The AL All-Stars bombed away all night on the NL All-Stars, winning the 2018 ASG by a final score of 8-6 in 10 innings. No thanks to the AL bullpen, surrendering 5 of the NL’s 6 runs over innings 7 through 10. Just think of it as a sequel for all of you who missed the Home Run Derby on Monday. Or a sequel to the 2017 World Series............
A quick check of the box score shows that we had 14 total runs scored and only 1 of those runs came via something other than a home run. In the meantime there were 25 K’s. And only 9 walks in 79 At-Bats. Yep, that’s 2018 baseball!
Mike Trout had a good game. A walk and home run and several defensive plays for outs. I’d take that over the 3 singles versus 4 K’s out of 8 At-Bats for the entire Boston Red Sox contingent. And LAA farm hand Jean Segura kicked some ass. But, luckily, MLB people really only pay attention in the ASG to the what-have-you-done-lately crowd, and Alex Bregman robbed Segura of his ASG MVP...........
Here we are at Third-Straight-Day-Without-A-Loss-HaloLinks:
A Little Bit Of Shohei Ohtani News
Shohei news from Japan.........
A Little Bit Of Mike Trout News
If my math is right, Mike Trout has been voted All-Star 7 times, played in 6 games, and carries a slash line of .467 / .556 / 1.133 with an OPS of 1.689, in 15 At-Bats. He has the ASG Cycle, with 2 singles, 2 doubles, 1 triple and 2 home runs. And remember, he is doing all of this off of the very hottest of the very best pitchers that the National League has to offer up, and doing it with very little prior experience against them, if any at all. All of which brings me to this guy........Who is probably far more knowledgeable than this guy............
This is your Commissioner of Baseball, telling you that it ain’t the fault of his people that he cannot market Mike Trout. It’s all Trout’s fault. Let’s be perfectly clear here. This is Manfred whining that Trout refuses to sacrifice his non-baseball time so that Manfred can generate more sponsorship revenue for MLB itself. If MLB wants MLB.com to write more articles and play more videos out to greater regional markets that hype what Mike is doing on the baseball field, they don’t need Trout’s permission...........Don’t just take it from me. Take it from the media experts..........
This one’s for you, Halos Heaven............
By the way, that main pic for this article? Here is the result............
A Little Bit Of Angels News
With or without Rob Manfred’s help, the Angels are showing the best regional TV ratings growth in all of Major League Baseball...........
Those of you still licking your wounds over the Andrelton Simmons AS defeat, please hearken back to the utter failure of Tim Salmon in 2008............
Everywhere In Baseball
Each and every day we get closer to a Universal DH. Which will be really handy when we add another 2 teams and completely re-align Baseball.........But first we need to finalize the fleecing of citizens already identified. Maybe Florida. Less maybe Oakland. And then we sustain the protocol that allows MLB to auction off those 2 new franchise locations to the highest bidders with the dumbest city councils...........
Because re-alignment talk never goes away. It doesn’t even wait until winter, when we have little to nothing else to talk about..........
The Internet never forgets, or forgives, all your asshat moves. Even your asshat moves as a dickhead teenager............
I hadn’t thought about this. LeBron James coming to LA might save the Dodgers in their broadcast screwup...........
Any minute now - as in any minute - we should expect the announcement of Manny Machado to the Dodgers. Which should do wonders for the self-esteem of Justin Turner and Corey Seager.......And the hopes of the Dodgers fans.......And then watch what happens with the rest of the Trade Deadline timeline...........
The Human Element, because it’s funny............
The Duffle Bag
Because some people need some thing to care about, Bryce Harper cheated to win the Home Run Derby.........Need a job? Living in Colorado ain’t a bad premise............Someday in the distant future somebody will be doing this with a Mike Trout rookie card.............Maybe Trout needs to do bat flips?...............And colored cleats. Manfred is cool with that. (Oh, wait, Trout already does that.)...........Eff you, Tribune. I live in baseball caps.............