Rare Brewer All Star Moments, #10: Sheets Shines

This is part one of a ten part series looking at the greatest All Star moments in Brewer history.

If you're like me, you probably don't have a lot of positive memories of Brewers in the All Star Game. As a fan who grew up in the 90's, one of my most lasting memories of the Midsummer Classic is the year Greg Vaughn was the Brewers' lone representative. I stayed up late to watch the game and he didn't appear. 

There have, however, been a handful of moments where Brewers had an actual, positive impact on the game. Between now and the 2011 game we'll remember ten of those moments. One of three Brewers who will appear on the list twice is Ben Sheets.

The 2007 game was the third of Sheets' four All Star appearances as a Brewer, and as you might expect he was coming off a very good first half: He pitched a complete game on Opening Day and carried that momentum to a 3.41 first half ERA, with 87 strikeouts and just 25 walks in 116 innings. That was enough to get NL manager Tony LaRussa to give him the ball for the third inning. Sheets retired Placido Polanco and Manny Ramirez, allowed singles to Ichiro and Derek Jeter, then got David Ortiz to line out to end the threat. Cole Hamels replaced him on the mound in the fourth. Sheets' performance was worth +.058 WPA.

Unfortunately, Sheets' season was already almost over at this point. He made just one more start in July and only six more in the second half, averaging slightly more than four innings per start and posting a 5.68 ERA.