Tuesday night in Kansas City, we get the 83rd version of Major League Baseball's mid-season all-star attraction, the Midsummer Classic. To date, the National League has won 42 games, the American League 38 and there have been two ties. The first Major League All-Star game was played on July 6, 1933 in Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was initiated at the insistence of Arch Ward, sports editor for the Chicago Tribune, to coincide with the celebration of Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition. For over seventy three years, the "Midsummer Classic", has remained a fan favorite showcasing the top talent in major league baseball.
Who will this year's winner be and who will gain home field advantage in the World Series? I have to go with the American League. As you glance at the starting lineup for the American All-Stars you have to be impressed by the sheer power they bring to the plate. My gosh, you have David Ortiz from the Boston Red Sox hitting seventh and Curtis Granderson batting ninth. Here is the lineup: 1. SS Derek Jeter
2.2B Robinson Cano 3 LF Josh Hamilton 4. RF Jose Bautista 5. 1ST Prince Fielder 6. 3B Adrian Beltre
7. DH David Ortiz 8. C Mike Napoli 9. CF Curtis Granderson. San Francisco Giant's hurler Matt Cain will face this murder's row with the starting nod he received Monday .
The National League will counter with:
1. DH Carlos Gonzalez 2. CF Melky Cabrera 3. LF, Ryan Braun 1ST Joey Votto RF Carlos Beltran,
C Buster Posey 3RD Pablo Sandoval 2B Dan Uggla and SS Rafael Furcal. Detroit Tiger Justin Verlander gets the start for the American Leaguers.
Not only do I think the American League has the distinct advantage from its starting lineup, the bench strength clearly is in favor of the junior circuit. Names like Adam Dunn, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Paul Konerko, Joe Mauer and Mark Trumbo head the list. The Senior circuit will be able to offer the likes of Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen and the Met's David Wright....but I just don't think it will be enough. In addition to all the firepower offensively the American League has, they also have power arms in David Price of Tampa Bay, Felix Hernandez of Seattle and Chris Sale of the White Sox. Hold on to your calculators, we might have the highest scoring game in All-Star history. The current record holder is the game on July 7, 1998 at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, the home of the Colorado Rockies of the National League. The game resulted in the American League defeating the National League 13-8. It was (and remains) the highest-scoring All-Star game in MLB history.
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| A possible MVP candidate |
One Man's Junk is Another's Treasure
A good friend of mine texted me the other day that he thought the White Sox's addition of Kevin Youkilis to their lineup won't make much difference in the long run. "He's junk", he said. "He can't hit and he's too old". Mind you, this is coming from a Detroit Tiger fan, so I couldn't let this pass, could I?. "Yeah, like Belly Valverde isn't something to behold, right?", I countered. And the discussion was on. We had about a ten minute phone conversation about both teams...but the lingering thought I came away with was, "one man's junk is another man's treasure". You can look around either league and wish to have a certain player join your team...but also hope that your general manager doesn't go out and do something stupid and pick up someone you've always been down on. Well, get ready, the second half of the long season begins at the end of the week and there might be someone new coming to town. Your town that is.....
Thanks for reading,
John
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