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June 30, 2006
Take Me Out To The Ballgame
With the holiday weekend approaching and major league baseball about to enter it's ridiculous, silly, pander-to-New York interleague play (tell me that anyone outside of the tri-state area gives a rat's tuckus about any of the games this weekend? The only reason MLB engages in this ridiculous exercise is so that New York can salivate all over itself and mess its diapers over their precious "subway series."), I thought it appropriate to share my selections for the starters in the all-star game.
Fan voting -- which is the second biggest debacle in baseball, next to interleague play -- is silly, childish, and need to be eliminated; MLB actually encourages ballot-stuffing for the home-ers by sending out e-mails reminding fans that their local nine need their votes... never mind if the starting 3b is the game's biggest choke artist, or the home team's catcher is batting .253. Fan voting is little more than a prom queen popularity contest for grown men, and it goes beyond insipidness. If you play in a large city -- say, New York, Boston, maybe L.A. or Chicago -- you're going to get a boatload of votes, whether you're batting .330 or .230. Or, alternately, if you have good marketing consultants working for you and you've picked up a national reputation, you get votes based on people liking your commercials... or identifying with the country you're from... or thinking your butt looks good in those baseball pants. They should be calling this game "The Popularity Exhibition," because that's really all it is.
But that said, if they're gonna let fans vote, I'm gonna vote. Someone has to try and keep the balloting honest and vote for actual deserving players. So without further ado, here are my choices for the real all-star teams -- AL today, NL later this weekend:
American League:
1B: Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins Quietly batting .288 with 19 home runs and 64 RBI on one of the game's hottest teams. Doesn't get enough attention playing in small-market Minnesota. The fans have voted for my boy, Big Papi David Ortiz... don't get me wrong, I love Papi; he's the best clutch hitter in a generation and was the true AL MVP last season (Alex Rodriguez somehow winning the award over Papi goes down as one of the five greatest MVP ripoffs in baseball history). But Papi doesn't play first base unless he has to. Voting for him at 1B is like voting for RuPaul as Best Actor. Sure, technically he's a he... but he hasn't played that position in years. Same with Papi (sorry, big man... if it's any consolation, my first son may well be named Ortiz). Morneau gets the nod. (Backups: Ortiz -- have to get his bat in there somewhere; Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox -- .316/19/61)
2B: Tadahito Iguchi, Chicago White Sox. More RBI than any other second baseman, and only one AL second baseman has more home runs. Plus, he's batting .296 -- which ain't bad. The fans have voted for the Yankees' Robinson Cano, based in part on his .325 average and his playing for the Yankees. They can be forgiven for one half of that. But the all-star is Iguchi. (Backups: Cano; Ronnie Belliard, Cleveland -- .288/5/34)
3B: Joe Crede, Chicago White Sox. Anyone who thinks that choke artist extraordinaire Alex Rodriguez belongs in this spot probably thinks there were really WMD in Iraq. Crede has hit only two fewer HRs than Pay-Rod, has 54 RBI to Rodriguez' 55, and is batting .302 to A-Rod's .279. Plus, Crede actually hits when his team needs him to. He's the all-star; Rodriguez is an overpaid fraud. The fans are jackassed idiots for voting for that smarmy, choking piece of garbage. (Backups: Mike Lowell, Boston -- .307/9/40; Hank Blalock, Texas -- .290/11/54)
SS: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees. I hate to give any Yankee any credit for anything -- especially Jeter. But, Jeter is one of two Yankees whom Red Sox fans actually respect (the other being Hideki Matsui), and let's face it: he's having a great season. Batting .331 with 5 HR, 46 RBI and 15 SB. It burns like acid to have to say this, but he's the starting SS this year. (Backups: Miguel Tejada, Baltimore -- .321/16/57; Orlando Cabrera, LA Angels -- .305/5/44/12 SB)
Catcher: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins. My favorite baseball player is the Red Sox' Jason Varitek, and I really want to vote for him here. But there is no way that any sane baseball fan can do anything here but vote for the guy batting .392 (leading the league and chasing a 65 year old record!), which is hard enough for any player to do... but a catcher leading the league in batting and chasing .400??? Amazing season from a 23 year old kid who's only going to get better. (Backups: Ramon Hernandez, Baltimore -- .287/15/59; Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit -- .301/7/38, but who gets my vote for how he's handling a very young pitching staff in Detroit)
OF: Manny Ramirez, Boston; Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle; Vernon Wells, Toronto. Manny being Manny means 40 home runs and 120 RBI every year; he'll do it again this year. Ichiro is the most amazing pure hitter of this generation... he's batting .358 again this year, has 25 steals, and is one of the best defensive outfielders in the game. Wells is enjoying a breakout season in Toronto, batting .313 with 20 HRs and 62 RBI. He's keeping Toronto in the playoff hunt. There are others whom you can make a case for, but my votes go to these three. (Backups: Magglio Ordonez, Detroit -- .313/15/57; Jermaine Dye, Chicago -- .306/20/54; Alex Rios, Toronto -- .330/15/53.)
