First the good news. Devil Rays’ pitcher Lance Carter has been picked for Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game.
Now the bad news. Devil Rays’ pitcher Lance Carter has been picked for MLB’s All-Star game.
Look, Carter’s a nice guy who’s made a remarkable recovery from major elbow surgery, but he’s not that good. In another era, he’d be another journeyman. Maybe in the minors.
He’s a closer with an ERA over 4.00 and 30 per cent blown saves. He closes for the D-Rays because Esteban Yan was run out of town. He closes for the D-Rays because there’s nobody else.
Carter’s selection is Exhibit A for what’s wrong with the All-Star game. Every team, no matter how bereft of talent, must be represented. That’s a farce. So Carter is in — and David Wells, Mike Mussina, Mariano Rivera and Roger Clemens are out.
And to compound the already fractured, MLB Commissioner Bud “Lite” Selig has declared that the winner of this meaningless exhibition will have a bearing on the World Series. The winning league will see its World Series representative accorded home field advantage.
Imagine, in retrospect, a save or blown save by, say, Lance Carter, determining whether or not the New York Yankees, for example, are home for the seventh game against Atlanta.
Unless, of course, the All-Star Game ends in another tie.