Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Papelbon Fails to Get Off the Pot

2015 Chachi #49
American League 6, National League 3
All-Star Game - Tuesday Night, July 14th in Cincinnati

One Sentence Summary:  Mike Trout hit a lead-off home run and the A.L. would go on to win their third All-Star game in a row.

What It Means:  The A.L. will have home field advantage in the World Series.  At this point, I'm rooting for the Angels, Astros or Royals (in that order) to match up in the World Series against the Dodgers or Pirates.  Trout won MVP honors for the second year in a row, becoming the first player ever to do that.  Makes me proud to be a Thunderbolt.  (See here for reference.)

What Happened:  Trout scored twice and set the pace of the game with his home run off Zack Greinke.  Prince Fielder and Lorenzo Cain drove in two runs in the third off Clayton Kershaw to break a 1-1 tie.  Manny Machado (two-run double), Fielder (sacrifice fly) and Brian Dozier (solo home run) added insurance runs for the A.L.  Andrew McCutchen had the sole home run for the N.L.

My oldest son Doug and I watched this game together until sleep got the better of Doug around the sixth inning.  By then we had both stopped complaining about the ridiculous looking pinstriped hats being worn by both teams.  Here's a closer look at the uniforms and hats worn by both leagues.

Featured Card:  With a little luck, and if the right buyer can be found, this will be the final Chachi card of Jonathan Papelbon that I ever have to create.  Papelbon was the obligatory Phillies player selected to represent the team in Cincinnati.  His services weren't needed, and it was the first time since 1998 that no Phillies player appeared in the game.  Curt Schilling was the lone Phillies representative in 1998 and he sat that one out.

Papelbon didn't hold back during Monday's media session, and he unleashed a few more gems following Tuesday night's game.  Jim Salisbury summarized Papelbon's pot sitting comments in this CSNPhilly.com article.  I wouldn't mind if the door hit him a little on his way out.

Memory Lane
From 1996 - Attending the All-Star Game at The Vet
From 2009 - All-Star Game memories
2010 All-Star Game - N.L. 3, A.L. 1 in Anaheim
2011 All-Star Game - N.L. 5, A.L. 1 in Phoenix
2012 All-Star Game - N.L. 8, A.L. 0 in Kansas City
2013 All-Star Game - A.L. 3, N.L. 0 in Flushing
2014 All-Star Game - A.L. 5, N.L. 3 in Minneapolis

2 comments:

Steve F. said...

He's such a whiner.

<<<“That’s just my opinion. Everyone is entitled to it.”>>>

--Yeah, but nobody wants it.

<<<“I kind of expected to pitch. I think I had more All-Star Games than anybody in here. I don’t know if that matters or not.”>>>

--No, it doesn't matter. Maybe now you'll know that and won't make that same mistake.

<<<“I didn’t watch it,” he said. “I was out there, but I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention.”

What were you doing in the 'pen?

“Snoozing,” Pap said.

You get some good winks?

“Yeah,” he said. “Until (Aroldis) Chapman made me get up out of my chair because he had to pitch on the mound I was sitting on.”>>>

--Stay classy, San Diego. I can't understand why he doesn't land major endorsements. He sets such a good example for the kids.

I can't wait until he is gone, but I would probably be happier to see him not traded and have to suffer through another year-and-a-half of this. That might be the very definition of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face, though.

Jim said...

He's got to go. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if they held on to Hamels to give MacPhail more time to get acclimated to the league again. But Papelbon's got to go.