Bruce Bochy, Bud Selig, and the 21st Century

So the Major League Baseball All-Star Game was last night. After watching some of the midsummer classic on TV, reading a lot about it before and after, and conversations that I’ve seen and had, here are some notes:

Bochy vs. Kershaw

Bruce Bochy knows exactly what he’s doing. After making the right decision to start Matt Harvey in the All Star Game in New York, Bochy took an implicit pot-shot at Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw, who could lead the league in ERA for the third straight year (a feat last accomplished by Greg Maddux), could get with the young phenom starting the game in his home park.

Then, Bochy said, “It wouldn’t have mattered what city we were playing in with the year he’s had,” referring to Harvey.”

Back that up for a minute Boch. You’re saying that the dude with an ERA under 2 who has led the league in ERA for each of the past two seasons isn’t a little better? The guy who singlehandedly beat your Giants on opening day by pitching a shutout and hitting a home run wasn’t up to snuff if the game had been played in, say, St. Louis?

Bochy knew what he was saying and doing though. He’s been in the league for far too long for that to be anything but an intentional poke at the 25 year-0ld Kershaw. The Dodgers have become the target — a team with more innate swagger and big contracts anyone has ever had who is playing well and finally making a run at the National League West. Bochy’s World Series champs are on a losing streak and fighting to stay out of last place. Any story to keep people’s mind off of that is a good thing for him. Hence his comment.

All Kershaw said was, “That’s his opinion,” according to the LA Times article. Kershaw pitched a perfect third inning and will go into the second half of the season with a little more motivation to continue to be as dominant as he has been.

Neil Diamond: Please stop

I have to admit. I turned the game on in the 6th inning. I would have watched more, but when you have a pregnant wife and a list of chores longer than the list of orders guys allegedly placed with Biogenesis, sometimes things fall by the wayside.

Matt Harvey deserved to start in his home park, but Bochy threw a few jabs anyway. By slgckgc on Flickr, (via Wikimedia Commons

In the 8th inning, they showed Neil Diamond getting ready to sing. A week or two ago, I saw him perform at a game and wondered why and how he is still relevant. His performance then was mediocre. Last night, he came out to sing Sweet Caroline and with a cheerful (if bored) crowd waiting, what could have gone wrong? We found out quickly.

When the music and lyrics aren’t synched up, listening to a classic song sang out of rhythm becomes an instant channel turner. If fans hadn’t switched off their TV’s before then, they did afterwards.

The decision to have Neil Diamond perform at the game wasn’t a horrible one. Neil brought what energy he could to the thing. But to have it go the way it did was not good for Diamond and not good for baseball. Dogs jumping through hoops on fire or something would have probably been more awesome.

A memo to Bud Selig that he will probably never get

Unless someone prints this out for him, he may never read what I’m about to write. In all fairness, I’m sure he probably wouldn’t have read it anyway.

It was reported this week that Selig has never sent an email. And he says he “never will.” Some people think it’s a good thing to be “above” email and other forms of less-effective, if more efficient communication.

But they are wrong. Selig not having email is an issue. A huge, foul pole-sized one.

What do Ford Frick (left) and Bud Selig have in common? They were both MLB commissioners and neither ever sent an email.

For a game that has been accused of being “behind the times,” the public image that the industry’s leader maintains is an important one. The image of an man pushing 80 and not embracing technology is sure to turn off anyone under 50 who deals with and uses email throughout their daily work lives. To think about a loss in efficiency that would come with not having email is overwhelming for someone like me.

I hope the answer is that the commish has an amazing assistant or 5 who is/are in charge of his regular communications and work with him in a way that allows him to still be an efficient and effective manager of a game so precious to so many. If that’s the case, he should have explained that a little more clearly.

Baseball hasn’t exactly been hurting — players salaries haven’t gone down and teams like the Dodgers are worth billions of dollars. But, if league leadership ever wonders what they could do to better engage a younger demographic of fans with so many other options for entertainment, who are drawn away from america’s pastime, they need look no farther than a culture cultivated by a leader who is unable to or refuses to use email.

The second half will be fun.

Five out of six division races in baseball are within 2 1/2 games and there are great stories all over the place. You just have to do a little digging. After all, you won’t be getting any email updates from Bud any time soon.