ESPN Strikes Out on Baseball Predictions (Again), Mexico's U-23 Squad Out at Copa America

Prince Fielder blasted away a 3-run home run to give the National League a 3-1 lead in the 4th inning, eventually building on to a 5-1 defeat over the American League for the second year in a row, fueled by superior pitching, steady batting, and excellent field play, despite 2 errors. Fielder becomes the first Minnesota Brewer hit a home run in the All-Star Game, which easily won him the All-Star Game MVP. Only 30 minutes after the game, the Brewers announced they had finalized a trade that sent Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez to Minnesota, in exchange for 2 Brewers minor leaguers from a list of 5 by September, which could potentially lead the Brewers to winning the NL Central.

The game was a snoozer, unless you're a fan of pitching, which I happen to be. Seeing the over-hyped American League batters fall constantly to superior National League pitching was awesome as well, mostly because ESPN very wrongly predicted among its many analysts and sports writers that the AL would easily the win the game with its "superior" batting. The only AL run came off an Adrian Gonzalez home run from Cliff Lee (another over-hyped talent), but the NL didn't falter for the rest of the game, closing with the now legendary Brian Wilson. With the win, it gives the National League home-field advantage in the World Series, something that is shockingly important seeing as how nearly every World Series winner for the last 20 years has had home field advantage. The Phillies, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, and Giants are all obviously now huge favorites to win the World Series with the home field advantage.

This win wasn't just important to establish home field at the World Series, it was important in showing that the American League's designated hitter rule just doesn't work. The theory behind the DH rule is that pitchers are usually lousy batters, so why don't they just stick to pitching and instead have a permanent pinch-hitter whose only job is to swing the bat? That way, pitchers can better focus on pitching and therefore, become superior pitchers! It turns out that theory is a crock of shit, as evidenced by the fact that the National League has far better pitching, in a league where pitchers are required to bat.

Mexico's U-23 team officially sucks. They have been bounced out of Copa America, after failing to win any games and scoring only 1 goal. The worst part about this is that this is probably the team that Mexico will send to the Olympics in London next year, should they even qualify. The worsest thing, however, is that the by-far worst player of the match was Giovanni Dos Santos, the best player of the Gold Cup Final. He's clearly exhausted after playing through an entire tournament, but he just showed no effort at all on the pitch.

Mexico's been winning a lot lately, winning both the Gold Cup and the U-17 World Cup, but it's a sad day when the 17-year-olds have more talent and promise than the 23-year-olds. Come World Cup 2014, none of these guys will be playing football anymore, they're that bad. Uruguay moved on to the next round with the win, joining Colombia, Argentina, and Chile, who won their game against Peru via an own goal very late into the game.