With baseball
season’s second half now officially underway, a few observations from last
week’s All-Star festivities:
• The Texas
Rangers’ Josh Hamilton is the best individual story the sport has enjoyed in at
least a decade (if not since the dawn of the mythical Steroid Era in the late
Eighties). A former can’t-miss prospect in Tampa Bay’s system, Hamilton fell
into drug addiction, leaving him out of baseball, and very nearly out of his
marriage. Now clean, Hamilton is well on his way to the American League’s MVP
trophy, pacing the junior circuit in RBIs by a large margin.
Then came last
Monday’s Home Run Derby. In a “house” made famous by the most famous home-run
hitter of them all, Hamilton hit 28(!) over the wall in the first round of
baseball’s version of the NBA’s slam-dunk contest. You have to believe it was
the kind of exhibition — literally — in which the athlete is proclaiming, “Look
at me, ma. I can do it!” (The format of the Derby must be changed, though. Why
even declare a “winner”? To suggest Justin Morneau won anything that night —
other than perhaps a gawking contest during Hamilton’s display — is to diminish
the spectacle.)
• The Memphis
Redbirds were well represented, with four All-Stars having suited up in the
Bluff City: Boston’s J.D. Drew, Arizona’s Dan Haren, and Albert Pujols and Ryan
Ludwick of the St. Louis Cardinals. From the standpoint of Cardinal Nation,
seeing Drew in a Red Sox uniform isn’t all that troublesome (his trade to
Atlanta after the 2003 season brought the Cardinals Adam Wainwright), but the
sight of Haren in a D’backs lid? Coming merely days after Mark Mulder — the
lefty for whom Haren was traded before the 2005 campaign — walked off a
big-league mound (arm in tatters) for perhaps the last time, Haren appears to be
the worst trade decision St. Louis has made since Steve Carlton was sent to
Philadelphia for Rick Wise almost 40 years ago.
• Drew became the
third member of the 1999 Memphis Redbirds to earn MVP honors on a big-league
stage. Adam Kennedy was MVP of the 2002 American League Championship Series.
Placido Polanco earned the same award in 2006. And now Drew has the 2008
All-Star Game MVP hardware for his trophy case.
• The Florida
Marlins’ Dan Uggla — a former star at the University of Memphis — took his share
of heat from the local and national media after a positively dreadful showing in
the All-Star Game. The second baseman hit into a double play, struck out three
times, and made three errors in his All-Star debut (Uggla was selected in 2006,
but didn’t play). For the critics who made fun of everything from Uggla’s name
to his swing, I’d offer this: a bad day in baseball’s All-Star Game beats a good
day anywhere — anywhere — else.
• The most
uncomfortable man in America at midnight last Tuesday was baseball commissioner
Bud Selig. With the game moving into extra innings, anyone still awake had
flashbacks to the fiasco of 2002 when Selig declared the game a tie once each
club had run out of pitchers. I have two thoughts on eliminating such discomfort
for future All-Star Games:
1) If the game is
tied after nine innings, why not decide the outcome with a meaningful Home Run
Derby? Each manager selects five players, who get a single swing each (from the
opposing league’s batting-practice pitcher). Most dingers wins.
2) For this to be
made a reality, MLB must do away with the game deciding home-field advantage for
the World Series. A ludicrous notion to begin with, the concept has made a
mockery of the American and National League’s historical equality. (The last NL
team to host Game 1 of the Fall Classic was Arizona seven years ago.)
• I’ve read
reports suggesting the Cardinals are now considering Colby Rasmus among their
trade assets as the team searches for a dose of offensive support (the Pirates’
Jason Bay tops their list of pursuits, apparently). Such a move would be counter
to the franchise’s relatively new mission of developing talent (read: saving
money) while merely filling gaps with affordable free agents and trades.
Rasmus is just shy
of his 22nd birthday. He offers power, speed, and defensive strength at a
premium position (centerfield). If I were in St. Louis general manager John
Mozeliak’s shoes, I’d deal Rasmus solely for a young, power-hitting middle
infielder. And Hanley Ramirez appears to be in a Florida uniform for good.
