Home run derby tonight. All Star game Tuesday. AAA All Star game Wednesday. And a half dozen non-Phillies rescheduled lockout games on Thursday. We'll survive this week.
None of those things are particularly interesting to me
The All-Star Game was interesting when you didn’t have inter league play and only Saturday baseball on television. In those days, it was a treat to see all the great players you didn’t know much about.
Controversy surrounding the HR derby fueled by sports betting on the winner of the derby…
Schwarbs was eliminated in the first round, but even I thought they shorted him a HR watching it live. This causes the match w/Pujols to go into an extra minute tiebreaker where Pujols beat Schwarbs. Apparently there’s some consternation about Soto in the finals as well because his pitcher wasn’t waiting until the previous ball landed before throwing again (no one was).
The announcers also speculated that Schwarbs might let Albert win which would have been no big deal before but is different with gambling.
This is just a sideshow act, but with the advent of on-line sports betting there is nothing left of 'the integrity of the sport;'
I admit I wondered if Schwarbs was letting Pujols win. And apparently he might have hit one more to tie Pujols in the extra round that was not counted as Aquapong said.
Kind of a silly contest. And parenthetically I just hate betting odds overwhelming every single sports telecast. They detract from the game. The tickers provide no useful info to the non-betting fan. It is all a ridiculous cash grab that makes the game worse.
Yeah now that I watch NBCSN Philly instead of MLB.TV I see all the betting stuff in the pre and post and between-innings coverage.
And I actually like to do a little betting! But to get serious about it would ruin my enjoyment of the teams/sports I love. Always felt that way about fantasy too. I don't want to watch the Phillies get killed and console myself with having Charlie Morton on my team.
This. And this is before any outcome-fixing scandals (which are, IMHO, inevitable, given the money involved).
If you forget the lessons of history, you will repeat the experiences that taught those lessons.
No game day thread for the all star game, so I make my comment here. The uniforms for the AL are the ugliest I have ever seen!!!
Death, taxes and the American League winning the All-Star Gane.
No wonder nobody takes the All-Star Game seriously anymore, Fox Sports makes such a pathetic clownshow out of it.
IMO you cant blame Fox. MLB is the one that allows it.. And I bet ESPN or anyone else would be doing the same.
The in game interviews are cool, but the entire thing lacks any juice whatsoever.
When All-Star games were exciting…
They sent David Ortiz around specifically to act like a bozo...that's what set me off.
Parker's throw in the second video is ridiculous. From medium-deep RF without a running start on a low line to the plate in the air with almost no fade. Might be the best OF throw ever. Downing got a good break and is relatively fast, and he still was out on Carter's great catch and tag.
One could debate the justification for Rose flattening Fosse--especially in what was essentially an exhibition--but the play (as well as Parker's throw) stands as a testimony to how much the ASG mattered to the participants back then.
ASG started mattering less as players started moving around more and more. Then they closed league offices.. no more NL and AL president and umps. Then interleague play.
Between the DH now being uniform and expansion coming, I wonder if geography-based radical realignment will soon come to pass with the NL and AL will becoming a things of the past, replaced by "Eastern Conference" and "Western Conference" which would will be the the new ASG matchup.
