Not Again

The American League beat the National League in baseball's All Star Game last night. Again. That makes 13 in a row. This game was close and could have easily gone either way, but the same cannot be said of every year and a 13 game winning streak is more than coincidence.

President Obama visited the broadcast booth after throwing out the first pitch and asked the announcers about this disparity between the leagues.

(By the way, I felt sorry for the Prez. His position gets him into the locker rooms before the game, on the mound to throw the first pitch, and into the broadcast booth. But he doesn't get to do what he wants. Joe Buck asked if he could stay for another half-inning, and Obama had to check with someone off camera who said it was time to go. I'll bet he would have liked nothing more than to chat with the announcers and then go down to the locker room after the game to talk baseball and drink a beer. But when you're leader of the free world, someone else makes your schedule.)

Joe Buck rightly answered that the American League is better than the National League right now and cited the best evidence--the consistently superior record of AL teams over NL teams in inter-league play. As to why the AL is better, Tim McCarver chimed in with, "It's because of the designated hitter," and then went on with an illogical and incomprehensible reason why it makes a difference.

Tim McCarver is normally an idiot. He either throws out stuff like this or else belabors a point that even a third-grader can understand. (The pitcher has to be careful here with a 3-2 count on the batter. If he throws another ball, he'll walk him and because the bases are loaded a run will score and since we're in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game, the other tema will win. I exagerate only slightly.)

The designated hitter came into the American League in 1973. From 1960 to 1985 the National League beat them 26 out of 29 times. The DH sure didn't seem to help then.

His argument that the DH means better hitters in the AL (who don't have to play thge field) misses the point that there are designated-hitter type players in the NL as well. However, the teams just play them in the field and hold their breaths. Though his defense has improved, if Prince Fielder came up in the AL, he wouldn't even own a glove. The same for Ryan Braun, Adam Dunn, Ryan Howard, etc.

The presence of the DH will not in itself account for the difference in talent level between the leagues. There must be something else and I will explain tomorrow what I think it is.