By Jeff Moss
July 11, 2012
DetroitSportsRag@gmail.com
Before I state my opinion on Justin Verlander’s decision to turn the All-Star game into his personal JUGS gun skills competition instead of a baseball game with actual ramifications, let me state the following.
It is totally asinine for the MLB All-Star Game to dictate home-field advantage in the World Series.
The only thing dumber might be the old format where the AL and NL alternated home-field on a yearly basis.
(Which, for the record, is the way the MLB Draft is also set up to this day. Not that I have been bitter about that for the last three decades since the Tigers would have drafted Chipper Jones instead of Tony Clark if not for that moronic rule.)
There are probably 50 better ways to determine Fall Classic home-field advantage than this current fiasco, with the most optimal being the team with the best record getting to host Game 1.
Of course, the side that has a better interleague record or the total number of liver spots on Bud Selig’s body being odd or even would be preferred over the current rules where a July exhibition game determines who gets four games at home during the World Series instead of three.
A game, mind you, where the starting lineups are voted by imbecile, ballot-stuffing fans and each team must have one representative present whether deserved or not.
Selig’s decision to make this game “relevant” after the extra-inning tie incident a few years back is Pat Caputo dumb and I wouldn’t waste one second defending it.
But with all of that said, EVERYONE KNOWS THE RULES GOING INTO THIS STOOPID GAME. You win and you get to start the WS at home.
Look, marijuana should be legal, but it isn’t. Which is why I refuse to light up a huge blunt in front of a cop in protest of our archaic, “War on Drugs.”
Unfortunately, for the eventual American League pennant winner, Justin Verlander decided to make the 2012 All-Star Game his personal protest against Selig’s edict.
Now, I love Verlander as much as the next guy. On the old DSR Forums, whenever someone typed in the word “God,” it was automatically switched to [Verlander.]
The dude is one of my Top 5 favorite Detroit athletes of all-time.
But what the AL All-Star starter pulled on Tuesday night was flat-out wrong and irresponsible. Instead of pitching to win the game like he normally would, Verlander decided to wow baseball fans with his triple digit fastball.
Here are some quotes Verlander gave to former Tigers beat writer and current CBS.com writer, Danny “Mail Order Bride” Knobler, after his horrid performance Tuesday night:
“I know the fans don’t want to see me throw 90 and hit the corners. They want to see the 100 mph fastball. We’re here for the fans.”
“That’s why I don’t [usually] try to throw 100 in the first inning,” he said. “It doesn’t usually work out. … It’s really hard for me to command [the 100 mph fastball] when I haven’t established my delivery early in the game.”
“I was able to laugh about it (getting rocked) right away. Hey, I had fun.”
“It’s a great experience. I thoroughly enjoyed being here.”
There are so many things wrong with the above quotes that I don’t even know where to begin, but I guess I will start here.
What brain-dead crowd is Verlander trying to impress here? We ALL KNOW you can throw 100 miles per hour if you desire. We’ve seen it on numerous occasions. Especially during the 2008 season where you relied on your triple digit heater way too much and consequently had the worst season of your career.
Just because a bunch of unsophisticated idiots like to see 100 on a speed gun (a reading that may or not be accurate by the way), you decide to totally alter an approach that earned you a Cy Young, an MVP trophy and Tuesday’s start?!?!!?!?
Guess what, JV? The same people who love the Fox radar gun blazing fire also follow Nascar so they can root for the crashes. I am just glad you didn’t decide to get into stock car racing.
Why change a WINNING formula just to please a bunch of mouth-breathers?
Sorry, I would have much rather watched you “boringly” paint the corners at 93 mph and throw that 12-to-6 curve ball and pitch two innings of scoreless baseball than witness Ryan Braun and Kung-Fu Panda pulverize your “annihilator” while you attempted to show America that you were some sort of combination between Sidd Finch and Steve Nebraska.
And I am sure some of you might be yelling at your computer screen right now that home-field doesn’t mean that much and Verlander rightfully treated his performance as an exhibition.
(You are probably the same dumbasses who thought it would be funny to Tweet every bad JV/Kate Upton joke that popped into your head during Tuesday night’s game. You know who you are.)
Well, guess what? Home-field advantage does seem to matter. In the last THIRTY Fall Classic’s, the home-team has won …… 22 of them.
Like, that’s a lot.
Also, the last nine Game 7’s have gone to the team playing at home!!!! Including last season. The manager of the AL squad (Ron “New Jack” Washington) should be familiar with that result since he was, you know, on the losing end of that contest.
So, instead of treating his All-Star privilege like he does EVERY other game where he has almost catatonic-like focus, Verlander decided to handle his start like he was competing for the strongest man title at the St. Mary’s Fair.
It was stupid and shortsighted and he only compounded the ignorance by BRAGGING ABOUT IT to “The Knob.”
Every Tigers fan in the world knows it is an awful sign for #35 to come out of the gate throwing near 100 mph in the first frame. From Ashley Cootchie-Coo to that truck driver who runs the website, “WalkIntoOncomingTrafficOnWoodward.”
Hell, obviously Verlander knows it as well since he admitted it to KNOBler in that article!!!!!
“That’s why I don’t [usually] try to throw 100 in the first inning,” he said. “It doesn’t usually work out. … It’s really hard for me to command [the 100 mph fastball] when I haven’t established my delivery early in the game.”
Yep, hard for you to command. Which is why you predictably threw 35 pitches and only 19 of them were for strikes.
Instead of openly admitting that you didn’t care if you pitched well or not, as long as the thrill seekers got a boner from velocity readings, ya should have apologized to Washington for treating the game like a sideshow.
Nope. You bragged about your intentions and then said the following:
“I’d approach it (another All-Star Game start) the same way.”
Well, if that is the case, the next manager who let’s JV start a Midsummer Classic is a freaking idiot. Hell, the next manager who even let’s Verlander PITCH in this game with home-field on the line should have his head examined.
And if Ron Washington knew beforehand that Verlander was going to go all Chuck Yeager instead of performing like the PITCHER we have grown accustomed to, well, it might be time for a urine sample to make sure the Rangers skipper isn’t on blow again.