1. For 7 innings, I thought this was going to be the fastest AS game in history. I left the pizza place in the break before the first inning. I rode my bike 10 minutes home, and it was already the bottom of the second.
2. Russell Martin will one day play first base to save his legs. If he can scoop it with the catcher's mitt, he can scoop it with that giant first baseman's mitt. I think he locked up the gold glove tonight. Think about how many people watched him make those plays.
3. Cristian Guzman is a trooper. He has never played 3b in the big leagues, but had to make several plays over there. A regular third baseman would have had no trouble with them, but they were high pressure plays for a second baseman playing out of position. And he made them.
4. Aaron Cook pitched very well, with no help from Dan Uggla, who committed two errors behind him, and almost a third. I haven't watched Cook pitch before, but I know why he's hard to hit. He has a hitch in his delivery. On the first pitch, I thought he had tripped because there's a hesitation mid-way through the windup. That must be very confusing for hitters. It also seems bad mechanically. Seems like he'd be all arm going forward.
5. I hate to see Scott Kazmir pitch. One of the best young arms in the game, injured earlier this year, and throwing 100+ pitches two days ago. The Rays must be freaking out. I'd say the same thing about Brandon Webb, except Webb's arm is more mature, and he doesn't have the injury history. Plus, the NL has Lidge behind Webb.
6. Joakim Soria has the best stuff I've seen in years. There's about 25 mph difference between his fastball and curveball. Guys were just frozen by the curve. Look how off-balance Guzman is on this swing. And then he just buckles Uggla's knees.
7. Tejada should not have been in the All-Star game, but he can still play. His play to get the third out after Uggla's two errors was gorgeous. He made another nice play later in the game. Here's the first one.
8. The umps blew two calls. Kinsler was safe at second on his stolen base attempt, and would have scored on Michael Young's hit. Tejada never tagged him. Navarro was safe at home because his foot got under Martin's tag. Kudos to Tejada and Martin, both of whom made it look like an out. I thought they were outs when I saw them live and real time, and I'm about 95% right in real time. I guess I can't ask more from the umpires, considering I'm watching it on tv.
9. I feel awful for Uggla. Two strikeouts. A GDP. Three errors, though really only two, and nearly another error. Must be his worst nightmare. I think Uggla's ankle must be bothering him. He's not a great defensive player, but he's gritty enough to put his face in front of the ball. He looked tentative, and that's not Uggla's game.
I'm posting this in the commercial break before the top of the 15th. Uggla is up first. Will he be the hero?
Update: Uh, no. Uggla struck out AGAIN!
