Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
On July 10 last year, Buster Posey announced to the world that his family now included newborn, adopted twins. Ada and Livvi Posey were born premature and were high-risk, and he decided against leaving them, against putting them at-risk, and he opted out of the season.
One year and three days later, the Posey clan will be in Colorado for the July 13 All-Star Game, coming through the pandemic OK and returning to baseball a whole lot better than that. Seemingly with each game he is making Cooperstown a more assured destination, and a seventh All-Star nod — his first since 2018 — will only help that case.
“It’s a nice recognition,” Posey said Thursday, after he was voted as the NL’s starting catcher. “Thinking back earlier in my career — if I would have been told that I would be starting an All-Star Game at age 34, I’d be pretty happy about that.”
Buster and Kristen Posey have an older set of twins, Lee and Addison.
“I’m excited for my kids. They’re almost 10,” Posey said after the Giants’ 5-3 loss in Arizona. “So this will be one that they’ll really be able to enjoy and hopefully remember.”
There was little doubt Posey would be the leading vote-getter as NL catcher, and now the question will be which Giants are there alongside him. Brandon Crawford and Mike Yastrzemski, who qualified for the second phase of All-Star voting, were not voted in, though Crawford has an excellent chance to be named a reserve.
There is still a shot Posey’s battery mate will be Kevin Gausman, a Colorado native who has pitched as well as anyone not named Jacob deGrom this season. But there is question as to whether either Gausman or deGrom will pitch, both lined up at the moment to go Sunday, July 11, which would not allow them to pitch in the Tuesday showcase.
Tyler Rogers, another Colorado native, and Anthony DeSclafani also have cases.
During the Zoom session, both Posey and starter Johnny Cueto were coughing. Cueto needed fluids before the game and the past few days, and Posey sounded hoarse.
“We all knew [Cueto] was not feeling great, unfortunately,” Posey said. “You can hear my voice — I’m kind of going through the same stuff. It’s kind of running through the team right now.”
The bug that is running through the locker room clearly affected Cueto, even as he repeatedly said there was no excuse. His average four-seamer was 1.5 mph slower than usual in a five-inning, five-run outing.
“I was losing my breath after every pitch, I couldn’t breathe,” Cueto said through translator Erwin Higueros. “But I just wanted to go out there, and I wanted to fight for my team.”
Perhaps the illness has infected the Giants’ bats, which have been quiet during this four-game losing streak. They have scored eight runs total in the longest skid of the season.
“We’re not having our best at-bats, and right now we’re not able to get that one big punch in the most important moments,” Gabe Kapler said. “Clubs go through stretches like this; good offensive clubs go through stretches like this.
“There needs to be a sense of urgency when we’re not winning baseball games and when we’re not getting the big hit and when we’re not making enough pitches, and we have that urgency. … At the same time, we need to keep it in perspective.”