This is what makes Vladimir Guerrero of the Expos Our Man Vlad. He helped the Expos gain a split with the Braves by going 4-for-11 (.364) with four homers and five RBIs. The Braves also walked him six times in four games, and Vlad scored six runs. For the season: .323 with 23 homers and 65 RBIs.
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Thursday-Sunday, Yankee Stadium, New York
It's a bit of a choppy week -- a lot of two-game series -- until the weekend, when the Mariners head to Anaheim, the Giants roll into Los Angeles and we get this one, the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox enter the week three games behind New York, but the New Englanders have acquitted themselves well so far this season. Boston is 7-4 against New York, 2-1 in Yankee Stadium, and the Boston hitters are knocking Yankee pitching at a .274 clip. New York's Roger Clemens probably won't make the series, with his bad groin, but the Red Sox need to watch out for Mike Mussina, who is 3-0 with a 4.12 ERA against them this year. The Yanks traded for Raul Mondesi and Jeff Weaver to keep Boston at bay. This is when those trades have to pay off.
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Last time we did this, we asked you what you thought of baseball's All-Star Game and where it stood among pro sports' all-star showcases.
That was before that mess in Milwaukee.
We've gathered some of your thoughts on the All-Star Game, after the fact. We've added in some comments about what might happen next to embarrass baseball. But before you read them, we have another topic for you:
MVPs. We're talking baseball, not baseball blunders. Which player is helmet-high above the rest? He doesn't have to be on a winning team, although we all know how rare an MVP from a losing team is.
Who are your AL and NL MVPs this season? Why?
Click here to give us your nominations. Do it quickly, too. We don't know how long the season will last. (And don't forget to include your name and hometown. People always forget that.)
Now on to your general thoughts about The All-Star Game Tie and other things shameful to the game ...
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What's wrong with the bloated, ill-conceived and badly placed MLB losing a few franchises? Call it what you want (bankruptcy, contraction, folding, etc.), but maybe baseball can stand to lose a few teams -- and maybe that will wake up the players union!
-- Michael Berson, NY
Could you imagine MLB being on strike during the anniversary of
9/11? How ludicrous their squabbles will seem in light of the events of that
day? I lost friends in the Trade Center collapse, and the best way to honor
their memory is to go on with our regular lives and not let terrorism stop
us from doing what we love to do. Without baseball this fall, MLB will have
taken away an integral part of many Americans' regular lives. Please,
please, please, someone stop the madness before it's too late.
-- Rhodri J. Murphy, New York, NY
So will the president's new get-tough strategy with corporations work with baseball team owners?? Can we see if they've "cooked the books?"
-- Jim Heintz
Here's an idea: Instead of the players getting even more ridiculously rich
because baseball is doing well, why don't they grow a heart and donate the extra billion dollars they would all get to charities or at least give back
to the fans and lower ticket prices and forego their fourth Ferrari. Just a
thought.
-- Glenn Holzmacher
The [All-Star Game] game is about seeing great players do what they do - but it also is a game. Games have winners and losers. The point of a game is to try to win. The goal was never simply about giving everyone a chance to play -- this isn't T-ball. Fans have tuned in for ages to root for the American League or the National League. There used to be a rivalry. Players didn't want to come out. Yogi Berra caught the entire game. Ted Williams played the entire game. It was a complete shame to end the game without a winner. Here is the problem: Once again the focus is on the players and what they want and not on the fan. Players want to make sure that no one's feelings get hurt (poor millionaires!) Players don't want to pitch more than a few pitches. Fans want to see a game!
-- John Yancey
With U.S. troops fighting terrorism, is the question of whether baseball players are paid enough really relevant? Your average soldier in the field makes roughly 2 percent of the lowest paid player's salary. So why do we care what baseball players get paid? I certainly don't care. It amazes me what this country cares about.
-- Tom Dike, Seattle
At the end [of the All-Star Game], when Cap'n Bud and the coaches were discussing what to do, there were 50,000 fans right behind them telling them the answer, and the fans were completely ignored. If that's not a microcosm of baseball's problems, I can't tell you one.
