Well, what can I say...the N.L. should be labeled the National Losers.
12-0-1. Digest that. 12-0-1. That seems like a hockey rivalry lopsided. But nope. The American League's dominance over the N.L. just keeps on rolling along. Whether it's late wins, like it has been the last few years thanks to guys like Adam Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Michael Young and, of course, Mariano the Great, the National League cannot buy win.
Let's look at the game two nights ago.
Tim Lincecum, last year's Cy Young award winner, lets up two runs in two innings of work.
Albert Pujols commits an error for a run and goes 0-3 in his own ballpark.
Heath Bell gets the loss even though everyone could see it coming.
I think the only thing bad the A.L. did was not to play first time all-star Tim Wakefield. Other than that, it's what was expected from the A.L. Timely hitting, with a 7-8-9 inning rotation of Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Nathan and Marioano Rivera. The N.L. was basically done after the sixth inning. I don't even know what to say, as I'll see Francoeur in a Mets uniform for the first time tonight since leaving Hot-lanta.
-D-Mosc out.
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My All Star Game Comments
ReplyDeleteWell...another AL victory...in a relatively routine game of baseball. Actually, once the game got started, it was a very fast-paced game because of the pitching. Initially, looking at the starting lineups it looked as though the NL might actually have a leg up on the AL, as Josh Hamilton hasn't really done much this year, and the NL had some hot players...but as always, this game wasn't decided in the first 3 innings when the starters play. It's always decided late, on the heroics of a reserve player who steps up for one play.
2 things...1-The AL has been all-around depth at every position, including pitchers. Over the course of a long period of time (in this case 13 years)solid depth will win you late-inning games more often then not.
2-The AL is better suited to play all star games at either AL or NL ballparks because of the way the game is played. Pitchers, withholding the starter, never pitch more than an inning, thus, you can pinch hit for him every inning anyhow. SO really, the only advantage of playing in a NL ballpark is last-ups. But, when facing the likes of Nathan, Papelbon, Rivera...it doesn't really matter anyway.
Rivera is near perfect in all-star games, and when you can have AL caliber hitters coming to bat for high-quality relief pitchers, late in games...that obviously is going to equal success more often than not.
The trend doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon either...