Ah, the All Star Game. A celebration of baseball unity, when members of competing teams get together to defend the honor of their respective leagues, celebrate the best in baseball, obtain homefield advantage for a series they may not play in, try not to end up in a tie (or get hurt), and (most importantly) keep the National League in its place for yet another year.The fans, of course, will have none of that: Red Sox players in Yankee Stadium will get booed (though I can't fault them there), people will yell threats at Jonathan Papelbon's pregnant wife (that's a little messed up - threaten the idiot, not the idiot's wife), David Ortiz will make hillarious jokes at A-Rod's expense, and Yankee Stadium will shake with the mass cat call: "Overrated," repaying a stray comment in spades. It bothered me a bit, but that was from sheer homerism, and not a rational, logical argument.
However, all wounds found salve in this morning's headline: "Drew snares MVP honors as AL edges NL." In some ways, awarding Drew - Drew the rejuvenated, the player of the month for June, the mid-season MVP, the guy providing a bit over 4 wins over a replacement player in 2008 - the MVP for the All Star Game seemed a logical conclusion to an extended pitcher's duel where no one could knock in a run until two in the morning; he did hit the two run homer that kept the American League from shaming itself with a loss. But there might have other options: Justin Morneau for getting on base and eventually scoring the winning run, or Michael Young for finally ending the damn thing with a sacrifice fly, for example. But the MLB picked Drew, a member of the Red Sox, to walk away with the trophy and the hybrid SUV in Yankee Stadium, to win the crown on rival ground. Conspiracy to rejevenate the rivalry when the two teams meet in Fenway next week? Maybe not, but it's not the only poke in the ribs of Yankees fans I've seen lately...
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