234 thoughts on “2014 All-Star Game — Right on Target”

  6. Either there are a lot of Brewers fans in house, or Twins fans want Carlos Gomez back.

    1. Wainwright started to save Kershaw from getting embarrassed.

      Cabrera's donger was insane.

  12. I accidentally learned the best way to get antenna reception: everyone crowded around the TV. We're all gonna lose our eyesight.

    1. That is, if the hats didn't blind us.
      I'm going to break my back twisting around to type here while staying close to the TV.

  13. Good Lord, that was the worst singing I think I've ever heard on national television. Even worse than when The Who played Super Bowl Half Time.

      1. The first thing I noticed was that her diction is worse than Bob Dylan's. Mrs. Hayes (opera/vocal music degree) pointed out that she also couldn't stick to just one key. Mrs. Hayes says Renee Fleming has been worse, but I dunno.

        1. Yeah, I'm not a fan, but over the years we've seen a lot of people who couldn't hit a few notes. She switched keys near the end of the song (at least once; I wasn't completely paying attention) but we've had singers who can't hit a single note within any key, let alone know how to switch keys. Granted, none of them were stars to Menzel's level.

          1. Granted, none of them were stars to Menzel's level.

            That's kind of the point. As a professional vocalist she has to have command & knowledge of her instrument. If an instrumentalist played the anthem the way she sang it we'd be talking about how much they owe their session musicians & tour backups.

  14. As a tribute to Tony Gwynn & Jeter's defense, every NL hitter should slap balls to the 5.5 hole.

  16. I chuckled at the blurred-out Mets tipping their hats in the Jeterbation commercial.
    Esp. the mascot.

  18. The kids love Mike Trout from the sound of his name.
    CER made a sign "Go fishing with Trout!"

  19. I switched it to FOX expecting to see the All Star Game but it appears to just be Jeterpalooza 2014.

  20. I applaud King Felix for trying to give that interview in English, but I prolly would've comprehended more had it been in Spanish.

  25. 30 seconds into Allan Huber's interview and HPR moans "Cann weee get baack to the gaaammme pleeeeaaaaase?"

        1. OK, thanks. Bootsy had me worried.
          I would hope I would know Frank Robinson by sight.

    1. Let's play a new game. How many more MVP awards does Zolio Versailles have than Derek Jeter?

    1. Prepare yourself for the two dozen cutaways to Jeter on the bench during the rest of the game.

  30. The MLB-Yankees machine is on overdrive tonight. They need to relocate the league office to Omaha.

  34. Sorry if this goes against the group-think, but the Jeter-hate around these parts has always made me laugh. I haven't read the Minnesota Nice article that was referenced elsewhere, but the Jeets reaction from the WGOM over the years definitely points to some strange provincial hang-ups. Let it go, everyone. Let it go.

      2. I agree with the milkman. He's a fine player, but neither the best of his generation nor the second coming of Jackie Robinson. So the constant genuflecting nauseating to the point of being ridiculous, particularly when the market he plays in doesn't suffer from underexposure. Why not ridicule it?

        2. Sure, why not, I don't give a damn. I just think it all reeks of a butthurt flyover mentality that I choose to rise above.

          1. It also reeks of frustration over playoff futility, but I think that's legit. Hell, the Brooklyn Dodgers practically made an identity out of it.

            I'll take butthurt, provincial flyover mentality over self-important, ignorant coastie mentality any day.

                1. You're a braver man than I, Spoons. You coulda been a SERE instructor with fortitude like that.

                  1. In my defense, it's almost always on mute.

                    We land on sports because it's really surprising how much potentially objectionable content is on network TV, even during the day. Forensic shows alone keep me from being able to leave it on the networks, and there's a lot of daytime steam for repressed housewives.

            2. Reminds me of Olbermann's take when Gleeman and the Geek got taken off of iTunes. He couldn't fathom that there would be a podcast about the Twins.

                2. I should've clarified that and said a podcast that occasionally mentions the Twins.

            3. That wasn't directed at you specifically, CH. And FWIW, I've dealt with (and still deal with) an inferiority complex from time to time, for a variety of reasons. My Midwesternness has never been an issue.

              1. I know it wasn't a personal dig, bootsy. No worries. I've just decided I'm okay with being chippy about the coasts if they're going to be dismissive of the rest of the country. (And mostly that's a mentality confined to Bos/NY/DC/LA.)

      3. Jeter is the perfect example of a good player with a respectable career being turned into an iconic inner-circle HOFer by the MLB-Yankees hype machine.

        1. 72+ rWAR. Probably a bit more than a "good" player, in Bootsy's defense. My problem is strictly with the fellation.

    3. There's more to it for me. He has always had a major hole in his game that is completely hidden from traditional stats. He is very bad at defense, and at his best in his prime he was probably only a below average shortstop. For the past several years he has been hurting his team on the field by playing shortstop every day.

