All-Star Game of Most Popular guys

Is anybody else sick of all of the Major League Baseball hoop-la about the All-Star Game? Honestly, they make such a big deal out of this one game that it really takes away from it. Sure, the Home Run Derby is cool to watch, but who cares who hits the most dingers tonight? David Ortiz or Mark Teixeira or Andruw Jones – should it matter to me? There are also several other things about this game that I don’t like anymore…

1) The winner gets home field advantage in the World Series. This is just flat out dumb. It’s one game against guys that are trying to have a little bit of fun mixed in with trying to impress. What happens if the Boston Red Sox win 87 games and the AL East (very possible) and then knock off two AL teams to make the World Series in a rematch against the St. Louis Cardinals? The Cardinals are well on their way to having another 105 win season like last year – but if the AL wins again they’ll lose out on home field to a team that might win 20 less games. Unfair. I understand you don’t want the problem that you ran into in 2002 when Joe Torre and Bob Brenly exposed to the world that they both are lucky to have managed great players. You want to make the game meaningful – then give the winning team $15,000 for each player from MLB. As rich as most of these guys are they’ll gladly take that check. A-Rod would probably donate it to some psychiatric hospital.


2) I’m so tired of seeing the managers of each team play all of the players on their teams. The aforementioned Torre used to get every guy on his Yankee roster that had a game winning hit or pitched a good game in the All-Star Game. Now we’ve got Tony LaRussa. Several of LaRussa’s Cardinal players got voted in as starters…and most of them deserved it (I said most – and that DOES NOT include David Eckstein) but he had the opportunity to start the best pitcher of the first half of the season and chose his own Chris Carpenter to start for the NL. Dontrelle Willis has been lights out great this season. Carpenter has done a great job, but I’d love to lecture Tony-boy about how stupid this is and looks.

GS CG Shutouts W L ERA WHIP
CC: 18 3 3 13 4 2.51 1.07
DW: 18 5 4 13 4 2.39 1.13

All Tony needed to do was look at the stats and he could’ve figured this one out. Let’s not also forget that Carpenter pitches for one of the highest run scoring teams in league…I’m baffled. Willis got screwed plain and simple. I’m also having a hard time with Jim Edmonds in CF. Sorry to everybody out there that thinks he’s Mr. Defensive Superman – he’s not. He’s a very good defensive center fielder, but he’s not even in the Top Five in Major League Baseball.

#1 Andruw Jones - possibly the greatest defensives CF EVER
#2 Torii Hunter – doesn’t have to dive as much as Edmonds because like Jones he’s already under the ball.
#3 Mike Cameron – And Mike plays RF now because the Mets have Carlos Beltran.
#4 Carlos Beltran – That’s right, the Mets have a guy playing RF that’s actually a little better defensively than Beltran…who’s great in CF though.
#5 Mark Kotsay – If you don’t believe me watch the Athletics play a few times this year…I’ll get you on the band wagon.

So why am I griping about this?…LaRussa shifted Beltran to LF and has his boy Edmonds in CF. Nope, should’ve been the other way around. The National League’s starting RF is Bobby Abreu and if the Phillies would ever smarten up and play him in CF he’d be better defensively than Edmonds too. Just because you dive the most doesn't mean you're the best defensively.

3) I also would argue that the fans shouldn't have the right to choose the starters either. If you want to continue with the fans voting guys into the game, that's one thing - but not starters. That right should be left up to the managers (except Tony LaRussa & Joe Torre). How can David Eckstein be the starting SS in the NL? How did Jason Giambi start at 1B last year for the AL? Tino Martinez almost beat out Teixeira in voting for AL 1B this year? Andruw Jones should be the starting CF and Carlos Beltran shouldn't be a starter...The fans vote with their teams and they vote TOO MUCH. If you want them to continue voting fine, but then let the managers vote on the starters.

The All-Star Game in the last ten years has become a chance for the two managers to play guys on their own teams and has become an almost ridiculous spectacle. Bud Selig should re-think his dopey idea and let the pennant winner with the best record in the World Series have home-field.