It was, and will be, entertaining

I talked a little about the Major League All-Star game last week and the Mariners that were chosen to play in the game. The Mariners came very close to having back-to-back MVPs.

If you remember last year’s game you would have remembered that Robinson Cano hit a late inning home run to lift the American League to another victory.

This year the last man added to the team. Mariner shortstop Jean Segura hit a three run dinger to give the American League a three score lead late in the game.

The National League closed the gap to two runs with a home run of their own and with Mariner closer Edwin Diaz entering the game, you would have thought the American League was home free and Segura would be named MVP.

Not so fast, now. Diaz entered the game a bit amped up and had trouble finding the strike zone. He struck out the first batter but walked the next man. Cincinnati Reds second baseman Scooter Gennett would not wait around much and belted a two run homer to tie the game up in the bottom of the ninth.

The blown save would be turned into a win for Diaz as the American League came up with three runs in the top of the tenth and the National League could only answer with a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning.

Mariner right fielder Mitch Haniger caught the final out and the American Leaguers won their sixth straight All Star game 8-6.

There were a total of 10 home runs hit in the game and only one run was scored off of a hit other than a homer. I wouldn’t say that the pitchers were tossing batting practice pitches but the ball was certainly caring out of hot and humid Washington Nationals ballpark.

Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros was chosen as the MVP for the game by hitting a solo home run to give the lead back to the American League.

That was a timing MVP but you could have also given the award to Segura. He went 2-2 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored as he also crossed home plate in the top of the tenth. No one else came close to those numbers.

But just like last year it all came down to timing. Mariner closer Edwin Diaz would much rather have had the save instead of the win and watched Segura choose the type of Chevrolet to drive around Seattle, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Diaz was just happy that he wasn’t saddled with a loss and that his teammates came through and bailed him out of his so-so All Star debut.

Now that the second half of the season is underway, the Mariners find themselves in second place chasing Houston while trying to hold off the Oakland A’s. Robinson Cano will be back with the team in August after sitting out an 80 game suspension for taking some sort of banned substance.

The weird thing about what happened is that one day he gets his hand broken when a pitch hit him and the next day, to top it off, he is suspended.

Fortunately he wasn’t suspended for 80 games after he came off the disabled list. If the Mariners make it to the playoffs Cano will not be eligible to play because of the suspension and its after affects.

The Mariners have won despite not having Cano in the lineup but he will be a welcome addition upon his return. The one thing Cano will need to get back is his teammates trust.

The team was certainly blindsided by this and I’m not sure if he has had a chance to explain to the team what really happened and why. But Cano is popular with his teammates and I’m sure it won’t be long until he is welcomed back with open arms.

The one thing that is for sure, Cano will not be at second base full time like in the past. He has accepted that and is in the process of helping the team wherever he is needed.

The Mariners fared well at the highly entertaining All Star game this year. Let’s hope the second half of the season is just as much fun as round one was.