-- Brian McNichols
Have each league select 2-3 pitchers only from the Future's Game on Sunday to stick around during the actual game and be able to pitch in the event of an extra-inning game. It would be great for the fans because they actually get to see the end of the game along with a clear-cut MVP. The prospect players, guys possibly like Brett Myers, would love it as well because they get to hang with the big boys in the dugout during the game and participate. The players would like it, knowing they aren't in harm's way. And certainly the commish would love it because he would no longer have to be the scapegoat!
-- Keanan Lamb, Tualatin, Ore.
Why is a cap such a bad thing for the entertainment industry? These guys don't seem to know what to do with that kind of money anyway. $2.38 million? Come on. With Uncle Sam in my pocket, I'll be lucky if I ever gross 2 million in my LIFETIME ... not one year ... now they want to strike again?
-- Dan Saad, Littleton, Colo.
I grew up in the '60s and '70s when the All-Star Game meant something. You think Pete Rose cared who won? Ask Ray Fosse. I saw a 15-inning All-Star game. Catfish Hunter pitched five innings in that one. Two starters, Garcia and Padilla, couldn't pitch more than two innings. Wimps!! Now we're so politically correct we can't hurt anybody's feelings. Every team has to have a player and all of them have to play. I blame Brenly and Torre just as much as Bud. Barry Zito throws three pitches and is taken out, but yet we run out of pitchers. The fans' ticket money should be refunded. No verdict, no pay. Hold your breath waiting on tightwad Bud to do that. I would pay for a detailed video of Bud getting booed in his own park.
-- John Clark, Bladenboro, NC
The problem with baseball is that nobody cares. That's why attendance has not grown, that's why the popularity of the sport has been replaced by football, basketball and soccer, that's why little if any coverage is on a broadcast network, nobody cares. Nobody cares about whining millionaire, hormone-enhanced players whining about additional compensation from whining owners who would trade their mothers for a future draft pick. The inmates are running the asylum. Nobody is looking out for what is best for the game. Let's move on to the next subject ... Tour De France.
-- John Bongiovanni, Tyler, Texas
To abuse a couple clichιs, this horrid All Star Game is just the latest fly in the ointment, but it may also be the straw that breaks the camel's back. God, I can't wait for football season.
-- Todd Kincannon
Had the managers been playing to win, given the enormous amount of talent present, I dare say, it would have been impossible to exhaust the benches or bullpen before the game was decided. As it is now, the All Star Game is nothing more than another marketing opportunity for the MLB, owners, players and talking heads. Some writers have said that to play competitive baseball at the All-Star Game, and ignore the desire for every player to get some playing time, would mean that some players would go home disappointed or angry. Who cares? The fans are the ones who pay $175 for tickets, not the players. The All Star Game isn't about winning -- but it should be. Until it is about winning, the game will be no better than the Academy Awards: a show by the industry for the industry. Another narcissistic exercise where all the participants pat themselves on the backs and admire how talented they all are. Until it is about winning, the
fans will continue to get the short end of this stick.
-- Bill Andrew, Atlanta
This game was a travesty from start to finish. The selection of players was a joke, the playing of "all" players was idiotic and the ending sent the message that baseball cares nothing for its traditions. Baseball lost quite a few fans tonight and I'm one of them.
-- Gerald J. Huffman
It's a show. You want winners and losers? Wait until the World Series.
-- Chris Munson, Seattle, Wash.
The managers should be worried more about the fans in this game than the players. After all, it's played for us. We're the one's paying their salaries. Even the "seriousness" of the regular season can't be considered that serious in the grand scheme of things. It's a game, for Christ's sake. You're baseball players, for Christ's sake. Stop referring to it as a "job" and "work" and maybe these players will stop thinking of it as such. I laugh when I hear such things as "Cal Ripken came to work 2,000+ times without a day off." Screw that!! Baseball isn't work, it's play, and maybe in the future, if baseballers (including management) begin to think that way, we'll have a "midsummer classic" that doesn't get called on account of stupid planning and laziness. I'd be willing to bet anything that if the fans were eligible for their money back, we'd have an ending to that game.
-- Andrew Connors, New York, NY
Our tribute to the banter of baseball 
This is what makes 
