Also more deserving than Mo. It’s really an indefensible choice, or the only defense is “ah who cares”.
The Tribe is pretty good, hanging with D-troit.
Sale in ASG and beating Verlander last week has been the highlight of the Sox miserable season so far. ;d
let me see if I understand the all-star game:
1. The AL pitchers put on a PITCHING CLINIC. Superb.
2. The managers took a passage approach with no in-game managerial moves. Bochy did the pinch-run with McCutchen. His only move.
3. If you bring up point 2, you will hear, “don’t take the game seriously ... it is mostly an exhibition.”
I guess it is an exhibition. An exhibition of superb pitching and disinterested managing. The pitchers bring their A-game, why not the managers? ... a la Scioscia 2003.
(Speaking of Kipnis, Bochy coulda saved Chapman for Kipnis-Machado-Fielder in the 8th-9th instead of facing 3 Righty bats.
(PS. I didn’t like anything Bochy did. Cuz he did nothing. No pinch-hitting, or matching up his pitchers vs. AL batters. Except the pinch-run with McCutchen. I didn’t like Leyland’s performance either, which is no surprise. he has said in the past that he does not like to manage all-star games.)
Verlander is working on his mechanics as he loses velocity with age. Some would say he’s struggling but he’s actually getting more strikeouts compared to his old pitch to contact style. I was glad to see that Leyland didn’t feel the obligation to put him on the mound.
I just feel like the all star game is too much about getting players from every team which forces a manager to get everybody into play at some point. I’d rather see it played as a regular game and I would have sent Scherzer and Cabrera with Fielder and Hunter as reserves who may or may not play.