All-Star Game thoughts
Welcome to my Larry King roundup of this year's All-Star festivities:

-- The game still started way too late after all the introductions and other crap, but it went briskly (2:38) despite the commercials and the scoring. Maybe there are signs that a nationally televised game doesn't have to be three hours long. It even caught ESPN off-guard as it didn't slot SportsCenter until midnight, when it expected the game to end, even though the game ended at 11:20 with a few minutes of post-game stuff.

-- There were still a lot of players used, but at least there wasn't the urge to get everyone into the game, especially pitchers. Sorry Dmitri Young, Lance Carter, Mike Williams and Armando Benitez. We weren't sure we wanted you there to begin with, but at least we didn't have to see you after the introductions. Thankfully most of the players stayed in for at least five innings. That's why the fans voted you in to begin with.

-- It may be sacrilege, but maybe the All-Star Game is better off keeping a DH on a permanent basis. Some of the problems from last year's tie was using many of the sorta All-Stars as pinch hitters in the middle of the game, taking away some valuable bench spots not to mention really screwing up the 50 people who still keep score. This year, most of the starters played at least four or five innings and their capable replacements were decent. The lesser guys could've come in if needed in a pinch, but it wasn't necessary. Besides, you want to see the best hitters hit at the All-Star Game, and this does it in the best way without killing your roster.

-- The pitching was handled a lot better this year, although after all the hoopla over Dontrelle Willis, he never got to pitch. Then again, he worked a lot Sunday, so he was probably one of the last guys on the list. We also discovered that relievers, who are already overrated, got exposed even more here. They allowed nine of the 13 runs in the game. Shigetoshi Hasegawa (who looks oddly like Ron Darling) got smacked around, Eddie Guardado didn't look much better, Billy Wagner gave up Jason Giambi's homer and Eric Gagne gave up the game-winning homer to Hank Blalock. Dusty Baker had a great plan, though, by planning to throw Wagner, Gagne and John Smoltz in the seventh, eighth and ninth, but that plan got sidetracked.

Some of the choices for relief pitchers had much to be desired and the AL's bullpen weakness could've been exposed a lot more. With no Mariano Rivera or Troy Percival around, the AL turned to Keith Foulke to close out the ninth, and that was by far their best option. Otherwise, there was Lance Carter and Mike MacDougal. If things went long, the NL side still had John Smoltz, but after that it was Williams and Benitez, yikes.

The one good thing about this year was not purposely bringing in a pitcher for just one hitter like Barry Zito last year. Stuff like that cripples a pitching staff. When you get the ball, you're going at least an inning, unless you're getting pounded. With the expanded pitching rosters, stuff like that pays off when you get to extra innings. And I guess it allows you room to placate managers who beg not to use their pitchers at the All-Star Game despite overworking them during the first half (I'm looking at you, Carlos Tosca and Roy Halladay). You really do need to have a couple of pitchers in reserve to a work a bunch of innings in extras, and it doesn't hurt to have a few guys go more than two during the first nine.

-- So much for the fan vote meaning anything as both players selected for the "last" All-Star slot, Geoff Jenkins and Jason Varitek, failed to get into the game.

-- The two players who logged the most innings were Angels -- Garret Anderson played into the eighth inning and Troy Glaus was pinch-hit for in the eighth by Blalock. I guess Mike Scioscia really wanted to reward his guys. At least they couldn't be found eating Doritos on their couch as the game ended.

-- I didn't really see any added intensity from the players and managers because "this time it counts." Although I was surprised to see signs being used, not to mention Scioscia arguing a bad call by the umpire on a fan interference call.

-- Watching the game with a bunch of Braves/NL supporters at the bar, the Atlanta contingent represented well despite Rafael Furcal's laser beam throw into the AL dugout. Even the 6-7 Richie Sexson couldn't catch one of those darts.

-- Going back to the Home Run Derby, it was one of the better one in years in that there were still a lot of homers hit in the last two rounds, and that the final was both close and high-scoring. Too many times, the finals are anticlimactic since the sluggers tire out after some impressive displays and we end up with 3-1 scores. The Giambi-Pujols semifinal is a sight to behold. The biggest plus of the whole thing, I was watching it during my weekly trivia outing, so the sound was down -- no Chris Berman grunting and making silly comments.

-- I'm happy to see Garret Anderson get a lot of play on this stage. I think I underrate him a lot despite the numbers. Unfortunately, I get caught up in writing off the big numbers as flukes because he doesn't walk. He doesn't strike out a ton, either, which works to his advantage. Plus, he hits lots of doubles to go with his nice home run totals. Still, it's guys like him that make you wonder if all of the Billy Beane/Bill James/SABRmetric/OPS worship is a tad overrated. As I've told many of my friends, I'd love to see the Bill James disciples play softball. (Dude! You've got to swing at the ball!)