National League wins All-Star Game (finally)

The National League beat the American League 3-1 tonight to win the Major League Baseball All-Star Game for the first time since 1996. The win ensures that the National League will have home field advantage in the World Series this year. It's about freaking time the National League wins. So optimistically this means the San Francisco Giants could have home field advantage in the World Series. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.

The big hit came from Braves catcher Brian McCann in the seventh inning. With the American League nursing a 1-0 lead with two outs in the inning, McCann cracked a bases clearing double to put the National League up 3-1 which would end up being the final margin. Not surprisingly, McCann was named MVP of the game. It was a clutch hit and really just helped the NL break the long winless streak. Jonathan Broxton of the Dodgers pitched the ninth to earn the save. He was aided by a terrific play by Cubs right fielder Marlon Byrd who threw out Red Sox DH David Ortiz at second base following a shallow fly ball from Blue Jays C John Buck that landed in front of Byrd. Instead of there being two on and one out, there was one on with two out. That's a big difference and the game ended one batter later.

I enjoyed Byrd and outfielders Michael Bourne of the Astros and Chris Young of the Diamondbacks do a simultaneous jump following the last out being recorded. I like seeing guys look like they enjoy the game; it brings a smile to my face every time. Byrd is fast becoming a favorite of mine because he always seems to have a smile on his face and enjoys playing the game. I saw an interview he did on Sunday and he just seemed ecstatic to be going to the All-Star game. He also smiled a lot in the game tonight and pumped his fist after sliding in just ahead of the throw for the third National League run. So he's a player I'm going to pay more attention to him.

Also in baseball today, longtime New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner passed away this morning at the age of 80. He was a polarizing figure and I have to admit that I didn't really ever like the way he ran things because I didn't (and don't) think it was good for baseball. He tried to buy championships and it tore down the integrity of the game in my opinion because it meant teams weren't on as equal of footing financially. I don't want to delve too much into that right now. Steinbrenner is said to have often been good to his players and to have been good in the community and it's notable that so many people are lamenting his loss. But that still doesn't change the way I feel that he wasn't good for the game overall.