Hell of an All-Star Game last night, wasn't it?

I went to bed after the 8th. It was approaching 11:30 and I had to get up for work in the morning. I decided that if the AL took the lead in the bottom of the 8th I would stay up to see Mariano Rivera get the save. The game stayed tied, so I went to bed.

Needless to say, I was a bit surprised when I checked out ESPN.com this morning to discover that the game had gone 15 innings! Thanks to Michael Young and the AL All-Stars for clinching home field for the Sox in the World Series this year.

The whole thing was a little crazy, though. Both managers, Terry Francona and Clint Hurdle, had a tough time throwing together a pitching staff in the late innings. After the embarrassment in Milwaukee a few years back, Bud Selig was having nothing to do with another tie. If the game had gone into the 16th, Francona would have been in the position of having a position player pitch.

There are a few things that could be done to solve this problem. One option would be to let players reenter the game if it goes to extra innings. A pitcher who had only pitched an inning earlier in the game might be able to come back in and get a couple more outs. Another possiblity would be to simply put an innings limit on the game. Acknowledge that it's an exhibition and say that it's over after 10 or 11 innings if the game is still tied (this is often done in spring training). This would require finding another way to decided World Series home field advantage. I would recommend giving it to the league with the best interleague record that season.

One last thing on the All-Star game. Kudos to the Yankees for putting on a pre-game ceremony worthy of Yankee Stadium. The amazing number of Hall of Famers in attendance and the appearance by George Steinbrenner were very well done and reminiscent of the 1999 event at Fenway Park for Ted Williams. I hate to give the Empire credit for anything, but in this case it was well deserved.