Thanks For Nothing...

This post is going to be negative REALLY negative. So let me start with with a few positives.

1. Having 49 living Hall of Famers on the field at once gave me chills. It was amazing. The way they announced each player was amazing. I've never seen anything like it.

2. That was one of the best All-Star games I've ever seen. The pitching was great, there were some amazing plays, and it seemed like the players really wanted to win.

3. Aaron freakin' Cook. I've never seen someone get put in that situation by such horrible plays (Uggla) be able to recover like that. 0 outs. Ducks on the pond. He gets the 3 outs without letting the runner score. If the NL wins--he would have been the REAL MVP.

4. Ludwick had a nice catch on a ball he got a bad jump on. He looked like he was really enjoying himself. It might sound weird, but seeing him play was the highlight of the whole game (not counting the pre-game Hall of Famers). Bonus for him, he got 2-3 extra AB's because of the extra frames.

Now for the negative.

1. The announcing of the Hall of Famers was where Joe Buck peaked. As the game went long, Joe was bored. This was an amazing game, and it's your stinkin' job for your lousy excuse for a broadcast company to make it interesting. Not only that were you griping about being there, but you whined and moaned about the players that weren't "supposed" to be used. You griped about how long this was taking and how late you had to stay up. (I stayed up and I live in Ireland--you do the math.) When the AL won in the bottom of the 15th with a play AS CLOSE AS THEY COME, what was his reaction?! Hardly a peep! Look, I'm not saying the man has to reinvent "Go crazy, folks!" or "Do you believe in miracles?!" but he can dang sure at least make an attempt to make it exciting. Instead he says, "Safe...and this game is over. Morneau scores. Terry Francona exhales." Worthless. His whole implied emphasis was "glad this game is over with." I've come to expect little of Joe, but if you don't want to be there for a great match, then do us a favor and get a new job. Go watch the Bachelorette and leave us alone. While you are at it, get out of my football booth, I'm tired of hearing you there too. And I'm not the only one. Oh, and don't think for a second I approved of McCarver's performance either--but I'm past ranting about him.

2. Jeanne Zelasko is dealing with a lot in her life, so I won't go on too long about her, but I will say that she delivered another painful post-game MC performance. Seems like Jeanne and Samantha Harris have the same training (yes, I watch that with my wife). Can we get a bit of a script, please? Can we also ditch the Chevy rep? I recommend Jeanne stay in the studio.

3. Dan Uggla. The guy is beating himself up right now--I'm sure. But he won't get too much sympathy here. A record setting 3 errors. But that wasn't the costly part. It was his 0-4 with three mosquito attacking strikeouts and a grounded into a double play with RiSP and one out that really stung. He looked like a deer in headlights in the field. His hesitation going to home even kept the NL from turning a double play. I'm not sure of Hurdle's bench situation at the time, but I sure wanted Uggla out of the game after the GDP. His performance is the BEST REASON to argue against giving home field advantage based on this game. He SINGLE HANDEDLY ruined it for the NL. I'm sure nice guy Pujols would remind me that this is a team game and all that, but it didn't even look like Uggla was trying at the plate. Hey kids! Are you listening? Did you see how he was swinging at balls way out of the zone? Did you see how he took his eye off the ball on EACH of his errors? Yeah, don't do that.

4. Almost forgot to mention...how bad were the NL catchers? What was that? 5 steals? Seriously, I think you could make a good case for Yadi as an All-Star.

So to Uggla and Buck, I say: "Thanks for nothing."

But to end on a positive: Was I the only one who got choked up a bit seeing all those Hall of Famers announced? To them I say, Thanks.

Hey! I had more positives than negatives after all--no wait. It was a push.

-CJ