Sports Redux: Meet Wake In St. Louis

Jason Bay. Dustin Pedroia. Jonathan Papelbon. Kevin Youkilis. Josh Beckett. All have been to All-Star Games before. All are young, and will probably go again. So congratulations to them, but we know and they know that they aren't the headline on this All-Star Selection story.

After starting more games than any Sox pitcher ever, after being rejected by the Pirates (to be fair, it was so long ago that the Pirates were actually not horrible) and running off a 14-1 stretch to land a full-time gig and endear himself to the Fenway crowd, after actually thinking that we'd not still love him after that unpleasantness in 2003 (still makes us sad to think that he expected goat horns for Aaron Boone's HR), and after unexpectedly anchoring a 2009 staff that threatened to come apart at the seams now and then, Tim Wakefield is going to the All-Star Game. And we're thrilled.

Bob Ryan runs down all the relevant stats and quotes. Two of note from Terry Francona: on telling Wake the news, "That was one of the funner things I’ve gotten to do since I’ve been here." And on what the difference could be this year: "That’s a pretty big compliment to George [Kottaras]. Takes Wake right out of the chute and it’s the first time Wake ever makes the All-Star team." (He didn't mean it that way, Dougie, if you're reading this.) Tito even had a little fun with Wake, summoning him to the office separately, just in time to see the other five stars walking out with their packages. "He couldn't hold the laughter," said Wake.

Also from the man of the hour: "I feel very honored and humbled at the same time. Excited. Nervous. A lot of emotions are going through me right now." Including the embarrassment of having to ask a guy young enough to be Wake's son how one should dress and behave at the ASG. "He asked me like I’ve been there a lot," answered young Dustin Pedroia. "I’m like, ‘Wake, I’ve been there one time. I don’t know what I’m doing.'"

With six All-Stars, you feel like you should win most of the time, or at least not be swept at home by the Mariners. So the Sox mounted a late comeback, scoring five runs in the seventh to claim an 8-4 victory. Ellsbury, Ortiz and Pedroia all hit solo homers, but none in the seventh. Oakland comes into town tonight - the first time back for an old friend we haven't seen in a long long time. Please cheer him.

So much for taking his time and thinking it over: Rasheed Wallace's agent says the thinking is over and the joining the Celtics is about to begin. Sheed apparently told his agent that he was impressed that the Big Three and owner Wyc Grousbeck came all the way out to Detroit to see him. The C's are now reportedly looking into trying to work something out with free agents Grant Hill and Tyron Lue. Bad news for Big Baby fans, if all this money is going elsewhere.

Photo by Flickr's Waldo Jaquith and used under Creative Commons permission.