The NL starting infield looked like the Cubs were playing in San Diego with Kris Bryant at 3rd base, Addison Russell at shortstop, Ben Zobrist at 2nd base, and Anthony Rizzo at 1st base. We all knew this was the All-Star game because Bryce Harper was starting in right-field wearing a Curly W cap with stars on it.
This All-Star appearance would be Bryce Harper’s fourth time in the mid-summer classic at the age of 23, and would be his best showing so far.
Johnny Cueto was the NL’s starting pitcher from the San Francisco Giants, and he proved to be the NL’s undoing early in this game as he gave up 3-runs over 1 2/3 innings to start the game which proved to be all the AL squad needed in what was a 4-2 win by their side, and once again secured homefield advantage for whichever American League team advances to the 2016 World Series.
Again Collins has gone too far with his starter against #Royals — this time Cueto v. Hosmer/Perez #Mets
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 13, 2016
There is some dark humor in Sherman’s tweet that referred back to Terry Collins sticking with Matt Harvey in Game 5 of the World Series finale in which Harvey took the loss in the 9th inning.
The Washington Nationals All-Stars collectively had a great game combining for a .500 batting average (3-6), great defense, and a 0.00 ERA. All of the four Nationals who played (Strasburg opted out) were solid in their own way.
Daniel “Hits” Murphy, who leads the Majors in batting average, led off the 9th inning of this All-Star game with a solid single, and did his part to try to rally the NL team from a 4-2 deficit. In fact Murphy went 2-3 on the night for a nice .667 batting average in this mid-summer classic.
Daniel Murphy was 2-3 as mentioned and turned in a Web Gem (video here) with bases loaded to save 2 runs. Murphy looked pleased with his performance overall, and if the NL won, he could have been the MVP.
Bryce Harper was 1-2 with a double (video here) off of Cole Hamels which was great given their history. With Harper at 2nd, and a runner at 3rd, the NL had a chance to blow the game open, but Cole Hamels struck out Kris Bryant in a 3-2 count.
Wilson Ramos had an unfortunate strikeout (it happens) in his only at-bat. Give it time Wilson—-Bryce Harper got off the schneid in this All-Star game with his first hit in four All-Star game appearances. Ramos entered the game in the 4th inning, and caught 3 scoreless innings to keep his catcher’s ERA at 0.00 while his pitchers only gave up 1 hit. Ramos was able to catch Drew Pomeranz, Julio Teheran, and Max Scherzer. Ramos and Scherzer were on the same page in the 6th inning as usual.
Scherzer was dominant and “amp’d” as he had a 1-2-3 inning that featured a 99 .0 mph heater to strikeout the Orioles Matt Wieters. Here is the video and you may note the FOX unofficial radar gun clocked the pitch at 98mph, and in fact was 99.0 mph per the official radar gun. We have never seen Scherzer reach 99.o mph before as a Washington Nationals’ pitcher as his highest velo achieved was 98.93 in September 2015.
Joel Sherman noted that none of the active Mets All-Stars were inserted into the game by their All-Star manager Terry Collins as Jeurys Familia and Bartolo Colon both waited for their turns that never came.
So to sum up #Mets AS day: No players played, none wanted to talk afterward, Murphy raked, Royals made them miserable again.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) July 13, 2016
Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper spoke before the game to the media:
As he has for all his ASGs, Bryce Harper spent the rest of the game in the dugout while other subbed out players headed to the airport.
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) July 13, 2016
The Nationals players get it.
