NEW YORK -- Oh, where to start? Longest All-Star Game in time and innings. Sixty-three players. Even the latest media shuttle ride through the Bronx, stretching past 3 a.m. You should try it sometime. Yikes. Anyway, be sure to read our Web site for a full report on the game, including comments from both clubhouses.
I started the day on a high with the meeting with the Hall of Famers and ended it on the same high from the game. Work wise, not so good. Total meltdown of Internet access in right field. Could barely keep it going for more than five minutes at a time. No way to live blog. What a shame. Imagine how long that one would have been??!!
Here's some random thoughts I scribbled down:
---Mariano Rivera's entrance was sensational. You hear that gong from Enter Sandman and the place erupts. I've seen it many times in the postseason and it's always one of the most electric things you'll experience in any ballpark.
---Yankee PA announcer Jim Hall had a brutal week. Bad pronunciations and wrong guys hitting in the Futures Game. More mistakes in the All-Star Game. Said Corey Hart was hitting when it was Ryan Braun. Said Dioner Navarro was pinch-hitting for Dustin Pedroia when he was hitting for Jason Varitek. In the 10th, he announced Russell Martin was hitting when Nate McLouth went to the dugout to get a new bat after he broke one. Brutal.
Dude, pay attention and keep your scorecard better. No Bob Sheppard.
---Lots of empties in the box seats when the game went extra innings. Clearly out-of-town MLB corporate types. No way that happens in a Yankees game.
---I'm told the wireless was working fine in the basement work room. But there was no way I was coming here for this event and watching it on a TV in a basement bunker. Can't hold that against me, can you?
----The Yankee Stadium grounds crew dances to the "YMCA" every night in the fifth or sixth. They were joined on the first-base line this time by the Village People.
----Even with all the commercials on Fox, we played 4 1/2 innings in just 71 minutes. Little did we know what we were in for.
---Sarah Jessica Parker of "Sex in the City" fame got plenty of laughs during an on-field discussion of baseball's contributions to the fight against cancer as she stood next to Bud Selig and called him "Commissioner SELL-ig.''
===The right-field bleacherites do a roll call of each Yankee at their defensive position in the top of the first at every game. I was wondering how they were going to handle this one. Answer: They acknowledged only Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez and then did a "Bob-by Mur-cer, Bob-by Mur-cer'' salute to the late Yankees outfielder who died Saturday. Nice.
---There was a commotion in the fourth inning in the bleachers with, um, a rather hefty man being pulled away from another fan by police. Chanted the bleacherites: "Eat a sal-ad, Eat a sal-ad.'' Cracked up the whole right-field press box. And we needed a laugh through our Internet access misery.
---The bleacherites were all over Florida's Dan Uggla as he started booting the ball everywhere. Their best efforts: "Hit the ball to Ug-gla, hit the ball to Ug-gla." That was followed by "Trip-le-A, Trip-le-A" and "Al-bu-quer-que, Al-bu-quer-que."
---A-Rod left the ballpark after the fifth inning when he was pulled. Jeter stayed in the dugout for all 15 and talked to the media afterward. A-Rod's departure from the game -- a nice in-game gesture from Terry Francona -- was hardly noticed. Jeter got wild applause. So did Rivera. The fans cheered for A-Rod I think because they felt they had to.
---And now, since I had to listen to it about 300 times the last three days, you can close the All-Star blog the way they they wrap up every Yankees game. Take it away, Ol' Blue Eyes.
(And excuse the pictures from the family-I-don't-know-but-did-a-great-YouTube-job).
---Mike Harrington
