I want my All-Star game back

Every year, Kyle Whelliston goes into a self-imposed exile, avoiding at all costs any mention of the Super Bowl, trying his best to live his life as if that particular game does not exist. I had thoughts of doing the same thing this year with the All-Star game, but I was not up to the challenge. I settled for abstaining from watching or listening to it, but I still had to follow the game with MLB Gameday.

Yes, I want my All-Star game back. You know -- back when it was an exhibition game and everyone recognized this unassailable fact. "This time it counts" has kind of ruined it for me. I confess the one reason why I did follow the game on-line as mentioned is because I wanted to see if the NL could somehow win the game for a change. Alternatively, I was fascinated to find out what method to which the NL would resort to blow this particular All-Star game.

When the game reached midnight and went into extra innings, I shut off my computer and went to sleep, dreaming of the game still ending in a tie. I was hoping to wake up the next morning to find out they were still playing. I would have laughed for a good five minutes.

1. Has anyone considered that to assign home-field advantage to the World Series based on the outcome of a game where one league has the home-field advantage is asinine?

2. When Bud "Darth Vader" Selig has to send foot soldiers down to each clubhouse in extra innings, saying, "Guys? You see that padlock on the clubhouse door? You're not getting out of here until one of you wins. You're here for the duration," you know the war has already been lost. You can't force people to play an exhibition game as if it is a one-game playoff for the final postseason slot if they don't naturally want to play it that way. Terry Francona used his third pitcher in the 4th inning (of a scoreless game) and took A-Rod out of the game in that same inning. You don't do things like that if the primary objective is to win the game.

3. The game used to count 30 or 40 years ago. It doesn't anymore. Get over it, Bud. When at least half your pitching staff arrives at the game with little notes pinned to their uniforms: "Dear Mr. Manager, please do not use my pitcher for more than 1 inning or more than 25 pitches, whichever comes first. Thanks very much, signed, Mr. Pitching coach", you can't possibly manage as if your primary objective is to win the game. Face it, the days when you could use each pitcher for 3 innings and guys like Willie Mays could play 15 innings are gone. You can't get them back.

4. It's a baseball game. The fundamental objective is to score more runs than the other team. If any player can't at least treat the game that way, they don't belong there in the first place. That said, there's really no reason to try to reinforce that imperative with band-aid measures like "This time it counts!" Of course Francona and Hurdle wanted to win the game, and so frankly do all the players involved in the game. But there simply are other concerns to be attended to as well, and you're never going to make winning at all costs the theme of this exhibition. So, why pretend to heighten the importance of the outcome -- beyond just the joy of winning the game all by itself?

5. While we're at it, tell me this: Why is it the utter end of the world if the game does end in a tie???? I mean, I get that this is no ordinary exhibition game (ordinary exhibition games end in a tie all the time, every year, by the way, and nobody cares). Sure, it's on the national stage, and it is a little embarrassing. But a catastrophe of biblical proportions?? I don't get that. If you're that ashamed of the 2002 All-Star game, there are things you can tweak about the rules of the All-Star game itself (somebody a long time ago suggested allowing a catcher that has been replaced return to the game in extra innings if necessary), without resorting to this nonsense about home-field advantage in the WS. That's an incentive where none is really needed. What are needed are some special rules that facilitate managing this special game to a desirable conclusion without altering the basic flavor of the game.

6. Billy Ripken was interviewed on MLB Home Plate (XM channel 175) and pinpointed something else that must change: we have to have contingency plans for all these players that show up with this or that restriction on their usage. He didn't make any concrete suggestions, but if a guy is not ready to go a reasonable amount in the game, there ought to be a way to say, "Ya know, come on up and soak up the atmosphere, enjoy your introduction, tip your hat to the fans, enjoy the parade, you earned it, but we're gonna put you on the disabled list for this game and bring someone else up for this game that can go longer so we're not so hamstrung."

7. Billy's interviewer had the temerity to ask if the excitement of this year's game was significantly enhanced by "This time it counts!" Essentially, Billy's response was: "Are you kidding me???" Well put, Billy. If you can't find yourself with one foot on the top step of the dugout feeling the tension while Aaron Cook gets out of a bases-loaded-no-outs situation in the bottom of the 9th, you're not a baseball player. If you are sitting in the stands in that moment feeling the least bit bored, you're not a baseball fan. "This time it counts!" adds absolutely nothing to the excitement that is inherent in the sport itself.

My goal next year is to pull a Kyle Whelliston for real this time: No voting, and completely ignoring baseball for 3 days in July. I don't know if I can pull it off, but Bud, if you're reading this and want me back as a fan of this game, give me my All-Star game back.