I wasn’t planning on watching the entire All Star Game but it breezed by so quickly that it was over before I knew it.  At 2 hours and 23 minutes it was the fastest All Star Game since 1988.  Most of the pitchers worked quickly and the hitters were hacking.

I didn’t take notes during the game, but a couple things stuck with me.

Felix Hernandez has begun rotating backwards as part of his motion, similar to what Erik Bedard does.  I’m not sure when this started, but I want to say it was at some point this season.  But in this All Star Game I feel like it was more noticeable than ever before.  My first thought that this is the type of thing that we’re going to see get more pronounced as the stress/adrenaline level rises– sort of a Chad Bradford-syndrome, if you will.  Interesting.

My allegiances were all over the place in this game.  I started out rooting for the American League, but as the game progressed I realized how I was fans of way more National League players than AL, so I found myself rooting a bit for the NL.  But once Charlie Manuel intentionally walked Victor Martinez I was rooting for the AL all the way.  That was ridiculous.  V-Mart’s reaction told the whole story.  He was excited to get an ASG at bat in and had it taken away from him.  This is just one example of why home field advantage in the World Series SHOULD NOT be tied to an exhibition.

The African American representation in this game was great to see.  The number of African Americans in the big leagues had been plummeting for years but has finally seen it’s first uptick the last two seasons for the first time since the 1980s.  The ten African Americans (Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Adam Jones, Ryan Howard, Carl Crawford, Prince Fielder, Justin Upton, Orlando Hudson, Edwin Jackson, Torii Hunter) on the All Star rosters were the most we’ve seen in years and can be nothing but a positive when it comes to turning that uptick into a trend.

That game moved too quickly for me to retain anything else.  Good stuff.