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Boston did this to them.
Tuesday’s All-Star game in New York is about the closing of Yankee Stadium at the end of the year, but the extravagance of the event, including a red carpet parade of Hall of Famers and All-Stars up 6th Avenue, is about the highly praised 1999 All-Star game at Fenway Park.
The Sox had the All-Century team on the field with Ted Williams’ emotional throwing out of the first pitch. The Yankee folks haven’t forgotten and this is their time to gain back some of the glory.
Good for all of us. It will be a spectacle.
Last Sunday night after the All-Star rosters were announced, both Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees used the word “weird” when commenting on the fact Red Sox players will be in the Yankees locker room for the game.
Jeter said he felt “weird” in the Boston clubhouse for the 1999 game. Rodriguez washed away the weird feelings with, “Some of my better friends in life are in that clubhouse [the Red Sox]. For three or four days, we’re going to be good friends and teammates.”
Seven Sox will call the Yankee clubhouse home for the All-Star festivities. American League and Sox manager Terry Francona and Yankees skipper Joe Girardi will share the manager’s office. That’s weird.
There were some interesting discrepancies between the NL and AL fan and player voting. The fans selected the starters and the votes of the players, managers and coaches (referred to hereafter as player voting) chose the backups at each position.
In the NL, the fans and players agreed on seven of the nine starters, with fans picking outfielders Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome to start. The players voted for Matt Holliday and Nate McLouth instead.
In the AL, the differences were far greater. Both sets of votes picked Joe Mauer as catcher. The players picked Justin Morneau for first, while the fans selected Kevin Youkilis.
Ian Kinsler got the players votes for second; the fans chose Dustin Pedroia. A-Rod won both sets of votes for third, but the players wanted Michael Young at short over the fans’ pick of Jeter.
Both sides agreed on Josh Hamilton and Manny Ramirez in the outfield, but the players picked J.D. Drew third while the fans voted Ichiro Suzuki to start.
The players selected Milton Bradley to DH and the fans elected David Ortiz, but it will be Bradley in that spot, if he is healthy, since Ortiz is on the DL.
The players gave more votes to Josh Hamilton than anyone else on the AL side and Chipper Jones received the top number from players in the NL.
Hamilton said his dream was to come back this year after four years of fighting drug and alcohol addiction and make the All-Star team so he could tell his story. His wish has been granted.
Home-field advantage in the World Series should not be based on the outcome of what is an exhibition game, but that is still the rule for this All-Star game.
The Red Sox won’t mind as long as the AL keeps winning.
The event, and that is what All-Star games are now, will be entertaining and nostalgic. There is nothing wrong with that.
bdnsports@bangordailynews.net
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