MIAMI – In a weird way, Pat Neshek's 4-month-old son, Hoyt, might have been partly responsible for making Madison Bumgarner's Game 7 heroics necessary in the 2014 World Series. And the reliever isn't really comfortable with that.

Neshek, the Brooklyn Park native and Phillies All-Star representative this year, recalls the 2014 All-Star Game at Target Field as a crazy, whirlwind couple of days, filled with MLB-planned events, family-reunion dinners and a fussy infant.

"You show up, especially at home, and it's kind of like a big party. There was so much stuff, I probably got an hour of sleep the night before," recalled Neshek, who represented the Cardinals that season. "Then I go out there during the game and get the loss. And that's how home field for the World Series is decided? It was crazy."

That used to be how it worked, and the RBI double a sleep-deprived Neshek gave up to Mike Trout — "It was a foul ball," he says of Trout's chopper down the third-base line in the fifth inning — meant the Giants, behind Bumgarner's five-inning relief stint on two days' rest, had to win Game 7 on the road in Kansas City almost four months later.

The players asked during last year's collective bargaining negotiations that the policy be changed. Tuesday's was the first All-Star Game since 2003 that didn't have an effect on the postseason — home-field advantage will go to the team with the best record — and you could sense relief among the All-Stars.

"I'm glad they changed it. It never seemed fair," said the Twins' Brandon Kintzler. "Teams work hard all year to get an advantage over the others, and for people who aren't even in the playoffs to determine that, it just isn't right."

Brian Stensaas — TNS - TNS, Star Tribune
Opening ceremony's overview of the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 11, 2017, at Marlins Park in Miami, Fla. (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/TNS)

Sano getting noticed

Miguel Sano was one of the most popular players during Tuesday's All-Star parade through downtown Miami, a reflection that his strong season — or more likely, his runner-up finish in Monday's Home Run Derby — had made him some new fans. It's about time the Twins slugger got more attention, one of his teammates said.

"I definitely think it changed a lot last night," said Kintzler, who rode on the back of the same truck as Sano. "… In the markets that we're in, you've got to be in the playoffs to share the big stage. The more winning we do, the more we'll get to show that he's going to be a superstar."

Picture this

The game took a brief and humorous detour in the sixth inning, when Seattle's Nelson Cruz came to bat. Before he stepped into the box, he pulled out a cellphone and asked NL catcher Yadier Molina to take a photograph of him and home plate umpire Joe West. Molina obliged, and Cruz tucked the phone back into his back pocket.

"I went, 'Oh, no,' " said AL manager Brad Mills, subbing for Cleveland's Terry Francona. "The way it played out, I thought Joe did a good job with it. He had fun with it."

Added Joe Maddon of the Cubs, the NL manager: "I would bet if the game had counted, he would not have done that."

Carew appearance

Rod Carew, only a week after his first appearance at Target Field since undergoing a heart and kidney transplant in December, was one of seven Hall of Famers (plus Roberto Clemente's widow) from Latin American countries to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

It was a gesture to honor the game's great Spanish-speaking players that Ervin Santana and Sano said touched them.

"I was so excited for the moment. I saw Rod Carew, Pedro Martinez, Robbie Alomar," said Sano. He would have liked to have caught the pitch from Carew, a native of Panama, but said he enjoyed it from the dugout anyway.

"It was very exciting moment for our country [the Dominican Republic], and the other countries the players are from," Santana said. "It was nice."