Sports
Weaver, Tulowitzki Bring ‘The Beach’ To Arizona in MLB All-Star Game
Former Long Beach State standouts Troy Tulowitzki and Jered Weaver leave their mark in the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Two former Long Beach State baseball players kicked up a little “dirt” Tuesday night, representing not only their major league teams in the All-Star Game but the Dirtbags as well.
Angels ace Jered Weaver, who was selected the starting pitcher for the American League, threw one inning. Facing four batters, he struck out New York Mets right fielder Carlos Beltran and walked Dodgers centerfielder Matt Kemp before getting Milwaukee Brewers slugger Prince Fielder to fly out and end the inning.
The National League toppled the American League, 5-1, in Tuesday's final.
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At the halfway point of the season, the Angels righthander is 11-4 with a miniscule 1.86 earned-run average, along with 120 strikeouts.
In 2004, Weaver was named the collegiate player of the year. His final season at Long Beach, Weaver went 37–9 and was 15–1, with a 1.62 ERA in his last season with 213 strikeouts and just 21 walks in 144 innings.
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Tulowitzki was the starting shortstop for the National League team, representing the Colorado Rockies. He played five innings, going 1 for 2 with a base hit to right-center to lead off the bottom of the fifth.
This season, Tulowitzki is hitting .268 with 17 home runs and 57 RBI.
In three seasons at Long Beach, Tulowitzki had a .962 career fielding percentage. Offensively, in 155 career games, he had a batting average of .310, with 20 homers, 117 RBIs and 37 doubles. He also accumulated 31 multi-hit games in his collegiate career. Baseball America rated him as having the top arm and as the best defensive shortstop in the Big West Conference. Tulowitzki was a two-time All-Big West selection (second team in 2003 and first team in 2004) and a two-time All-Regional Tournament selection, earning Most Outstanding Player honors in 2004.
In alphabetical order, the following ex-Dirtbags also competed in the big leagues this year (with years at Long Beach State in parentheses): John Bowker (2002-04), Andrew Carpenter (2006), Bobby Cramer (2000-01), Bobby Crosby (1999-2001), Brad Davis 2002-04), Greg Dobbs (1999), Danny Espinosa (2006-08), Marco Estrada (2005), Jason Giambi (1990-92), Paul McAnulty (2002), Cesar Ramos (2003-05), Jeremy Reed (2000-02), Jason Vargas (2004), and Vance Worley (2006-08).