio again last night (and yelling my responses at it) I realized that I have a baseball blog and that'd be probably the better place to vent.  If you aren't interested, of course, feel free to skip down to today's Cardinal post.

First off, let me say that there never has been anything wrong with the All-Star Game.  That is, until Bud Selig got embarrassed in his home park and decided he had to do something.  It's one of the lowlights of a regime that, frankly, has little to redeem itself.

I first wrote about this five years ago, when the general plan was being developed.  I didn't like it then, I don't like it now.  The All-Star Game is designed as an exhibition.  To give it meaning, to assign a value to it, is just as reasonable as saying the league with the most wins in spring training gets the home field in the World Series.  The two are not interrelated enough to be connected in that way. 

Besides, since they started this in 2003, it hasn't mattered.  The Marlins won Game 6 in Yankee Stadium the first year.  The Red Sox swept in '04, the White Sox in '05.  The Cardinals won in five games in '06 and, of course, another sweep by the Red Sox in '07.  So far no series has gone to Game 7.  Heck, only two haven't been sweeps!  Tell me that home field advantage made that much of a difference.  Maybe it swung a game, but decisive series like that?

So when you look at the ASG in the way it is supposed to be looked at, as a game, a lot of the complaints don't really measure up, in my book.

Some people say, "Hey, take the vote away from the fans if the game is going to mean something."  That's so backward it's hard to believe it's even mentioned.  The whole thing is about the fans.  Teams charge outrageous prices and jack those prices up even after bad years.  They trade favorite players and give up on seasons.  They do everything they can to separate the fan from their money.  And letting this group, which is the lifeblood of the game, get a shot at actually mattering for once is a bad thing?  Really?

So what if Ian Kinsler should start over Dustin Pedroia?  (Just as an example, though that's definitely debatable.)  The fans wanted to see Pedroia, so let them see him.  Bat him a couple of times then bring in Kinsler.  It's the fans' game.  People seem to forget that from time to time.

Besides, the players proved this year that they are just as biased as the fans.  Jason Varitek?  Really?  The fans haven't made a selection that bad in years.

The complaint I get the most riled up about, however, is the one where people say, "We don't need players from every team.  Who cares if the Royals (or Pirates or fill in the blank) get a player on the roster?"  I would expect that people that say this either one, don't care to watch the ASG at all or two, grew up fans of a big team (Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, etc.) 

Ask a Royal fan if they are glad that they've got representation.  See if it's not the highlight of a Pirates fan season to see Jason Bay hit with Pujols on deck.  The fan base of baseball isn't just in the big cities, as much as some people would have you believe.  Smaller teams have fans too and they want to see their players on the big stage.

As a Cardinal fan growing up, I've been pretty lucky.  Most every year Ozzie was starting the game when I was younger and now Pujols is there every year.  But I always wanted to see the Cardinal representatives get into the game.  I was so aggrevated in 2002 when Matt Morris was the only Cardinal selection, couldn't pitch in the game and they didn't take another Cardinal to cover for him, so the Redbirds had no chance of having their player on the field.

So when I'm watching the game this year, I'll be waiting to see when Ryan Ludwick comes in and if he does more than pinch-hit.  In some ways, it's validation for believing that your favorite players are actually that good, when another manager uses them in the game.

If there wasn't at least a guarantee of a Cardinal being introduced, some years I probably wouldn't watch the game.  It's fun and I always want the NL to win, but without that hook of seeing my favorite team's cap out there on the field, I'd possibly let it slide.

So please, please, can we can the shots at the ASG and just enjoy the ballgame?


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