Dan Uggla | Danny Vinik

If you didn’t stay up until the end of Tuesday night’s MLB All Star Game, you missed out on some great defense (well except for Dan Uggla’s three errors), some nasty pitching, and some incompetent hitting. Before I get to the crazy extra innings and the managerial headaches that made this game thrilling to watch, let’s take a look back at the opening ceremony and first nine innings at Yankee Stadium:

The evening began with 49 Hall of Famers parading from the outfield to their respective positions as the crowd roared. The All Star starters then joined those Hall of Famers at their positions one by one as they were introduced to the New York crowd. As a Red Sox fan, I value Fenway much more than Yankee Stadium, but I cannot say that Yankee Stadium is not a magnificent ballpark. The third oldest ballpark in baseball, it is the House That Ruth Built and has been the home for as many memorable moments as any place in history. From boxing to football to the New York Yankees themselves, Yankee Stadium has been a cathedral for sports. With only half a season remaining in this amazing place’s life, it is only right that it hosted the 2008 All Star Game. It is only right that the greatest collection of players ever assembled in one place at the same time, was assembled in Yankee Stadium during its final year. And it is only right that the 2008 All Star Game was the longest All Star Game in baseball history as the Stadium became home to yet another instant classic. Continue reading “Oh What A Game!” →

Just about a week ago, I wrote an article about who deserves to start for the American League in the 2008 All Star Game at Yankee Stadium. Now I am choosing who deserves to start for the National League. The AL was actually straightforward for the most part and there were not many difficult decisions. The National League was much more difficult.

Designated Hitter: This one was tough to choose since the National League does not have a DH. The solution I came up with was to choose the best hitter who I did not select to start at any other position and I came up with Albert Pujols. He has the second highest OPS in the National League at 1.121, behind only Lance Berkman who plays the same position as him. Pujols also has hit 16 homers and driven in 43 runs while boasting a .358 batting average. He has been injured for some of the year, but has still put up excellent stats, making him deserving to start as the National League’s DH.

Catcher: This one was extremely difficult, because there are so many catchers having an exceptional years in the National League. Bengie Molina is having an excellent year, batting .313 and driving in 48 runs. Cubs’ catcher Geovany Soto has a .277 average, 12 home runs, and 46 RBI, but the player worthy of starting at catcher is Brian McCann from the Braves. He has a .303 average with 14 home runs and 44 RBI, but he leads all catchers with a .921 OPS, much higher than Molina’s .787 OPS and Soto’s .869 OPS. That’s not to mention the fact that McCann has made only 3 errors all year and has the fewest passed balls in the National League (1) making him the deserving catcher to start for the NL in Yankee Stadium Continue reading “MLB All Star Starters Part 2” →