The Giants' closer had himself a busy night on Tuesday, as he stepped into the national spotlight and seized the moment … and then another moment, and then one more moment.
It started before the game, as Fox chose Wilson to announce the National League lineup. He used the opportunity to make a pitch for Carlos Beltran joining the Giants as part of a trade this month.
"Our lineup today is pretty filthy, let's just say," Wilson said. "Let's start off with Carlos Beltran. The guy's a phenomenal hitter, switch hitter. There's talks of him coming over to the Giants. More than welcome. Come on over, pal."
Wilson then worked as an agent for Braves catcher Brian McCann.
"Brian McCann behind the dish," Wilson said. "The guy's an absolute beast. Atlanta, I think you're gonna need to sign him to a long-term deal, just sayin'."
No word on whether Wilson will receive a cut of McCann's next contract.
The next opportunity for Wilson came a few hours later, when Joel Hanrahan couldn't close the door in the ninth. With the tying run on deck, in came Wilson to close out the game for the NL. That didn't take long, as Wilson retired Michael Cuddyer on one pitch before getting ahead of Paul Konerko 0-2 and inducing a a ground ball to shortstop. Game over.
Wilson was able to check off "earn a save at the All-Star Game" on his career checklist, and then the real work began — his postgame interview with ESPN's Pedro Gomez. Among the topics covered was Heath Bell's feetfirst slide into the mound.
"Yeah, that was interesting," Wilson said. "I wasn't expecting it, caught me off guard. I thought I reacted well. I think he nailed it — pop-up slide. I'm not that athletic I don't think, so I think my knee would've blew out and it would've been weird, but that's what I do."
Gomez later asked Wilson a question but held his ESPN microphone a little too close to Wilson's famous black beard.
"Get the beard off the mic there. Gettin' a little close," Wilson said when the microphone made contact with Wilson's beard, which is a cross between Gerard Butler from 300 and Weird Al Yankovic in "Amish Paradise."
"I don't want to get in there with whatever else is in there," Gomez responded, which made Wilson's eyes light up.
"Well there's garden gnomes cutting down trees and apparently there's an Irish jig lady dancing," he said. "I haven't met her yet but she's in this quadrant."
Wilson then stressed the possibility of the Giants adding a bat before the trade deadline — he just hoped he'd be around to see it.
"Hopefully [the trade is] not for me," he told Gomez. "But if it works out, I guess."
In a sports world where every athlete seems to say the same exact thing, over and over again, we can all be thankful that Brian Wilson is there to break up the monotony.
