Players revel in frivolity
Nothing on line means more fun
MIAMI - The new AllStar Game rules were picture-perfect for Nelson Cruz.
Yadier Molina didn’t mind them, either.
And come Game 1 of the World Series in October, no one will be harkening back to how a play here or there at the Midsummer Classic might have ultimately played a role in deciding baseball’s champion for 2017.
World Series homefield advantage is now decided by winning percentage and no longer by the result of the All-Star Game — and not coincidentally there were no shortage of hijinks at Marlins Park on Tuesday night. Cruz got a photo with plate umpire Joe West before an atbat, Molina was high-fiving opponents after a home run and someone stuck a used piece of chewing gum on the hat of unsuspecting American League manager Brad Mills.
“I tried to do it in 2013 but I couldn’t do it,” said Cruz, who planned the stunt pregame. “This time, if I had to take a picture with someone it was Joe West. He’s the legend.”
The AL beat the NL, 2-1, in 10 innings.
Odds are, the shenanigans like what Cruz pulled off will be remembered a lot longer than that score.
“That was one of the best moments in the game,” said Robinson Cano — whose homer in the 10th inning gave the AL the win, 50 years to the day after Tony Perez hit what had been the last extra-inning home run in all-star history.
Cruz walked to the plate with his phone — ringer on silent — in his back pocket. He wanted to take a selfie with West, but his batting gloves made maneuvering the buttons impossible. So he handed the phone to Molina, the NL catcher who was wondering what was happening before he agreed to take the photo.
The loquacious West, who recently worked his 5,000th game and is nicknamed “Cowboy Joe” for singing country songs, also was caught offguard.
“I’ve never seen that before — ever,” he told The Associated Press. “That’s the first time I ever think I’ve been speechless on a field.”
Said NL manager Joe Maddon of the reigning World Series champion Chicago Cubs, after Cruz’s phone gag: “I would bet if the game had counted, he would not have done that, yes.”
It wasn’t all fun and games.
Washington’s Bryce Harper lost his hat as he sprinted for a sprawling, spectacular catch in right field. Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez gave up his body a couple times late to keep pitches that could have cost the AL the game in front of him.
AL starter Chris Sale of the Red Sox, according to Statcast, got one pitch up to 99.5 mph for his hardest toss of 2017. NL starter Max Scherzer also came out letting it fly.
Despite the motto — “This time it counts” — that MLB attached when the correlation between the all-star result and home field for the World Series began in 2003, it’s unclear how much the whole thing counted. Former Commissioner Bud Selig put in the rule as part of the response to the 7-7 tie at Miller Park in Milwaukee that was widely criticized in 2002.