Good Afternoon everyone and welcome to Fantasy Gameday’s second annual live coverage of the All Star Weekend Futures Game. Last year the World Team outclassed a weak American lineup en route to a 3-0 win. This year the USA returns with a stronger squad featuring Jason Heyward of the Braves, Mike Stanton of the Marlins, and Brett Wallace of the hometown Cardinals. Pitchers Madison Bumgarner of the Giants and Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz from Baltimore will look to hold down the World hitters who are led by returning invitees Jesus Montero (Yankees), Angel Villalona (Giants), and Alcides Escobar (Brewers). The World pitching staff lost an exciting prospect when the Mets’ Jenrry Mejia hurt his finger earlier in the week. Neftali Feliz of Texas and Jhoulys Chacin of Colorado should see early action today.

Television coverage starts at 2:00 EST/1:00 CST, and we will start right away searching for this year’s Pablo Sandoval.

1:16 Baseball America has some pre game updates. Angel Villalona will sit out the game with an injury. His replacement is Barbaro Canizares of the Braves. Canizares is a 30 year old Cuban who has been in the Atlanta system since 2006. This year at AAA Gwinnett he is hitting .323 with 10 HR and a 0.84 BB/K. Also, Chris Tillman is the starting pitcher for Team USA, Junichi Tazawa gets the nod for the World side.

2:00 To anyone who tuned in a few minutes early and caught the end of truck pulling - I share your pain

2:02 Peter Gammons appears to be a full part of the broadcast team this year. Can’t think of many events that can’t be improved by more Gammons

2:09 Escobar hits a swinging but in front of the plate. Tyler Flowers throws it past first and the World Team has a speedy runner on second with no outs

2:11 Tyson Gillies was jammed but manages to advance Escobar to third with a grounder

2:12 Alex Liddi’s numbers this year are off the charts ridiculous. At 6′4″, 175 lb more growth and power is not out of the question

2:15 Lots of fans seeking cover from the rain

2:16 Barbaro Canizares gets the job done with an RBI single to right. Jason Heyward tried to sell the catch, but it was clear he got the ball on the short hop

2:18 Team USA can’t turn the double play allowing a second run to score. It appeared Brett Wallace just could not get to the chopper fast enough to be in good position to start a crisp DP

2:21 Tillman gets Brett Lawrie to ground out to first and end the inning. He did not have the best luck but pitched himself into a bit of trouble too

2:24 We are officially in a rain delay. There is a chance the storm will clear quickly. Coverage will resume with live action. In the meantime feel free to review last year’s blog along with the replay

3:19 In a live shot from St. Louis Gary Thorne sounds optimistic about starting again soon and getting all nine innings played

6:31 At long, long last the “quick” storm has moved on. In a switch, Neftali Feliz is on the hill pitching to Eric Young Jr

6:32 Perhaps as part of his bullpen conditioning Feliz is working exclusively out of the stretch. Young and Desmond Jennings are down on strikes

6:38 Brett Wallace fouls off multiple pitches before drawing a walk

6:39 Feliz catches a soft liner off the bat of Chris Carter. It is still raining, so any more of this game that gets played is fortuitous

6:44 Kyle Drabek goes easily through batters 8, 9, and 1 in the World order, getting a called third strike on a fastball tailing back to the inside corner on Luis Durango. Durango’s 1.21 BB/K is one of the best for any hitter on either roster

6:48 Pedro Alvarez strikes out, an occurrence that has been all too often for Pittsburgh’s liking this year

6:51 Arizona Fall League behemoth Tyler Flowers singles up the middle, as does Jason Heyward. The shots of center field show plenty of sun coming down

6:56 No knock on Danny Espinosa, but it is clear he is in the game more because he fit the roster rather than on talent. He strikes out to end the inning

6:58 Brian Matusz is on the bump to start the third. Bumgarner was warming up before the delay, so we probably will not have the pleasure of him pitching in the game

7:04 Canizares grounds into a double play, but Tyson Gillies comes in from after stealing second and third. Matusz did not do much to keep him close

7:07 Good news, ESPN will not cut off the game to show funny car racing

7:08 Eric Young Jr visits Souvenir City. 3-1 World

7:11 After a walk Desmond Jennings steals second on the first pitch. It was not a close play

7:13 Brett Wallace walks and Francisco Samuel is officially scuffling. Leyson Septimo is warming in the pen as Jennings steals third uncontested

7:15 Alcides Escobar makes a nice play on a short fly to center. Luis Durango was apparently playing in the third row because he could not get close to the ball

