American Pitchers Prevail

July 23rd, 2014 by Kevin


In a season where pitchers have once again dominated while offense has lagged behind, it was fitting that the 21st Annual DTBL All-Star Game turned into a pitchers duel.  On Tuesday night at DK Memorial Field, home of Marc’s Mavericks, the American Division jumped out to an early lead and held on for a 3-2 victory over the National Division in the Mid-Summer Classic.

As it turned out, there were a lot of similarities between the DTBL All-Star Game and last week’s MLB All-Star Game, especially when it came to the starting pitchers, and particularly Adam Wainwright.  Like the MLB game, Wainwright got the start for the National All-Stars and was opposed by Felix Hernandez.  And in similar fashion to his performance last week, things didn’t go that well for Wainwright.  In the top of the first inning, he promptly allowed singles to Yasiel Puig and Troy Tulowitzki to start the game.  Both would later score on RBI singles by Paul Goldschmidt and Jose Bautista.  So the American Division opened up a quick 2-0 lead before King Felix took the mound.  No truth to the rumors that Wainwright was laying in pipe shots to the American hitters.  Clayton Kershaw relieved Wainwright in the second, but he too was greeted by some quick hits.  Victor Martinez and Ian Kinsler started the second with singles.  Martinez scored on a one out double by Miguel Cabrera.  Kershaw was then able to shut the door, but the American squad already had a 3-0 lead after an inning and a half.  Meanwhile, Hernandez was much more effective in his two innings.  He retired the side in order in the first and kept the National All-Stars off the board in the second despite a pair of hits.

After the second inning, the pitchers on both sides went into cruise control, racking up strikeouts and extinguishing a few mild scoring threats.  It wasn’t until the sixth inning when the next serious scoring chance popped up.  Jonathan Papelbon surrendered a single and a double to put two American runners in scoring position with just one out.  But Trevor Rosenthal relieved him and struck out the only two hitters he faced to keep the score 3-0.  This appeared to be a potential turning point in the game, particularly with what happened next in the bottom of the sixth.  Facing Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury reached on a one out single.  Then, Mike Trout followed with a two run blast to left to cut the National deficit to a single run.  Sean Doolittle proceeded to extend the streak of American hitters going down on strikes as he struck out the side in the top of the seventh.  Momentum seemed to be completely on the National side at that point.

But that momentum would not continue.  No hitters reached base in the 7th or 8th for either team.  The American All-Stars handed the ball to Craig Kimbrel to protect a one run lead in the ninth, facing Trout to start the inning.  He induced a ground out from Trout before walking Freddie Freeman.  But a double play ball off the bat of Brandon Moss sealed the deal as the American Division held on for a 3-2 victory.

Pitchers dominated not only in keeping runs off the board, but also in compiling a ridiculous number of strikeouts.  The National pitchers somehow fanned 16 hitters in a losing cause.  The American pitchers weren’t short on punch-outs either.  They had 10 of their own for a game total of 26.  I only have easy access to the box scores from the last 10 All-Star Games, so I can’t confirm any ASG records.  However, I’m not aware of a single team strikeout performance greater than the National’s 16.  But believe it or not, 26 is NOT the combined record.  Just last year, the teams combined for 29 strikeouts (15 and 14 each)!  So apparently these absurd K totals are now an All-Star Game trend.

Felix Hernandez recorded the win on the strength of his two scoreless innings.  Adam Wainwright took the loss.  Craig Kimbrel recorded the save.  OOTP inexplicably named Sean Doolittle as the Player of the Game, despite only pitching one inning for the losing team.  So we had to overrule that selection.  Those present at the game selected Moonshiners second baseman Ian Kinsler as the 2014 DTBL All-Star Game MVP.  Kinsler recorded a game high 3 hits in his 4 at bats.  Interestingly, this is Kinsler’s second DTBL ASG MVP award.  He also received that honor back in 2009 when he hit a key three run homer off Johan Santana to spark an American victory.

Click here to view the game box score.

Congrats to Charlie on leading the American Division to the victory!  It was fun, despite being on the losing side.  Too bad I won’t be able to get revenge next year since there is no chance I’ll be managing the National Division again in ’15.

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