I’ve been meaning to write a full recap of the All-Star Game and related events, but I haven’t had a ton of free time to do so. So I apologize for the delay, but here it is!
For viewers at home, the All-Star Game festivities began with the futures game. I’ll admit that I didn’t get a chance to watch the game in its entirety, but there were plenty of talented up and coming stars to watch. The U.S. fell behind to the World 4-0 going to the bottom of the third, but responded by scoring four runs in the third, and two more in the fourth. In the end, the U.S. Futures won by a final score of 17-5.
Of course, in the limited time I did watch the game, I was able to see the Detroit Tigers’ most valued prospect hit a home run, capping off a MVP award-winning performance. There’s a lot of reasons why Detroit fans should be excited about Nick Castellanos, and we got a good sample of that on national television.
Castellanos went 3-4 with a home run, three runs batted in and a walk. The U.S. fell behind to the World 4-0 going to the bottom of the third, but responded by scoring four runs in the third, and two more in the fourth. In the end, the U.S. Futures won by a final score of 17-5.
It’ll be interesting to see if and when he’ll make his debut for the Tigers. I’d imagine that it’s not impossible for him to get called up in September of this year, but it’s a lot more likely that it won’t be until sometime in 2013. Of course there’s plenty of speculation that the Tigers will include him in a trade, but only for something great in return.
Next up was the home run derby, also known as the Prince Fielder show. There was plenty of long shots into the Kansas City night, including a very impressive showing by Angels star Mark Trumbo. Of course, there was also a bit of controversy, which came courtesy of those in attendance.
Robinson Cano, who was the captain of the American League squad, stated a month before the derby that he would take a Kansas City Royal for he squad. Well, he didn’t, and the Kansas City fans certainly didn’t forget. Once Cano came up to bat, he was greeted with a roar of boos unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. I can’t imagine that it didn’t have some impact on Cano, and I thought it was a little classless on the behalf of the fans in attendance.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problems with fans in attendance booing. You pay for your ticket, so if you want to voice your opinions, I can’t argue with that. The thing that shocked me most, was the fact that they didn’t stop. With each out, the boos seemingly got louder and louder. At some point, they should’ve tried to start getting behind him. He was there to represent the American League, after all.
Instead, Cano put up a goose egg in the first round, and that allowed Prince Fielder to sneak into the second round. After he got there, he didn’t seem to stop. Fielder hit 11 home runs in the second round, securing his place in the finals. His challenger ended up being Jose Bautista, who is leading Major League Baseball with 27 home runs.
Fielder hit first in the final round, hitting 12 home runs. Bautista hit a very respectable seven home runs, but it wasn’t enough for him to win his first ever home run derby. This marked the second time Fielder won the home run derby, the first time coming back in 2009.
For the actual All-Star Game, Justin Verlander was announced to be the starting pitcher for the American League team. I was a bit surprised at the decision, but it’s hard to argue that he wasn’t worthy. Sure, others were qualified, but Verlander wasn’t a bad choice. With home-field advantage for the World Series on the line, the game got under way.
Things didn’t start or end well for Verlander, as he allowed five runs in the first inning. The biggest hit coming when Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants hit a three-run triple to right field. That was all the offense the National League would need, as they cruised to an 8-0 victory.
Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera was named the MVP, going two for three with a two-run home run. With the win, it means that the National League will host the first two games of the 2012 World Series, along with games five, six and seven (all if necessary). Better yet, it also means that the unofficial second half of the season will be soon under way. If the second half is anything like last year, there’s plenty of exciting baseball left to be seen.