7:20 Pedro Alvarez sneaks a ground ball past Canizares at first. Good to see him hang in against a lefty

7:24 Septimo strikes out the next two hitters to end the inning. His fastball was in the high 90s and as long as he commands his slider looks very tough

7:27 ESPN’s graphic identifies out new pitcher as Mat Letos as he bends over and clearly reveals “Latos” on the back of his jersey

7:30 Latos works a very quick inning, three batters gone in under ten pitches

7:33 Heyward crushes a one hopper off Jhoulys Chacin, but is robbed by second baseman Starlin Castro

7:37 Chacin’s pitches have good downward movement, his 1.96 GO/AO ratio is no fluke. Young works him for a walk, however, and will look to move into scoring position soon

7:39 He never gets the chance, Jennings is gone on three pitches. Chacin looked as impressive as any pitcher so far

7:42 Bunt hit for Durango to lead off the fifth. He offered to bunt in his first at bat, but the infield did not appear to be playing him in. Ah, exhibition games. Durango just took second on Danny Duffy’s first move

7:45 Jason Castro guns Durango out trying to steal third. He had a clean throwing lane because a lefty hitter was up. Rick Sutcliffe praises Castro’s footwork

7:50 Jarrod Parker saws off Alex Liddi and gets a pop up to right to end the inning

7:57 Luis Perez likes his gold chains. He also likes getting grounders, with a 2.11 GO/AO

7:58 Perez got two quick outs, but singles by Scott Sizemore and Daryl Jones give the USA some life in the inning

8:00 Catcher Carlos Santana nearly decapitated Perez on a pickoff throw to second. Escobar made a nice play to prevent the ball from going into center field. Jason Castro took the next pitch into the right field seats for a three run home run with one of those classic left handed swings

8:03 Casey Kelly is making his last pitching appearance of the year, he goes to Rookie Ball to play shortstop next week. As if that was not talented enough, he could have taken a scholarship to Tennessee and played quarterback

8:07 Kelly pounds away at the outside corner. Nick Weglarz had a nice swing, but flew out the other way for the third out

8:13 Dayan Viciedo air mailed his first chance of the game and Desmond Jennings is on second with two outs. He immediately steals third as speed continues to play a huge role today

8:17 Sutcliffe makes a big deal of Chris Carter getting four at bats. A pretty quick roster analysis will show he is the only first baseman on the American team. Chia-Jen Lo walks him to load the bases

8:20 Lo brings the heat and strikes out Scott Sizemore. Despite the command issues Lo got plenty of swings and misses

8:23 The Angels’ Trevor Reckling draws the first chance at closing this shortened game out. Brett Lawrie greets him with a long double to left

8:26 Another swinging bunt gets Starlin Castro aboard and brings the go ahead run to the plate with no outs

8:28 Jason Castro gives a run back with a weak effort at blocking a pitch in the dirt. Pedro Baez grounds to third and Castro holds at second, one out

8:30 Speed, speed, speed. The USA kept Escobar’s bloop on the infield but Castro still scores from second to tie the game

8:33 An extremely generous call strikes out Tyson Gillies. Reckling is being lifted for Brad Lincoln. Reckling deserved better, there was only one ball hit hard off of him

8:36 Rene Tosoni doubles down the right field line to put the World up 6-5. An elite first baseman may have picked it, but Chris Carter is no future Gold Glover

8:42 Lincoln gets out of the inning, but not before Viciedo provides some insurance. Down two the USA has last ups to win or tie, as the game will end after seven no matter what

8:45 The World sends in JC Sulbaran. He can strike batters out, but walks a ton and is has fly ball tendencies. Daryl Jones gets the first shot

8:49 Mike Stanton is the winner of the Peter Gammons favorite player in the game award. Last year’s winner Dexter Fowler will present in a post game ceremony. Stanton works a two out walk

8:54 Jemile Weeks gives it a ride, but Gillies tracks it down in center. For his go ahead double Rene Tosoni wins the MVP award

Despite a brutally long rain delay this year’s game was far more compelling than last year’s edition. It was a shame not to see Bumgarner throw, but Drabek, Kelly, Chacin, and Feliz put in some nice work from the mound. From a pure eyeball test Jason Heyward gets my vote as the best looking hitter. Brett Wallace showed he will be a pain for any pitcher to retire. The speed of Escobar, Gillies, and Castro was a huge element of the World team’s victory.

What did everyone else think? Which players on the field today have the brightest future? Did anyone stay with the game through the delay?