Cheering a Brave, thanking a Yankee

The All-Star Game is always a trip to the bizarro world of baseball.

You're rooting for players who you normally jeer, because they're on the same team as your team's players, and you want your team's league to win. There are many more players on the roster, and players come in and out of the game with often no rhyme or reason.

And, oh yeah, this exhibition game determines which league gets home field advantage in the World Series, which has been won by the "home" team in 11 of the last 15 years.

This year's game was no different for Mets fans, who watched David Wright continue his All-Star dominance with two hits and a stolen base. He is 11-for-16 as an All-Star in his career.

But perhaps the highlights of the game — won by the National League for the first time since 1996 — were seeing an Atlanta Brave getting the key hit, and watching the Yankees manager sabotage his team's chances with mismanagement.

Braves catcher Brian McCann delivered the winning hit, a bases-loaded double. Here's hoping that's the last clutch hit he gets all year.

But Joe Girardi deserves a fruit basket from Charlie Manuel and the rest of the National League for his bungling of the game.

How on earth is David Ortiz allowed to run the bases? Alex Rodriguez was available to pinch hit or pinch run. That A-Rod was the only player left on the bench is a testament to Girardi's incompetence. With 34 players on the roster, and the World Series home field advnatage on the line, how do you not keep three or four players available at the end?

Tom Verducci breaks it down tremendously in Sports Illustrated, noting that Girardi selected A-Rod to the team, and claimed that A-Rod was healthy (so why not use him?) but a source says A-Rod's thumb was "sore" and that Girardi wanted "four days off for our big guy."

Meanwhile, Adrian Beltre played with a sore hamstring. Nice.

Verducci also doesn't let Manuel off the hook, noting that he pulled Albert Pujols too quickly and sent Chris Young up to pinch hit for Andre Ethier.

In any event, at least the Mets know that if they make it to the Series, they'll have the Citi Field advantage on their side!

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A note about George Steinbrenner. It's amusing how we're reading so much about how he was the greatest owner in sports.

Don't get me wrong: The man was passionate about winning (and not losing) and spent tons of money to win. Fans love that. But remember that this was a guy who paid a lowlife money to dig up dirt on his own player, who hired and fired 17 managers in 17 seasons, who didn't see the consistent success until after he was banned from the game, when his front office started running things the right way without him.

And when they did build a farm system and develop young players, what did George do? He spent more money than anyone else, because he could.

An absolute must-read: New York Times columnist Dave Anderson's 1980 piece on the press conference announcing the "execution" of Dick Howser.

Howser was fired in November, a month after the Yankees won 103 games but were swept in the playoffs by the Royals. He was treated miserably by King George.

Howser went on to win a World Series with the Royals five years later, and two years after that, died of a brain tumor.