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MLB All Star Thread

I don't know if I needed to put this in the official MLB thread or make another one, so whatever.

Quote:

On Sunday night, we'll all see who won the close race for first base. The New York Yankees' Tino Martinez held a sizable lead for much of the balloting period until Monday, when Mark Teixeira of the Texas Rangers jumped ahead.

The other tight race in the AL had Boston Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon nipping at the heels of the other top three outfielders. Damon, with 1,550,810 votes, was catching up to Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, whose recent slump had him only 13,850 votes ahead of Damon.

It was still looking good for the top two ranking AL outfielders: leader Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox and second-place Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels.

At second base, there was still a race, but Baltimore's Brian Roberts increased his lead over Alfonso Soriano -- last year's All-Star MVP and top overall vote-getter -- to more than 100,000 votes.

And while the rest of the leading vote-getters in the AL -- Boston's David Ortiz for designated hitter, Baltimore's Miguel Tejada at shortstop and Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez -- looked like locks to win the balloting, there were some possible surprises on the horizon in the NL.

First base was the closest race in the Senior Circuit, with Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals and Derrek Lee of the Chicago Cubs battling it out since the balloting opened.

Pujols led the whole way, but Lee continued to put up Triple Crown numbers and continued to cut into Pujols' lead.

And at shortstop, the race was too close to call when the ballots closed.

Cesar Izturis of the Los Angeles Dodgers was pushed by his team for a starting spot since the voting began and maintained a late lead over scrappy St. Louis shortstop David Eckstein, but Izturis' lead had shrunk to about 44,000 when online-only voting began. Otherwise, the rest of the NL spots seemed like a done deal, with catcher (Mike Piazza, New York Mets), second base (Jeff Kent, Los Angeles Dodgers), third base (Scott Rolen, Cardinals) and all three spots in the outfield (Bobby Abreu, Philadelphia Phillies; Jim Edmonds, Cardinals; Carlos Beltran, Mets) apparently locked up.

Piazza? Rolen? Beltran? WTF?

It seems like the All Star roster gets more ridiculous every year.

Rolen is hitting .255 with 5 homeruns and 21 RBI's. Morgan Ensberg anyone? 21 homeruns, 58 homeruns, .286.

Carlos Beltran is even worse. .259, 9 homeruns and 38 RBI's. And he doesn't have the excuse of being hurt.

Oh yeah, Piazza is also killing the ball. .267 with 9 dingers and 34 RBI's.

Some guys that deserve to be there ahead of these guys:

Morgan Ensberg
Carlos Lee
Andruw Jones
Miguel Cabrera

I guess Piazza does deserve to be there, considering there aren't many quality catchers in the NL.

Off the top of my head anyway. Yeah, discuss.

There is a chance that Torii could be the last outfielder to make the AL team. I would be surprised if Johan didn't make it either, he hasn't been pitching well in his last few games, but he still leads the league in strikeouts by like 50. Jesse Crain is our only other legit shot at making it, but being a setup man you usually only make it if your manager is in the game.

These were the guys I voted for on mlb.com

AL
C Varitek
1B Teixeira
2B Roberts
3B A. Rodriguez
SS Tejada
LF M. Ramirez
CF Damon
RF Guerrero
DH Hafner
P Buehrle

NL
C Lo Duca
1B D. Lee
2B Castillo
3B Ensberg
SS F. Lopez
LF Cabrera
CF A. Jones
RF Abreu
P Willis

Yeah NL is all messed up to me. Andruw Jones should be in the OF spot without a doubt, and if Cabrera doesn't make LF then it should be Carlos Lee. They should just change the name from All-Star to Most Popular player game.

You people forget, it is the name brand people that will get in. Whoever has their name said on Sportscenter the most will be voted in. It is that simple.

Andruw should definitely be starting ahead of Beltran.

Rolens #'s are low because he's been injured though, not because he's been playing bad. Still don't know if he merits a place on the team, but just saying

Yeah he is. That's why I said Beltran doesn't have the excuse of being injured. Still though, Ensberg is tearing shit up.

God the NL team sucks.

No Jeter is pretty wierd I have to admit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Miz

God the NL team sucks.

Agreed. :(

The All Star Game has never been about who's the best and you all know that. It's about who the fans want to see play. That's kinda the whole reason why the fans pick the starting lineups.

AL All Stars starting line is dominated by AL East players. I feel bad for all the players that deserved to make it but got snubbed. That shit sucks - I know how it feels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boomer

No Jeter is pretty wierd I have to admit.

I agree. WTF!? Nobody busts his ass on the diamond nowadays like DJ.

I am surprised he has made all those all star teams back in the day when Nomar wasn't injuried and A-Rod was on a different team - seeing how he was the third best shortstop in the AL at the time.

He'll probably still make it though.

Having a pretty good year.

Is it just me, or does the AL team have an abundance of pitchers? They have like 12 reserve pitchers and 10 batters. I thought they usually had more batters then that.

BTW, I didn't look at the NL roster yet, but I just thought it was weird to see that many pitchers on the AL.

Glad my boy Hillenbrand made it.

Oh yes! Torii Hunter can still make the team!!! He just needs to get more votes then Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui! E-Z!!!!!

HAHAH FUCK YOU JETER

I am quite shocked by that. I would say that Podsednick probably deserved it (however you spell his name), but I thought the New York factor would put him in. I guess him and Hideki cancelled themselves out?

So glad he didn't make it haha