Astros frustrate Nationals in 6-3 loss

The Washington Nationals started off their scoring in majestic fashion as All-Star James

Wood homered to center field. His 25th of the season. We’re off to a grand beginning…

Unfortunately, things quickly turned as the Astros tied it in the top of the 2nd after Christian

Walker was hit by a pitch and later scored on a sac fly off the bat of Nick Allen. Game tied

1-1.

Washington regained the lead in the bottom of the 3rd after James Wood walked and was

sent to third base on a single by Luis Garcia. Wood later scored off a sac fly by C.J.

Abrams. 2-1 good guys.

That lead didn’t last long as the Astros struck for three runs in the top of the 4th Christian

Walker singled and Cam Smith walked. Nick Allen later singled to left, scoring both Walker

and Smith. Christian Vazquez later flew out to center field, scoring Brice Matthews who

had also drawn a walk. 4-2 Houston.

The Astros extended their lead in the top of the 6th after more walks to Nick Allen and Zach

Dezenzo. Christian Vazquez later singled to right, scoring Dezenzo. 5-2 Astros. That’s a lot

of free passes…

Houston added another run in the top of the 8th when Jose Altuve sent his 10th home run

over the center field wall. 6-2 Astros.

The Nationals tried to make a game out of it in the bottom of the 9th. Jose Tena made the

score a little closer with his 5th home run. James Wood then singled and was sent to third

base after another single off the bat of Curtis Mead. C.J. Abram then walked, loading the

bases. Ah, but it wasn’t to be. Dylan Crews struck out ending the game. Final score 6-3

Houston. Series tied 1-1.

Next game tomorrow again starts at 6:45 ET.

Dave’s Dime…

Since 1934 the managers of the All-Star game are the previous year’s World Series team

managers. They select the rest of their coaching staff.

The original All-Star teams’ rosters consisted of only 18 players. Todays’ rosters are up to

34 players per team.

One of the more controversial rules concerning the All-Star selection process is that each

team has to have at least one representative. Sometimes that’s kind of a tough thing to do:

pick a player from a struggling team who actually deserves to be an all-star. Like last year’s

Colorado Rockies. At the time of the 2025 All-Star game in Atlanta, on July 15th, the Rockies

had won 22 games and lost a 74. Yikes! But actually, their starting catcher, Hunter

Goodman, had great stats at the All-Star break and was certainly worthy of his selection to

the team.

He’s also the Rockies’ only All-Star in this years’ game. Way to go, Hunter. I

would like to think there’s always at least one deserving All-Star per team.

Here’s some of my favorite All-Star game bits of trivia:

Hank Aaron was selected to play in 25 All-Star games during his 23-year career. How was

that possible? Well, between 1959 and 1962, MLB had two All-Star games per

season. Why, is anyone’s guess. Well, I actually looked it up, and it had something to do

with adding money to major league players’ pension funds.

This is back before the average MLB player’s salary hit $5.34 million dollars. Yes, you read

that right. In 1952 the average MLB player’s salary was $13,000. Most MLB players had

winter jobs to help supplement their income. How times have changed.

One of the more controversial plays during an All-Star game was Pete Rose’s collision at

home plate with catcher Ray Fosse in 1970. It was brutal. Fosse suffered a fractured and

separated shoulder and would never totally recover from the incident. Fosse was blocking

the plate waiting for a throw from the outfield. Something that’s not allowed today. Rose,

instead of sliding, just basically ran over Fosse. That was the run that won the game. I

remember watching it on television. Rose, who's nickname was Charlie Hustle, never

apologized to Fosse. He said something about that’s the only way he knew how to play the

game.

Another interesting All-Star fact is that between 2003 and 2016, the league winning the All

Star game would also host the World Series. That’s supposedly a big deal because being

the home team meant you’d play more home games if the Series went seven games. As it

turns out, having home field advantage isn’t really that important. In the entire history of

the World Series, the team that hosted games one and two only claimed the title 58% of the

time. And that controversial rule was finally tossed out during a new collective bargaining

agreement in 2016.

I kind of remember that whole thing started because then commissioner Bud Selig thought

the All-Star game had lost some of its importance in the eyes of many of the players, and he

sought to make the game more meaningful again. The 2002 All-Star game will live in infamy

as it was known as the one that ended in a 7-7 tie in the 11th inning after both teams ran out

of pitchers. Boy, did that ever cause a ruckus. I saw that one on TV as well.

Memories never get old…

We'll have a little more trivia in tomorrow's column.

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