Sale song: Start me up
Sox southpaw earns 2nd straight AL nod
MIAMI — Chris Sale realizes that being the first pitcher to ever start an AllStar Game for a different team in back-to-back years is a big deal.
Getting to do so in front of his home-state crowd is icing on the cake.
“I’m appreciative of it — all my family lives here, brothers, sisters, in-laws, parents, even my aunts and uncles and cousins,” said Sale after AL manager Brad Mills officially announced he would start tonight’s Midsummer Classic. “So to be able to be here not too far from where I live now is nice. I can have my family, extended family come down and experience this with me. At the end of the day this is something I’ll never forget. This is something I’ll be hopefully sitting in a rocking chair when I’m 80 years old telling my grandkids and great-grandkids and things like that.”
Opposing Sale will be Washington’s Max Scherzer.
“I love the way Chris goes out and competes,” said Scherzer, a former Tiger. “Going against him when he was with the White Sox, he always brought the best out of me every time I faced him. He’s a guy that goes deep into a game. He’ll do anything to win. He makes big-time pitches all the way — even if he takes 120 pitches. By far he’s been one of my favorite players, pitchers to watch. It’s even better to compete against him.”
Sale made a point to mention that he needed help to get on the big stage again.
“A lot of hard work and dedication goes into this, not only on my end but the people I’m surrounded by,” said Sale. “The people in corner, my catchers, my teammates, my coaching staff. I’ve been very lucky to be where I’m at right now with the Boston Red Sox, have that transition going as smoothly as it has been.
“This is a fun time. I love coming to the All-Star Game. Being down in Miami about an hour and a half from where I live, that’s better. To have my family and friends come and watch it, my college coach is coming down, which is special. I’m excited for it. It’s a big deal. There’s a lot going on. I would like to sit back and be able to soak this in as well. To be able to experience this and have a few friends come down as well is nice. It’s awesome.”
The last American League pitcher to start back-to-back All-Star games was Toronto’s Dave Stieb in 1983 and 1984.
Saves Betts for last
Mookie Betts will bat ninth.
“Somebody has to hit ninth,” said Mills. “What a talent this guy is, from both sides of the ball. And all the tools he has. And it’s a treat to be able to have that guy in the ninth.”
Betts flew to Miami early Sunday evening. Really, he flew — pretty much — a single-engine jet from St. Petersburg to Miami. He and the Rays’ Chris Archer, who gave up a first-inning home run to Betts Sunday afternoon in the first-half finale, share the same agent, who set up a deal with a company. And Betts was in the copilot’s seat for takeoff.
“The co-pilot was there — he did all the buttons,” said Betts. “I pushed it to ‘go’ and then there’s a button to keep everything straight, he did that, and then I just lifted us up. Kind of like playing a video game.”
Archer said Betts “had to bob and weave through the clouds, a little steering through the clouds, it was a lot of fun.”
Archer, who helped land the plane, clarified the “fun.”
“It was fun after the fact,” he said. “It was nerve-wracking in the moment.”
Archer publicized the flight on his Twitter account.
“Some people on Twitter jumped me, said (Betts) took flight twice yesterday — once in the first inning off me and then once after the game with me in the plane,” said Archer.
Juicy discussion
Because home runs are up, the topic of whether or not the ball’s juiced came up.
“That’s for the complaining pitchers, that question,” said Giancarlo Stanton.
Said Mike Moustakas: “I don’t know. I like them if they are.”
Reliever Andrew Miller is not concerned.
“I haven’t noticed anything drastically different, it is what it is,” said Miller. “I’ve got bigger problems than having to worry about the baseball, if I was worrying about the baseball, I would have lost already. I’m trying to execute a pitch and get the other guy out. In reality, the other team’s going to get the same ball. I’m not too concerned with it. If something’s changed, and we didn’t know about it, I guess that’s one thing.” …
This time it doesn’t count — World Series home-field advantage is no longer determined by which league wins the All-Star Game.
Joey Votto of the Reds is happy to see the rule go.
“I thought it was silly,” said Votto. “The World Series, home-field advantage is predicated on this game didn’t really follow logically, I didn’t think.” He had an alternative idea. “What I’d like to see — and I don’t want to speak for anybody’s pocketbooks, I don’t want to cut checks I’m not writing — but I’d like to see some form of a pot where the winning team gets to decide what charity the money goes to.”
Miller: No excuses
At 43-45, the Cubs are struggling in second place in the NL Central right now, and there is talk that they are victims of a postWorld Series letdown perhaps exacerbated because the series went seven games. Miller, who also went the distance with the Indians, was not buying the rationale.
“Excuses don’t do you any good,” said Miller, whose Indians are in first place in the AL Central with a 47-40 record. “I had a blast playing last year and I still had plenty of time off. I feel like we can be a better team than we have been in the first half. I can’t speak for the Cubs, haven’t watched that many of their games. I know they’re not having the year that they expected. I would say both of us are fortunate it’s a 162-game season and we both have a long ways to go. We’ve got better baseball ahead of us.”