I watched nearly all of the 78th All-Star Game tonight on Fox. The American League won their 10th consecutive All-Star Game, beating the National League 5 to 4. Dmitri Young of the Washington Nationals got a base hit and Chicago Cubs Alfonso Soriano a homerun in the bottom of the 9th inning; and then the National League loaded the bases with four walks…….

alas. so close and yet so far.

Participating/Represented teams:

American League: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays

National League: Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals

Chris Isaak sang the national anthem in a style reminiscent of The Soggy Bottom Boys (you know, “I am a man of constant sorrow”). How baseball. He has not defied the passing of time. I hate to admit it, but he’s got wrinkles. He’s gettin old–but not scary-old like some stones that roll. For some inexplicable reason, his performance was filmed entirely in a medium close-up. He was on screen right and his duet partner was on the left (I don’t recall his name).

There was a tribute to Willie Mays with a video montage.


He took a cadillac ride around the field and threw baseballs into the stands. Awesome. According to the commentators, he has the most hits and stolen bases in All-Star Game history. He started playing professionally in 1951 when he was twenty years-old, debuting four years after Jackie Robinson.

There was an instant replay in the 1st inning of a pitch to New York Yankees man Derek Jeter, and I had glanced up from the laptop to notice that the perspective was from an extreme low-angle shot just in front of Jeter. There was a replay of a pitch to NY Yankees player Alex Rodriguez using Fox Trax, measuring the speed of the ball, and another exterme low angle of the first baseman’s mistake of not catching the ball after Rodiguez had hit it. This camera POV was a low angle but resting just on the grass. There were probably cameras like this one throughout the entire field, but most of the subsequent shots from this POV were of the batter.

The Fox Trax speed radar device also has a ball trail, but it’s not nearly as large of an imprint as the one that I saw in the Braves vs. Marlins game on TBS.

I hope that the extreme low angle POVs are incorporated into more telecasts. The image resolution is too “surveillance-footage-esque,” though.

There won’t be any Baseketball today I’m afraid, but there will be within the next 48 hours.
pic cred: google image search