Maybe It's Not Just Us...

I didn't see very much of the All-Star game last night. I was busy most of the evening and by time I turned the game on, it was already the 9th inning and Francisco Rodriguez was in, preparing to inflict some hurt on some AL Batters. Then, they flashed to Mariano Rivera in the AL Bullpen, and I immediately became rather nauseous.

What I missed, apparently, was the National League pretty much putting forth a performance that was worthy of the Mets. They plated 3 runs on 4 hits in the 2nd inning, a rally sparked by our own David Wright, and managed to get only 1 hit the rest of the game.

I know that the MO in this game is that pitching tends to dominate, but there are, every so often, some random outbursts of power, like when the AL ripped Clemens for 6 runs in the 1st inning in 2004 (which may or may not have been the result of his batterymate Mike Piazza tipping batters, but that's another story for another time). Not so much this time around. It's no great shock that I root for the NL in this game every year. I think I watched my first All-Star Game in 1987, and the NL won that one, even though I was long asleep before the game ended. The American League has won every other game since then, except for a random 3-year period in the mid-90s. That's a rather long and excessive string of dominance (and yes, I am aware that the NL had won 11 in a row at one point in the 70s.), and one that has now drawn out over 13 years. It seems like the AL has the answer every single time, whether they're beating the NL off the field, or squeaking one out, like they did last night.

But now it's done and by tomorrow most people won't even remember who was in the All-Star game. Hell, I don't even know who was in the game, for the most part. Time to reload and re-energize for the 2nd half.