Why
the NL Will Win the All Star Game in 2006
Daniel Paulling
For the past two years, I’ve written this article proudly proclaiming that the National League will win the All Star Game and supplied several good points. Down 0 and 2, I can’t afford to strike out. The Senior Circuit boys need to come through in the clutch for me.
The best chance for the National League will come early in the game. Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, and Jose Contreras all started on Sunday, which limits them to only one inning on Tuesday. Kenny Rogers, instead, will be taking the mound for the American League, and he’ll be facing one rough lineup.
My best guess is that two of Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Alfonso Soriano will be batting first and second in the order. Following them up will be the best hitter in baseball, Albert Pujols. The National League could tack on a run or two early, especially with guys like David Wright and Chase Utley coming up later on.
The American League has their fair share of firepower, there’s no doubt about that. However, I think they lack power. Their starting lineup has only two guys who could feasibly beat you with the long ball, David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez. (Vladimir Guerrero has been slumping lately, hitting a paltry .243 in June.) Most of the other guys are role players, like Mark Loretta and Ivan Rodriguez. Nice guys to have around, but they aren’t going to drive many runners home.
Benches always play an important role in All Star Games, and I believe that the National League’s is better. Sure, a late-inning appearance by Jim Thome or Jermaine Dye can result in a home run, but so could one by Lance Berkman or Ryan Howard. Joe Mauer could come off the bench to get that hit with runners on first and third and two outs, but Freddy Sanchez (.358 batting average), Miguel Cabrera (.334), Nomar Garciaparra (.358), or Brian McCann (.343) can just as easily.
Bullpens play an important role, as well, as it is a bench, just for pitchers. There’s a lot said about the foursome at the end of the American League bullpen (Bobby Jenks, Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Papelbon, and BJ Ryan). This is the weakest part of the game for the National League, so manager Phil Gardner needs to manage power arms Roy Oswalt, Jason Schmidt, and Brad Penny diligently, mixing them with soft-tossers Bronson Arroyo, Chris Capuano, and Trevor Hoffman (who is having a spectacular season and getting absolutely no press).
And that brings us to the penultimate area of the contest: defense. The National League’s left side of the infield features a lot of Rawlings Golden Glove awards. David Wright and Scott Rolen are of that caliber, while Jose Reyes deserves one and Edgar Renteria has hardware already. Albert Pujols has very few peers at first, and Andruw Jones has none in center field.
The last part of the game is not too good for my team -- intangibles. The stats do not bode well for the National League. I know that the Junior Circuit teams treated Senior Circuit teams like the Kansas City Royals during Interleague Play. I know that a team from the American League hasn’t lost the World Series since 2003, including two consecutive sweeps. I know the NL hasn’t won an All Star Game since 1994.
But do you remember here that game took place? I believe it was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the location of this year’s game. Perhaps some kind of magic will still be in the Steel City. Go National League!
Why the AL Will Win the All-Star Game in 2006
Matt Souders
There’s no question in my mind that the American League is now the dominant league in baseball. The AL has totally dominated the all-star game a half dozen years or more running. The superiority of American League baseball was made all the more clear this year when they won inter-league games at approximately a .650 clip.
If you watched the inter-league action this year, you know that the AL didn’t just luck its way into winning so many games against an equal opponent. No, this year, the AL pistol-whipped the NL to the tune of almost 7 runs scored per game against fewer than 4 runs allowed per game. It was painful to watch if you were a fan of an NL club, I’m sure. For this Mariner fan it was a giggle-fest.
Dan is probably going to make a lot of his case by comparing the statistical records of NL all-stars against their AL counterparts, but don’t be fooled, folks. It is at least 5% easier to hit in the NL this year than the AL despite the DH in the AL and the bigger parks in the NL. You’re not going to see that kind of thing by just looking at the leagues’ run scoring rates because aside form the IL games, the two leagues are isolated from each other so AL pitchers don’t get to face NL hitters and NL pitchers don’t have the task of facing AL hitters. This June should tell you all you need to know about how poor the NL is now. I would even assert that the senior circuit is dangling at the edge of the cliff separating major leagues from MINOR leagues. How else do you explain the explosive developments of career journeymen like Dan Uggla? How else can you justify the persistence of aging pitchers like Jose Mesa?
The Nippon League (Japan) is probably a better collection of athletic talents right now than the NL, which is an assortment of untested rookies and second year players, veteran journeymen, and a few quality players, all of whom will be cobbled together on this year’s team. A look at the National League roster leaves me unimpressed to say the least. I’m particularly amused by guys like Alfonso Soriano (he moved to the NL and HEY…he can suddenly hit again…I wonder why!), Bronson Arroyo (a solid but uninspiring pitching in the AL and he’s an All-Star as soon as he jumps ship), Chris Capuano, Tom Glavine (interesting that his renaissance happened to coincide with the demise of the NL as a competitive major league), Dan Uggla, Brian McCann, Edgar Renteria (from outcast in a real league to all-star in a lame one!), Freddy Sanchez (never thought of as a prospect of much repute until he miraculously hit .330 in AAAA – which is what I’m going to call the NL from now on), Tom Gordon, Brian Fuentes...I could go on, but I want to give Dan a little breathing room.
Face it Dan…your league is toast.
Signed,
Matt Souders (a happy fan of the last true Major League)
Daniel is an AtHomePlate blogger (http://www.athomeplate.com/Paulling/index.php);
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