Starting pitcher: Johan Santana, Minnesota. 9-4, 2.59 ERA, 124 strikeouts... and this guy's notoriously better in the second half??? Freaking scary, how good this kid is. (Backups: Justin Verlander, Detroit, 10-4/3.13/65 Ks; Curt Schilling, Boston, 10-2/3.54/102 Ks; Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay, 9-5/3.59/108 Ks; Roy Halladay, Toronto, 10-2/3.22/62 Ks; Mike Mussina, New York Yankees, 9-3/3.28/100 Ks; Barry Zito, Oakland, 8-4/3.46/85 Ks.)
Reliever: Jonathan Papelbon, Boston. The runaway Roookie of the Year in the American League has 23 saves in 25 chances, a miniscule 0.46 ERA, and has 41 strikeouts in 39 innings. He's become a monster, and is a major reason the Red Sox are in first place. Not even a question here. (Backups: Bobby Jenks, Chicago -- 24 saves/2.48 ERA/42 Ks; BJ Ryan, Toronto -- 21 saves/0.47 ERA/45 Ks; Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees -- 17 saves/1.88 ERA/32 Ks; Joe Nathan, Minnesota -- 13 saves/1.91 ERA/47 Ks.)
Coming soon... the National League.
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Comments
Good choices, Mudge. I think Iguchi is a stretch at 2B though --- Jose Lopez from the Mariners (ignored in your post entirely, which shocked me) is hitting .284 with an astounding 57 RBI. He deserves the nod at 2B.
And I'd also take Magglio Ordonez over Manny only to acknowledge baseball's renaissance in Detroit -- which is so good for the game.
Posted by: Marquette Hoops at June 30, 2006 10:39 AM
Not really arguing your choices at 2B or marquette Hoops either. But Brian Roberts of my beloved Orioles has quietly been having another strong season. 313avg 30rbi(from leadoff) 16 doubles 19SB in 22tries. And he was on the DL for 3 weeks. Maybe not your choice, but probably worthy of a mention.
Posted by: Scott at June 30, 2006 07:18 PM
Posted by: Sarah at June 30, 2006 09:53 PM
You wouldnt make Liriano a backup pitcher?
8-1/2.21/82 He is the one chasing your closer for rookie of the year, and Santana for best overall major league numbers.
Posted by: Cuzin Jose at July 1, 2006 09:08 PM
Mudge shows his big-city bias by shafting Liriano of course. Typical New Yorker :)
Posted by: Corey at July 3, 2006 02:00 PM
Fair point. Frankly, I'd missed what Liriano was doing. I'd argue that Liriano and Verlander both belong on the squad. Mark f'n Redman? This is why the all-star game is a joke and should be scrapped... no way can you tell me that Mark Redman belongs on the all-star team. I hate the "every team must be represented" rule.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at July 3, 2006 02:15 PM
You haven't done the NL yet, but I'll just point out that leaving the leading hitter in that league off the roster is one of the more egregious errors of the past few years. Where's the love for Nomah?
Posted by: Linkmeister at July 3, 2006 05:49 PM
I don't see why it's a big deal... so fans vote? Fans also pay the ticket prices, and buy the endorsed products. It's an exhibition, albeat a pretty fancy one. There are bigger things to get excised about. I will watch the game, too.
Posted by: anonymous at July 4, 2006 10:44 AM
Anon, it's a big deal because the powers that be have determined that this ridiculous, petty exhibition for the citizens of New York, Boston and Chicago also has serious ramifications on the championship, eventually.
We're leaving home field advantage in the World Series to be decided by the band of idiots that votes for players just because they play for New York or Boston (and I say this as a die-hard Sox fan). We're leaving matters of championship -- indeed, the very integrity of the game -- in the hands of a group that has proven itself unknowledgeable and unworthy of the responsibility... and all because some of them (not all, in this age of Internet voting -- paid $50 for a ticket? I think that's silly.
The public has shown that it can't be trusted when it comes to picking the best players. The average all-star game voter, frankly, is a stupid homer. And I don't want home field advantage in the WS being decided by the same band of village idiots who think Paul LoDuca should start in the all-star game (or Beltran, for that matter) just because he plays in New York, while leaving a guy batting .392 -- a catcher, of all players! -- out of the top two in voting. The fans pay money, yes... but that doesn't buy them the right to be stupid.
Linkmeister... I've been enjoying my holiday too much to do the NL. But while I'd have made Pujols my 1b starter for his ungodly season before the injury, Nomar should be backing him up.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at July 6, 2006 12:07 PM
