Inland Waterways » first repeat champion

MINNEAPOLIS -- Mike Matheny had quite the choice for the National Leagues All-Star starter. There was his own Adam Wainwright, the St. Louis Cardinals ace with a 12-4 record and a 1.83 ERA. And there was the Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw, 11-2 with a 1.78 ERA and fresh off a 41-inning scoreless streak that ended last week. He chose Wainwright, who will start Tuesday night at Target Field against the Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez. "Its going to be great catching them," said Milwaukees Jonathan Lucroy, the NL starter behind the plate. "A lot more fun than facing them." When baseballs elite met at Citi Field last year, NL batters managed just three hits in a 3-0 loss. A year earlier in Kansas City, the AL had just six hits in an 8-0 defeat. Never before had consecutive All-Star games ended in shutouts. "Guys are throwing harder. Guys have more pitches," said Philadelphia second baseman Chase Utley, making his sixth All-Star appearance and first since 2010. The big league batting average is at a 42-year low. Strikeouts are at an all-time high. Wainwright and Kershaw are on track to become the first pair of qualifying pitchers in one league with a sub-2.00 ERA since the Mets Dwight Gooden and the Cardinals John Tudor in 1985 -- the last time Minnesota hosted the All-Stars. "Aside from having the ability to win two World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals, I think this has to be one of the highlights of my baseball career to this point," Wainwright said. "One of the coolest things I can say I did is to start a big league All-Star game." Kershaw understood Mathenys decision. "If Im him, Im probably going to pick Adam, too. Its his guy and he had the best half," Kershaw said. Hernandez, the first Venezuela pitcher to start for the All-Stars, also has sterling credentials: an 11-2 record with a 2.12 ERA. He described his task pretty simply: "Just throw zeroes out there and get my team to win. Thats all I got to do," he said. Back in the great pitching era of the 1960s, the game was different. Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal expected to finish what they started. Now, flame-throwers come out of the bullpen in the middle of games. "Youre not getting three, four at-bats off of the starter unless youre in trouble and youre losing the game," said Baltimores Matt Wieters, elected as a starting catcher but sidelined following elbow surgery. "I think for a while it was trying to get the starter out of the game so you can get to that fifth, sixth, seventh-inning guy. And now those fifth, sixth, seventh-inning guys are throwing upper 90s with a good breaking ball." In addition to pitchers, the spotlight will be on New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter. The shortstop, who turned 40 last month, is playing his final season and was selected for his 14th All-Star game. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera got an emotional sendoff last year, the All-Stars giving him a solo bow. When Rivera entered in the eighth inning all other players left him the field to himself. Cal Ripken Jr. was given a tribute at the start of the 2001 game at Seattles Safeco Field when Alex Rodriguez told Ripken just before the first pitch to switch positions and move from third base to shortstop, where the Baltimore star spent most of his career. The 40-year-old Ripken then homered in the third inning. And two years ago, Atlantas Chipper Jones was feted with a standing ovation at Kauffman Stadium when he pinch hit in the sixth inning and singled. What will Jeters All-Star finale be like? "I dont go into things with expectations," he said. "Im looking forward to playing the game. Ive pretty much stopped it right there." The game is being played in Minneapolis for the third time, following the NLs 6-5 win at Metropolitan Stadium in 1965 and a dull 6-1 NL victory indoors at the Metrodome in 1985. Oakland, a big league-best 59-36 at the break, has seven All-Stars for the first time since 1975. It got another win on Monday night when Yoenis Cespedes beat Cincinnatis Todd Frazier 9-1 in the final round to become the first repeat champion of the Home Run Derby since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1998 and 99. The Athletics have some incentive for an AL victory in the All-Star game; since 2003, the winners league gets to start the World Series at home, and 23 of the last 28 titles were won by teams scheduled to host four of a possible seven games. "I dont think you can ever underestimate the home-field advantage in a post-season," said AL manager John Farrell, who led Boston to a six-game win over St. Louis last year. "To have that final game potentially in your home ballpark, that goes a long way to affecting the outcome." Bene Benwikere Jersey . Fifth-seeded Cilic gained his fourth title in Zagreb and became the third Croat overall to win at least 10 career titles. Cilic also lifted his career record in Zagreb to 22-4, winning 20 of his last 21 matches at the event. Ricky Seals-Jones Jersey . Make that, almost always subjective. Saturday at Carrow Road, the spirit of fair play trumped the rulebook, costing Norwich City three points. http://www.cheapcardinalsjerseyssale.com/ . So far, so good: Gonzalez has allowed one run through 12 innings this season. His second start came Tuesday night, when he gave up only three singles over six innings to lead the Nationals to a 5-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. Patrick Peterson Jersey . It will then be back to business once the puck drops as the two clubs battle for key points in their respective playoff races. Watch the game live on TSN Canadiens and listen on TSN Radio 690 starting at 7:30pm et. Chase Edmonds Jersey . One out away from finishing off an impressive shutout, they let a must-win game slip away.11) So do the Orioles miss Davis, or not? He batted .196 and hit 26 homers. .196 they can do without, but 26 homers they cant replace. Theres something about a home run threat in the middle of a batting order--for all the times Davis struck out, the threat didnt seem to matter, but when its not there, it does.12) Does it take too long to play a baseball game? Im not talking about extra-inning marathons or slugfests, but rather, a low-scoring, nine-inning affair. On Monday, the Rays beat the Yankees 1-0. The game ended two minutes short of the 3 1/2 hour mark.13) USA beat Serbia to win the Basketball World Cup. Did you know that? I cant decide if it received proper coverage. Part of me thinks it should have been a bigger deal, and the other part would have been happy to ignore it entirely.14) As the gifts pile up on his farewell tour, Derek Jeter got crabs in Baltimore. Is there a better way of saying that?15) Shouldnt Tim Leiweke actually write his tell-all book about MLSE before he quotes from it?16) The next time you want to prove that a rabid crowd can help a team, will there be a better example than Buffalos support for the Bills in the game that opened the first of many seasons under the neew ownership of Terry Pegula? Players have never sounded so sincere in giving credit to fans as the Bills did after beating Miami 29-10.dddddddddddd17) If the NHL is going to spend so much time identifying and punishing divers, dont you think it should consider "degree of difficulty" in all such determinations?18) Did you ever understand the need to have NHL coaches write the names of their first three shootout participants on a lineup sheet? I never did, and as often as I asked the NHL, it could never explain itself. Thus, that part of the shootout process has been discontinued. Logic takes its proper place so seldom, and it usually takes too long.19) Baseballs manager of the year awards arent usually water cooler material, I know, but how would you decide this years winner in the American League? Its Mike Scioscia of the Angels vs. Buck Showalter of the Orioles.20) How many green jackets can you buy with 11 1/2 million dollars? Billy Horschel won that much by winning the season-ending Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup and before he could be asked if it was about the money, he said it was. So along with the money, he got credit for being honest about the money. Nice. 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