The Sports Brief with Besse and Keefe: all-star

Showing posts with label all-star. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Sunday, July 6, 2014

2014 MLB All-Star Rosters

American League

Starters:

C - Matt Wieters, Baltimore Orioles (injured)

1B - Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers

2B - Robinson Cano, Seattle Mariners

3B - Josh Donaldson, Oakland Athletics

SS - Derek Jeter, New York Yankees

OF - Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

OF - Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays

OF - Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles

DH - Nelson Cruz, Baltimore Orioles

Bench:

C - Salavdor Perez, Kansas City Royals (will start)

C - Derek Norris, Oakland Athletics

C - Kurt Suzuki, Minnesota Twins

1B - Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox

1B - Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers

1B - Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto Blue Jays

1B/OF - Brandon Moss, Oakland Athletics

2B - Jose Altuve, Houston Astros

SS - Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox

3B - Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers

OF - Yoenis Cespedes, Oakland Athletics

OF - Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals

OF - Michael Brantley, Cleveland Indians

Pitchers:

Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers

Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers

Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners

Masahiro Tanaka, New York Yankees

Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox

David Price, Tampa Bay Rays

Scott Kazmir, Oakland Atheltics

Mark Buehrle, Toronto Blue Jays

Sean Doolittle, Oakland Atheltics

Greg Holland, Kansas City Royals

Glen Perkins, Minnesota Twins

Dellin Betances, New York Yankees

National League

Starters:

C - Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals

1B - Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks

2B - Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies

3B - Aramis Ramirez, Milwaukee Brewers

SS - Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies

OF - Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers

OF - Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates

OF - Yasiel Puig, Los Angeles Dodgers

Bench:

C - Jonathan Lucroy, Milwaukee Brewers

C - Devin Mesoraco, Cincinnati Reds

1B - Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves

2B - Dee Gordon, Los Angeles Dodgers

2B - Daniel Murphy, New York Mets

SS - Starlin Castro, Chicago Cubs

3B - Todd Frazier, Cincinnati Reds

UTIL - Josh Harrison, Pittsburgh Pirates

OF - Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies

OF - Hunter Pence, San Francisco Giants

OF Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins (will start at DH)

Pitchers:

Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

Zach Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers

Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants

Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals

Tyson Ross, San Diego Padres

Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals

Julio Teheran, Atlanta Braves*

Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves

Aroldis Chapman, Cincinnati Red

Francisco Rodriguez, Milwaukee Brewers

Tony Watson, Pittsburgh Pirates

Pat Neshek, St. Louis Cardinals

*Jeff Samardzija elected to NL team but traded to Oakland, will not play, replaced by Teheran.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Obama's first pitch at the 2009 All-Star Game

Alright, normally this wouldn't be a hot topic with me. But I made a few observations during Obama's first pitch at the All-Star game last night.

First and foremost, it wasn't a freakin strike. He left it in front of the plate and let's be honest, the thing looked like a middle school breaking ball. Slow, flat and a lot of depth to it but zero firm break. Thankfully Pujols had the mental acuity to leap out of his pseudo squat and pick the ball before it scraped the dirt. Needless to say, as bad as GW may have been as President, the guy knew how to throw a baseball. Did we make the right decision as voters?

Well, in comparison to Obama's adversary, I'd say there's no question we did. Take a second and picture John Mccain throwing out the first pitch with arms like this...

I know it's wrong to poke fun at a guy that served our country and ended up looking like a T-rex because of it, but seriously, do you think HE could reach the friggin plate? They wouldn't even send him to the mound. MLB would leave the batting practice mound 15 feet in front of the rubber and have him roll it in from there with the catcher squatting down 5 feet in front of home plate. He's lucky he can wipe his own ass (can he?), nevermind throw a baseball like a man.

But my most astute observation came when Obama went to greet Stan Musial. Watch the interaction again and tell me that Musial's driver is not a friggin Republican. Have you ever seem someone so disinterested in the fact that the President of the United States is standing 2 feet away? He looked like he truly could not care. For all I know, he's been there, done that. If that's the case, excuse me Billy Big League, no need to show us all up like that. But let's be honest, that's the first time he's ever come within a zip code of the President. By his reaction, or lack thereof, he clearly didn't vote for Obama. In fact, I started to wonder if the guy might have a baretta taped down underneath his seat. Obama almost had to hit the guy to get his attention and shake his hand. Check it out for yourself around the :20 second mark...

And here's GW at Opening Day in Arlington, TX this season...

He threw a dart and filled up the zone. Gotta love the quick windmill stretch before the pitch. Solid stuff. But perhaps his best, and most significant work came on October 30, 2001 at Yankee Stadium. Bush tossed the first pitch before Game 3 of the World Series against Arizona. And not only did he toss a pea in there, but the crowd chanting "USA! USA! USA!" at the end was pretty cool stuff. Regardless of how he was as President, you almost had to love the guy. He's a man's man.