Well the All-Star Game rosters are out and I thought I'd go over them.
AL Starters: A pleasant surprise at catcher as Alex Avila topped "I'm only getting votes because I'm a Yankee" Russel Martin. Don't get me wrong, Martin has had a good season and is a reserve BUT it would have been a travesty to put him in the starting lineup over Avila. Of course we have the broken-down old man "Mr. Average" Derek Jeter getting a most undeserved start at SS. I've said plenty on this earlier in the thread but I will add that Jeter doesn't even deserve to be Honorary Bat Boy at this year's game. Hey Skanks fans, it's no longer 1999 and Jeter is no longer an All-Star. Cabrera in Cleveland is really the only SS who belongs in the AL starting lineup. Two Yankees that made the starting lineups that I cannot argue with are Cano and Granderson. Big Papi got voted in as DH...I thought there was no DH voting when the ASG is played in a NL park but my memory could be faulty. There's really no other player at DH that even approaches Ortiz. Good ol' A-Roid "Bitch Tits" gets voted in at 3B when Beltre was more deserving. That's not a MAJOR gripe of mine but it does mean 4 Skanks are starting which is too many.
Another bad thing about voting Jeter in is that when I saw his name I KNEW that either Martin or Teixeira would have to get a snub because there are too many Skanks and it was Teixeira. There is no way he deserved to start over Adrian Gonzalez so the fans got it right there, but he did deserve to be a reserve. Almost as bad as voting Jeter in is voting Josh Hamilton in this year. It's not because his numbers are bad but because he's been on the DL for a good chunk of time and only played in 46 games so far. I would have gone with Ellsbury instead. Bautista, on the other hand, nobody can argue with.
AL Pitching: Josh Beckett, who just had another excellent performance in a win against the Astros, deserves to start. If not Beckett than either Verlander or Weaver or Shields. Hey the AL pitching is pretty stacked. I don't know why Brandon League got selected as he is an ERA of almost 3.50 and has three blown saves all of which became losses and another loss on top of that. Reliever Chris Perez is having a great season in Cleveland, as is Valverde in Detroit. Mariano is of course Mariano so he's going to close.
AL Reserves: This is where the players and managers try to clean up messes that idiot fans make as well as make sure every team is represented. Personally I don't think every team needs to representative: if you don't have a guy deserving of a spot then none of your guys should get a spot. Here we see Ellsbury, Beltre and Cabrera who belong in the starting lineup. Matt Joyce of the Rays is a surprising but deserving pick. I think an argument could be made for Kendrick over Cano at 2B, but Cano is deserving and at least Kendrick got on the team. Michael Young...do we really need a starting DH?
AL "Lone Representatives": These are the players who were picked as the "lone representatives" of their teams. Let's see if they actually deserve to be there.
Jose Bautista, TOR: Duh.
Aaron Crow, KC: A mop-up relief pitcher who has a sweet 1.36 ERA. Despite the low ERA he has only pitched 39.2 innings, most of which were not important and also has two blown saves with no actual save. NO
Gio Gonzalez, OAK: A great up and comer and a sorry team, he has managed to get a 7-5 record with a 2.38 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. YES
Matt Wieters, BAL: .263 7 HR, 33 RBI...do we need a third Catcher that bad? If Skanks fans did not vote in Jeter then JJ Hardy could have been the O's rep as the backup to Cabrera. NO
Michael Cuddyer, MIN: This guy keeps plugging along for the Twins, putting up very good numbers year in and year out. This year is no different. YES
Final Vote: A tough one to call but of the five players I would cast my vote for Ben Zobrist of the Rays over Adam Jones of the O's, Paul Konerko of the ChiSox, Alex Gordon of the Royals and Victor Martinez of the Tigers. I was tempted to go with Martinez but we already have three catchers and two DH in a National League park! My guess is that Konerko will win.'
Up Next: The NL All-Stars, or as I like to call them Team Where The Fuck Is Andrew McCutchen?