As a
Cardinals fan, Dusty Baker has been the most hated manager for most of my
life. He was the manager of the San
Francisco Giants who used the most notorious steroid user and all around
asshole in San Francisco with teams that consistently competed in the National
League and even knocked the Cardinals out of the playoffs in 2002. He then made rounds with the Cubs and Reds
where he managed good teams to playoffs and had more than his fair share of
dustups with the Cardinals and their manager Tony LaRussa. It is with this disclaimer that I say that
Dusty Baker is full of crap. I
understand that he is unhappy that his guys did not get picked to the All-Star
Game, but he is just flat wrong.
Johnny
Cueto, although he may be the biggest wimp when it comes to fighting in a
brawl, looking about as tough as a cat stuck in a tree during the brawl between
the Cards and Reds in 2010, is a great pitcher.
That being said, he would not even be eligible to pitch in the game. Is LaRussa supposed to give out honorary All
Star selections? It is a ridiculous. And then there is Brandon Phillips, who is
having a very good season, and in many seasons, he would make the All Star game
with these types of statistics, but they are in no way so eye popping that he
should get some sort of automatic All Star nomination either. Dusty Baker is also overlooking the most
obvious snub from the National League’s team, and it involves another of his
players.
Jay Bruce
is having his typical season. He is on
pace to hit more than 30 homeruns for the second straight year, and he may even
reach the 100 RBI plateau for the first time in his career as well. He is only hitting .254, however, and he is
on pace to strike out his typical 150 times for the season. These are the types of numbers that get you
selected to an All Star team. He is a
young and powerful outfielder with a lot of upside, but other than a three
homerun differential in which Jay Bruce leads Holliday, Matt has been having
far and away the better season. Holliday
is hitting .318 with more RBI’s than Jay Bruce.
With everything all the other statistics being so similar, what is more
important, 3 homeruns or 66 points on a batting average?
Let’s
look at this from another angle though.
While I cannot help but scoff at the idea of the All Star game format, I
am confident that Tony LaRussa takes this game as seriously as Bud Selig ever
intended it to be taken. Ever since he
realized he was managing this game, I imagine that LaRussa began watching the
players of the National League as if it were his own personal fantasy
team. The sad truth of the matter is
that politics and regulations for who is chosen does come into play in the
selection of the Major League All Star teams.
Otherwise how would Matt Holliday not be on this team? In fact, the reason that Jay Bruce is on the
team and Matt Holliday is not has to be largely because of the Reds record and
the fact that Tony LaRussa believed they
deserved more than the two All Stars that they were guaranteed by the
fans and player voting.
In a one
game series like the All-Star game, you want as many hot hitters in the lineup
as possible, and as of right now, there is no one hotter than Matt Holliday. He has hit .385 in June and July combined,
and is hitting an even .500 in the month of July. Forget as a Cardinal fan wanting to see my
favorite players in the game, fans of any National League team with the hopes
of making the playoffs and find themselves dreaming of the World Series (including
the Cincinnati Reds) should be ticked off that the hottest hitter in the
National League will not be available to at least pinch hit at the end of this
game. Unfortunately Dusty Baker can’t
see that. He is too excited about
another opportunity to call out Tony LaRussa for perceived slights against him
and by extension of that his players.
Someone should tell him to wake up, and start looking at the big
picture. The goal of the Reds should be
to make it to the World Series with home field advantage, not to send another
player to an exhibition game in the middle of the season.
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