star struck!

its 6:35 am july 16th. the all star game just went final. the longest allstar game is mlb history actually had a winner. there was no tie. this is no joke bec. if mornoeau doesnt score i think don zimmer was going to pitch the top of the 16th. after that who knows, but budsky selig defenitly pissed his pants just thinking about making that decision. what happened was, in the top of the ninth the score was tied, k-rod started the inning. francona( manager of al team) had a bit of a predicament. he (and everyone else except papelbon and his pregnant wife)wanted mo rivera to pitch the last a.l. pitch of the game. the problem was it was tied. if you bring in k- rod for the whole inning and save mo for the save, the al could score in the bott of the ninth and mo would be left stranded. if you bring in mo for the ninth he either gets the win or comes back out for 2 and pitches the tenth and gets the win then. the problem with that is the major league leader in saves doesnt get in the "allstar game". not to mention the fact that noone in history had more saves than k-rod at this point in the year (38). so k-rod started the ninth, recorded an out and got pulled for mo. sounds like everyones happy. but wait, there is a prob with that too. now you just burned a pitcher while using him for only 8 pitches and one out. dont worry this wont be a problem unless the game goes to the 15th inning, like thats gonna happen. it did. more important than that though was the fact that scott kazmir, the young (26) hurler who happens to play for the upstart division rivals of the team francona manages for, had threw over 100 pithces in a start only 2 days prior. tito was flirting with disaster. he had specific instructions to avoid using kazmir as much as he could hold out. thats why when every one else was used up by the 14th, his hand was forced and he sent kazmir to warm up and start the 15th. he then entered the game on one day rest and got thru the inning. but tito was visibly nervous. if the al doesnt score who trots out the next inning. the questions arose. did kazmir have a pitch count?if so, how many? would he have went for 2? if not, a tie? would have a position player pitched to avoid the tie and save seligs ass? would world series home field advantage hinge on the arm of joe crede, a 3rd basemen? alas, a huge relief came over francona when morneau crossed that plate and all these q's will never be answered. the real question is how we avoid this problem again. bud, give me a call. i got a couple of ideas. heres one: use tim wakefield as a designated pitcher when no one is left. like an "offical qb" in the school yard who played for both sides (and was supposed to be impartial even though i always felt he was playing worse for my team on purpose). he can go out there and fire away all those knucklers, never get tired, and entertain for at least 9 innings, if needed. aaron boone would love that. what about this one: change the rule specifically for the all star game that you would be allowed one or two substitutions using players who have already been in the game. usually allstar managers make decisions based on a 9 inning game. so they would bring in a guy for an appearance only for an out or two then sit him and bring in the next guy strictly to try and play every player selected. but when a game goes to extras they get penalized for this. theyre only doing it for the fans and then they get screwed when they need more pitchers. so i propose mlb implements this rule. if a bullpen is depleted and all of the pitchers have pitched, he can now bring in a pitcher that pitched 7 pitches in the 7th inning to give him a little more breathing room and save the league another embarrassment. same with position players, if the reserves are all on the field and one gets hurt, normally there would be nothing to do, but now you can bring a guy back in. little league has similar rules. if its good for them its good for me.

side notes from the game: timmy lincecum went to the hospital before the game due to flu-like symptoms and b-webb tossed over 100 pitches on sun as well so he was being avoided and couldnt go more than an inning, leaving the bullpen even more depleted than normal. dan uggla, who has the biggest neck in baseball, had the worst performance at an allstar event maybe ever. 3 errors 3 strikeouts, a GIDP, 6 LOB. he must have been nervous, madonna was watching this game.

jimmy sports