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Tom Haley's Closing Time blog, July 17, 2019
OK, I've decided to start writing my own blog. People have been asking me why I didn't have one for a while now, and the best answer I could come up with was "I don't know."
When I was breaking into the major leagues, I didn't write one because I thought it might come across as being arrogant. Now it seems like it might be fun.
Last night I had the privilege of pitching in the All-Star Game for the second time. I've been chosen for the team each of the past three seasons, but I didn't pitch in the '17 game.
This year, I pitched the ninth inning for the National League All-Stars. I remember reading about a great old-time pitcher--maybe it was Nolan Ryan--who said that when he took the mound in the All-Star Game, he always turned around and looked at who was playing behind him. I did that last night, too...wow!
My outfield, left to right, was Irwah Nabil of the Reds, my own teammate Jason Heyward, and Seth Smith of the Phillies. Pablo Sandoval of the Mets was at third; Howard Davidson of the Cubs at short; Jeudy Valdez of the Diamondbacks at second; Yonder Alonso of the Nationals at first. Bryce Harper of the Cubs was my catcher. What a team!
The first batter I faced was the Red Sox' Dustin Pedroia, and he led off the inning with a base hit. Next up was Nick Markakis of the Orioles, and he singled to put runners on first and second.
I love facing great veteran players like Dustin and Nick in the All-Star Game. They've both been with their teams for their entire careers, and they're real pros. I'd much rather get them out, but they've each got well over 2000 major league hits, so I can't feel too badly about what happened.
Billy Bullock of the Twins, the pitcher, was due up next. I was really surprised he stayed in to hit, and we figured he had to be bunting. Billy bunted it back to me fairly hard, I grabbed it, and threw quickly to Davidson covering third to get Pedroia. He threw across the infield in time to get Bullock at first for a double play.
That made things a WHOLE lot easier for me. Heng-zong Hsaio of the Rays was the next man I faced, and I would much rather see him batting with one runner on and two outs. He hit a soft grounder to Sandoval at third and that ended the inning.
In a movie, we would score twice in the bottom of the ninth and win the game, but in real life, the Red Sox' great closer, Chad Smith, got us one-two-three and saved the game for the American League.
It's always a thrill to be an All-Star, and to meet and hang out with the best players from our league. Big thanks to Bud Black, manager of the Cubs and the NL All-Stars, for selecting me for the team and giving me the chance to play in the game, and to represent our league.
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