Sure, it may be a homer pick, but you got any better ideas? The only guys who really had a great game were the reporters who made plans for later tonight. There was a four of five inning stretch in the middle of this game that... well, I don't even know if they actually played the innings at all. All I remember was Greinke pitching and commercials.
Bottom 4th:
Z. Greinke relieved M. Buehrle R. Ibanez fouled out to third D. Wright struck out looking S. Victorino struck out swinging
- Yay, the American League won. As a pathetic Royals fan, I get some sixteenth degree bragging rights from that.
- Even though the game "counts" now, there's still an inherent randomness to the game, that personally, I don't mind... if it didn't determine anything. As was mentioned in the game thread, the game was decided in an AB between an Oriole and a Padre.
- Between the blatant homerism of the managers and the newest trend of "guys vaguely from the home team area get special playing time considerations" we should really think of having this game not determine anything. I was actually nervous all day about the NL having an advantage because their best hitter was going to get three or four PAs because he was a Cardinal. But hey, it was a special moment when Ryan Franklin pitched in the third inning. Special.
- These games are becoming perfect parodies of today's closer-obsessed game. And the Amercian League has consistently had much better closers this decade. And more of them. It's an under-discussed key to the continued AL dominance of the Game. Think I'm exaggerating? Since the Gagne years, has the NL had a single closer who would crack the top 5 in the AL?