ALL STAR STARTERS:
POS: AL/ NL
C: I. Rodriguez, DET/ R. Martin, LAD
1B: Papi/ P. Fielder, MIL
2B: Polanco, DET/ Utley, PHI
3B: A-Rod/ D. Wright, NYM
SS: Jeter/ Reyes, NYM
OF: Vlad/ C. Beltran, NYM
OF: M. Ordonez, DET/ Griffey
OF: Ichiro/ Bonds
At least five Red Sox players will be present for this years MLB All Star game, tying the most in baseball, and if Hideki Okajima wins the fans write-in vote that number could jump to a league-leading six.
That pitchers Josh Beckett (11-2) and Jonathan Papelbon (18 saves) were selected came as no surprise to anyone, nor did the inclusion of Bosox boppers (who currently aren't bopping) David Ortiz, the lone starter for Boston, and Manny Ramirez, a couple of fan and player faves who are perennial locks for the team.
The semi-surprising choice was to include third baseman Mike Lowell, who won the right to back up leading vote getter Alex Rodriguez thanks to his superb season (.297/12HRs/55RBIs) so far.
Not that Lowell didn't deserve the honor, his fourth selection to the game and first in the AL, but with some other worthy candidates felling the snub, such as cross-diamond teammate Kevin Youkilis, the selection was a mild surprise.
But Youk can thank his teammate Big Papi for him not getting chosen to his first Mid Summer classic; that's because Ortiz, the full-time DH and part-time first baseman, took a spot away from a "regular" first baseman due to the game being played in an NL stadium, San Francisco's AT&T Park.
Other than Youk some other notable AL omissions include old friend Orlando Cabrera at short, Detroit's Gary Sheffield and Twins catcher Joe Mauer.
In the NL the biggest surprise wasn't an omission but an inclusion; Barry Bonds surprisingly made the squad when just a few days ago he was lagging behind in fourth place among outfielders and it looked like he was going to have to rely on his peers to vote him in, an unlikely proposition at best.
Suddenly within the last week Bonds leaped into third place and will get the start in his own home park just as he is on the verge of breaking one of the most hallowed record in sports. Right or wrong, the game is an entertainment event for the fans, and love him or hate him Bonds deserves to be present in this game.
Just like Josh Beckett will deserve to start it if he wins his next start against the D-Rays on Thursday.
Hopefully Boston will have found its offensive groove by then.
Meanwhile, don't forget to log onto MLB.com and vote for Oki for the Fan Monster Vote, whatever the fuck that is!
Congrats to the five Boston All Stars, and please go out there and contribute and try to win the thing so we'll get the homefield when we make it to the World Series in October.
Well, except you Manny--we know you won't be attending.
7.02.2007
All Star roster full of Sox
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2 comments:
A guy called into KNBR 680 AM on Monday afternoon and described how he and 40 of his friends rigged the online voting at MLB.com in favor of Bonds. He said they exploited the system and were able to cast about 600,000 votes for Bonds in the final couple of days. Can't say whether it's 100 percent true, but the guy sounded very, very believable.
Now that explains it. I knew it had to be some kind of undercover campaign, like the year a bunch of guys from Mass voted for Nomar like a million times or some shit like that.
Thanks for the info, and like I said, he may be a colossal asshole and a rabid roid user, but he still belongs in the game in that park.
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