The actual All-Star Game has finally started, and it's difficult to overstate just how little happened in the game's first inning. Or understate. I don't know, I'm just a writer who doesn't know words.
The first pitch was a fastball that Curtis Granderson grounded to first. Roy Halladay then struck out Asdrubal Cabrera on four pitches. Then Adrian Gonzalez grounded to first on four pitches. Kicking off the bottom half, Rickie Weeks grounded to first, and then Carlos Beltran struck out. For the first five batters, it was a game of two outcomes before Matt Kemp walked and Prince Fielder lined out. Matt Kemp is still afraid to swing on television after his impossibly pathetic performance a day ago.
If there was any remarkable anything about the first inning, it was that either Joe Buck or Tim McCarver referred to Adrian Gonzalez as the AL MVP while Jose Bautista was standing on deck. But then ripping on Buck and McCarver these days is more old hat than Abraham Lincoln's old hat. Buck does sound ill and I'm given to understand that he's long been fighting some sort of virus that's affected his voice, so I guess this All-Star Game will be devoid of his usual enthusiasm and explosive crescendos.