Don't go west, Young man

Like many of you, I watched this year's Major League Baseball All-Star Game from the comfort and convenience of my living room. Considering tickets for the mid-summer classic were starting at $145, I decided to save the money and forego the trip to Anaheim.

I was not alone in my decision - Michael Young didn't come out west either.

Michael Young plays third base for the Texas Rangers, but on Tuesday night, he may have elected to go out with some friends to a karaoke bar, where he could sing Smash Mouth's "All Star." You know the song - "Hey now, you're an All Star get your game on, go play."

Young was technically an all star - for about the same length of time it took the sing the lyric - but he was not invited to make the trip to Anaheim.

Yahoo Sports reported that on Monday morning, Young was named to the American League All-Star roster by manager Joe Girardi, to fill the spot left vacant when Boston's Adrian Beltre injured a hamstring. The only trouble was, Beltre still had every intention of playing in the game.

It turns out Girardi had made his announcement at a press conference before Beltre later said he'd be able to play.

"Clearly it was a communication misunderstanding," said Phyllis Merhige, an MLB spokesperson who offered her apologies to Young. "Michael Young is the next guy on the player voting, so if Adrian Beltre can't play it's Michael Young. But Adrian said all along he was going to make a decision about how he felt. I don't know where Joe got it from. Maybe I mis-communicated it."

Before you start feeling too bad about Young being stripped of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Young has played in the six previous All Star games. He also got to watch as six of his teammates represented the American League.

Sure, there's the $50,000 bonus Young would have received had he actually made the squad, but the sum of money that's greater than many of our yearly salaries is but a pittance to Young, who is pulling in roughly $16 million this season.

There will be other All-Star games, and perhaps Young may be able to get the last laugh in with Girardi during the post-season, as his Rangers hold a 4 1/2 game lead in the American League's West Division, while Girardi's Yankees are two games up in the East.

The two teams could very well meet to decide who gets to play in the World Series, and for the hefty World Series share that goes with it, so there's potentially plenty of gold in Young's future.

He just won't need to go out west to pan for it.

Contact Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or cpurcell@tcnpress.com.