All-Stardom

You know, it’s easy to get cynical about the All-Star Game when you’ve seen so many of them and seen the way they are treated as something of a circus, with players run in and out of the games to get everyone an at bat. I’ve almost reached the point where watching the game is a chore, something I do as much as anything to make sure I don’t miss something memorable, in case something memorable happens (like the year they ended the game in a tie – that was about the most excitement we’ve had in an All-Star Game the past 15 years).
So it was quite a different experience last night watching the game with my son. It was his 8th birthday, so we let him stay up late to watch most of the game, and he and I set up on the living room floor watching the All-Stars and building Star Wars-themed Lego sets; does it get better than that? Once I explained the concept of the game, he really got into rooting for the National League, and kept complaining “that’s not fair” when, say, Carlos Beltran hit into a double play. (I had some difficulty explaining the difference between David Wright and Cliff Floyd being the Mets best hitters this year vs. Beltran and Piazza starting the All-Star Game, but that’s another issue; at least the DH rule meant that I didn’t have to explain why Albert Pujols wasn’t starting the game even though he’s the best player in baseball right now).
Anyway, some other random thoughts that came to me:
*I guess the Carlos Lee for Scott Podsednik deal has worked out about as well for both sides as could possibly be imagined, with Lee leading the NL in RBI and S-Pod (OK, never mind that one) leading off for the team with the best record in baseball.
*I had to explain to my wife why Kenny Rogers was booed, and that this was for different reasons from why he would be booed at Shea Stadium, which is for for different reasons from why he would be booed at Yankee Stadium.
*Fox is premiering a new sitcom called “The War at Home” . . . on September 11? Please tell me that’s a mistake.
*I was retelling the story about how Bret Saberhagen’s wife gave birth during the 1985 World Series and didn’t tell him until after he’d pitched. Then it hit me: Saberhagen was 20 then, and that was 20 years ago, so the kid is now the same age Saberhagen was at the time. That really made me feel old.
*Ex-Mets and ex-Mets farmhands in the All-Star game: Jeff Kent, Jason Bay, Melvin Mora, Kenny Rogers, Jason Isringhausen. Please don’t ask me what they got in return for any of those guys.