      I have no problem with Jeter, but he is severely overrated- which is saying something for a guy I think is a deserving hall of fame. It just gets irritating particularly given the Mauer hate that we are subject to in this market.

      1. Contrast with Tim McCarver who would have original thoughts and make them sound trite and obvious.

  36. Bootsy says we should pick on other players:
    Dear Adam Jones, I'm not believing your excuses. Your music has clearly taken second place to your baseball career.

  45. Heh, the backstop is made of some "limestone-like" material. Good research, ESPN!

            1. My eldest daughter was trying to figure out how much taller he was than her. Answer: not that much.

                1. I don't think that either your measurement (in feet) nor Altuve's is accurate to any more than three significant digits. You are 1.12 Altuves tall.
                  CER is .92 Altuves tall. You are 0.20 Altuves taller than my daughter.

                  Factoid! SelectShow

    2. How can you not like a guy who has a unit of measurement named after him?

      My favorite non-Twins:

      1) Billy Hamilton
      2) Puig
      3) Altuve

      1. How can you not like a guy who has a unit of measurement named after him?
        Josiah Gram was an asshole.

  49. I was excited that Altuve got an RBI because I thought it tied up the game. Because Astros.

    1. Call me shallow, but if anybody has needed a little help from time-to-time, it's Cap'n Dreamboat. His list of ex-girlfriends rivals Warren Beatty's.

  53. Okay, I love that Harold Reynolds, voice cracking, just tried to rib Jeter for being an old dude - "Dee Gordon must've been five when he met you!!!!1!" - and Jeter comes back with a "I think I was five when I met you, bro." crack.

    2. According to Joe Buck, Beltre is just entering the Hall of Fame discussion.

            1. Unless of course he actually isn't that good, then he'll shoot through the system despite putting up mediocre numbers and then be promoted straight from AA with only one other shortstop, who can't hit and isn't very good at fielding, on the 40-man roster.

  60. Buck asked Farrell about possibly bringing in Perkins, and the eagle-eyed cameraman focused on a guy in the bullpen with a Twins hat on that is decidedly not Perkins. Whoops.

      2. Did Dammann get to the ASG?
        How do they decide ASG bullpen catchers?
        They obviously need more than regular.

  65. Televising "God Bless America" but not "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the All-Star Game really says something about priorities.

  68. There are three billion pro wrestlers from Minnesota, but they use the Ultimate Warrior for that promo? C'mon, guys, Mr. Perfect. Ric Flair. Rick Rude.

        1. They didn't call HHH "The Happy Warrior" for nothing. You should've seen his metal chair work on the Senate floor in his prime.

          1. Crap. OK, Governor on the Cover of Time magazine with Northern then. Wendy Anderson?

              1. also, fun fact on Wendy Anderson that I did not know: he was a member of the Silver Medal-winning, 1956 Olympic hockey team.

  69. I like the cut of the jib of the team that says to their new teammate, "We have no road dress code. We don't wear suits. We just want to win."

  71. Looking like Perkins is going to have a chance to get the save. If he does, that leaves just two more in the bullpen.

  72. Wainwright announces that he gifted Jeter a pitch, as I'm sure many of us guessed (or maybe I'm just too cynical for my own good). I'm glad they're not still saying "This time, it counts."

    1. I don't know whether to Selig shrug or ask for somebody to get Brian McCann's reaction.

    2. Erin Andrews is predictably treating this like interviewing some diplomat involved in some kind of nuclear arms reduction treaty.

      1. She's in the tough competitive probiotics industry. She's gotta get herself out there as much as possible.

    4. The funniest part is Jeter dumped the grooved pitch to the opposite field. So Mauer of him.

  74. Perkins gets to pitch to Suzuki for the ninth. I like the choice of using the third catcher now. I am surprised Gardy allowed it since there are no backup catchers now.

      1. Get it out of your system, boys. That's it. Yes.
        A new enemy will reveal himself.

        Sadly, it won't be Joe Mauer.

        1. My comment is less about Jeter than it is about Perkins (and again, the media). Are you surprised they talked to someone besides Jeter?

          Don't waste effort pointing this "Get it out of your system" nonsense at me. I'm really not that midwestern at this point, so your argument really doesn't have anything to do with me.

          1. You know what, I wasn't surprised at all. They'd already interviewed Jeter at length when he left the game. The producers were just looking for a new story. And yes, you're an Arizonan, now. Sorry. I'll ignore all your posts about trying to move back home.

            1. Let's focus on the tragevesty that was that pregame rendition of a Dylan song by Not Dylan.

  82. Trout's probably still making the kind of money where a free car might be meaningful. Might be.

    2. Uh, no. He's guaranteed $145.5M through 2020. It included a $5M signing bonus, so I don't feel sorry that he's "only" making $1M this year.

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