Chris Sale gives MVP-worthy performance in All-Star Game

With teams on both sides of town languishing near the bottom of the standings, Chicago sent just three players to the 2013 MLB All-Star Game, which was played Tuesday night in New York.

Pitchers Chris Sale and Jesse Crain represented the White Sox. Pitcher Travis Wood earned the lone All-Star nod for the Cubs.

Crain did not pitch because he is on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. Wood also did not participate, having just pitched 48 hours earlier in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

That left Sale to represent the city, and you can make a good case his performance was the most impressive in a pitching-dominated game.

Sale tossed two scoreless innings and retired all six batters he faced, earning the win in the American League's 3-0 victory.

The Sox ace entered in the second inning and retired David Wright on a grounder to third on his first pitch. He struck out Carlos Gonzalez on a slider and got Yadier Molina on a fly out to center field. Sale came back out for the third inning and fanned Troy Tulowitzki on another slider. He retired Michael Cuddyer on a tapper back to the mound and concluded his night when Bryce Harper lined out to third baseman Miguel Cabrera.

Sale's fastball touched 96 mph, and he needed only 24 pitches (17 strikes) to retire six of the best players in the National League.

There certainly weren't any hitters in this game worthy of the MVP. Not a single player had more than one hit. There wasn't anybody with more than one RBI or one run scored, either. No home runs were hit.

It was inevitable the MVP award would go to a pitcher. Sale registered six outs, more than any other American League pitcher, and he got them in quick and dominant fashion.

But alas, this year's All-Star MVP wasn't going to go to anyone other than Mariano Rivera, the future Hall of Fame closer of the New York Yankees. Rivera is retiring at the end of the season, and the night was all about recognizing his career accomplishments.

Make no mistake, Rivera did his job as usual when he entered the game in the eighth inning. He quickly retired all three National League hitters he faced. But let's be honest, he was given the MVP as a lifetime achievement award, moreso than for his performance in this particular game.

I can understand that. It's just too bad, because Sale was pretty damn good and he would have deserved it. Sale does go down as the seventh White Sox pitcher to earn a victory in the All-Star Game. Here are the six others:

1941: Edgar Smith
1958: Early Wynn
1962: Ray Herbert
1993: Jack McDowell
2000: James Baldwin
2005: Mark Buehrle