PHOENIX– As much as they trust Brian McCann behind the plate catching, three Braves pitchers have also appreciated having him to turn to for advice in their first trip to the major league All-Star game.
Braves starter Jair Jurrjens, setup man Jonny Venters and closer Craig Kimbrel made the National League All-Star team for the first time, while McCann is a six-time All-Star who’ll be in the NL starting lineup for the first time in Tuesday night’s game against the American League at Chase Field.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Venters said during All-Star media day Monday at the swank Arizona Biltmore. “To be here with these guys, it’s an honor to represent the Braves and the National League. I’m pumped about it. I’ve been calling [McCann] about every five minutes, asking what I’m supposed to do. Me and J.J. and Craig have been kind of following his lead.”
McCann, an All-Star in each of his six full seasons in the majors, said it wouldn’t take long for his Braves teammates to get the lay of the land.
“It’s self-explanatory,” he said. “They ask me a couple of questions – what time do we need to be here, what to expect – but other than that, I just told them to take it all in and enjoy every minute of it. It takes your breath away, the first time you walk in that clubhouse, put on that uniform and walk out there and just see all these guys. It’s amazing.”
McCann was named the 2010 All-Star game MVP after his bases-loaded double drove in three runs and lifted the NL to a 3-1 win. That snapped the American League’s 13-year winning streak and earned home-field advantage for the NL in the World Series.
The San Francisco Giants, who beat the Braves in the division series, were grateful for home-field advantage when they beat Texas to win the World Series.
This time, McCann and one-fourth of the Braves’ vaunted pitching staff will try to help make it two in a row for the NL. Chipper Jones was also named to the All-Star team, but will miss the game after having arthroscopic knee surgery Saturday.
The Braves’ pitching contingent includes Jurrjens, the NL leader in wins (12) and ERA (1.87); Kimbrel, the major league leader in saves (28) and reliever strikeouts (70), and Venters, who has a 1.46 ERA in a majors-leading 55-1/3 innings and 51 appearances, and allowed one run in 38-2/3 innings over a torrid 35-appearance stretch from April 4 to June 12.
“This is something you dream about since you’re a little kid,” Jurrjens said. “You want to be a professional, and you want to be an All-Star."
After going 7-6 with a 4.64 ERA in 2010, and watching the Braves lose in the first round of the playoffs while he was out with a knee injury, Jurrjens did not lack for motivation last winter in his native Curacao.
“That made me work harder in the offseason,” he said. “I really wanted to come into spring training ready to go from the first pitch of the season. I think it was a good thing for me, a lesson not to take anything for granted. I learned the lesson, for sure.
“All the numbers and success I’m having is great, but just being out there and having fun again, being a teammate and having the uniform on, having a chance to help your team… The postseason was the worst time I’ve had in my career, just watching. Knowing that we [might have] had a chance to go farther. Being out there now, I’m really taking advantage of every pitch, every moment that I have to enjoy the game.”
On Tuesday, the Braves’ quartet will try to help secure home-field advantage that they hope will benefit them in this year’s World Series. Having the All-Star game determine home-field advantage for the World Series has been unpopular with a majority of players since it began in 2003. But not Jurrjens.
“It gives the game a little more intensity,” he said. “It was a good idea when they came up with the plan to make the game a little more intense and aggressive. The fans want to come and see the stars, but they also want to see a good game.”
