Current, Former Cubs Put on Show as AL Wins Again (Yawn)
I don’t want to go on a rant here, but there has to be a better way. Fan voting isn’t optimal. Watching Andy Pages, a good fielder, eye a single that Pete Crow-Armstrong could/would have gathered in handily caused the cool breeze of clarity to gather above my shoulders, where it was welcome as it was 100+ in the shade on the patio where the chicken and peppers and onions were dancing merrily. The sight made my eyes water, and it wasn’t the onions.
“Pete should be on the field if he’s in the park and reasonably healthy,” I said to the spatula. “Fans are Slans (1).”
I like the player ballot to determine the starters and the fans to determine the backups. My feeling is that this would put the best players on the field consistently. I don’t want the commissioner’s office anywhere near that process. You know Rob Manfred hates baseball, and the managers can fill in as needed. The procedure at present (2) is so wonky it makes my brain hurt. But it’s probably not going to happen because the powers that be want eyeballs, and they figure that the fans getting involved will get more peepers glued to the screen, especially if there’s heavy betting involved.
Damn. Evan says to forget about the game and pay attention to Bruce Levine’s latest, and, as usual, he has a point, but THERE WAS A GAME AND I HAVE THOUGHTS.
Such as they are.
A few hundred words of digression later, here we are. It’s too bad that Paul Skenes et al weren’t available to make the game closer (because of their last starts), but former Cub Cody Bellinger (who I would have kept and have said so for years) drove in two in the 1st inning to seal the victory. Neither my Magic 8-Ball nor rotisserie real numbers could have predicted that.
Lots of defense and good pitching by the AL squad, and Bellinger was the MVP of a 4-0 contest. It was the 10th shutout victory in the history of the game, with the last in 2013 also won by the American League team. Juan Soto had the lone NL hit until PCA singled in the 8th, with Otto Lopez notching a knock in the 9th. No NL batter advanced beyond first base as the AL won for the 18th time in 23 games to build a 49-45-2 advantage overall.
That’s just sad. I had been inclined to blame it on the DH before, but not now. That excuse is gone. The AL is just better. White Sox third sacker Miguel Vargas drove in the fourth run with a solo homer to answer PCA’s base hit, and the visitors stole away into the night.
It’s getting embarrassing, this losing all the time. It used to be the other way around, and within living memory.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back with something more reasoned on the morrow, I think.
Footnotes:
(1) It’s A. E. van Vogt’s fault.
(2) Anthony Castrovince explains.
