Masscrastination

42 year old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield is a first time All-Star.  If someone had walked up to be at the beginning of the year and told me that I would be writing that sentence in a blog I would have slapped them in the tooth and then searched them for crystal meth.  To think that Wakefield has been one of Boston’s most dependable starters blows my mind.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Wake fan.  I mean this dude was cut as a first basemen and when fooling around one day, teams realized he could throw a mean knuck.  Fast forward 16 years and Tim Wakefield is going to be in St. Louis pitching in the All-Star game festivities firsthand instead of pitching a knuckle-full of Cheetos and Budweiser down his gullet.

Makes you feel good, right?  Welp, the haters are hating in full form.  Apparently AJ Burnett deserves an all-star nod over Wake because he gets more K’s (according to Keith Law).  Erm, excuse me Mr. Law but once you remove your head from the hole in the ground you like to call your asshole maybe we should have a talk.  Sure he is ERA is lower, yes that is a strong arguing point, but a win is a win.  Not only is it good in a pitcher’s stat line, but it is even better in a TEAM’S stat line.  That is why the league has a fascination with wins: because unlike crappy sports writers like yourself who think that MANNY RAMIREZ deserves to be in the All-Star game after using a banned substance, some people understand that the glamorous numbers don’t always equal helping your team when they need you.  Ask Alex Rodriguez.  

While I bitched wholeheartedly about the All-Star game last week, and am still pissed about some misplaced stars (see Jonathan Papelbon, Adam Jones, Josh Hamilton and Dustin Pedroia, even though Pedroia is one of my favs), it is nice to see the league get things right every once in a while.  Tim Wakefield, he’s one of them.