11/05/24
July 06, 2003
Sosa, Clemens, and Martinez snubbed for baseball all-star game.: Hideki Matsui, Carlos Delgado, and Albert Pojols make their debuts in Major League Baseball's midsummer classic. 29 of the 63 selections are rookies to the All Star Game, to be played July 15 at US Cellular Field (formerly new Comiskey Park) in Chicago.
posted by jasonbondshow to baseball at 07:24 PM - 10 comments
I agree about Pedro. Love Pedro, but he's been a bit off this year... mostly due to the bullpen and that's not his fault, but I digress. We have to have a lot of extra pitchers so we don't end up in a damn tie again this year. Most of them won't see game time, I'd imagine. Glad to see Dmitri Young in there. I like him a lot. I'm really pissed about Ramon Hernandez getting backup catcher. What up with that? That, to me, is the most glaring error. Ramon Hernandez, OAK * .263 AVG 10 HR 35 RBI Jason Varitek, BOS .300 AVG 15 HR 50 RBI such a joke. And now back to voting to get Varitek in as 32nd man.
posted by jerseygirl at 10:38 PM on July 06, 2003
Just to throw my two cents in on snubs, I can't believe Alex Gonzalez did not get in (and isn't even on the damn extra man ballot). Ditto for Dontrelle Willis...as a Marlins fan, I hope they take this as a true insult and light up the NL East! [/fanboy] ;-)
posted by bcb2k2 at 12:18 AM on July 07, 2003
i like the way this man thinks: It's a beautiful thing that the players rejected Sosa, giving him, intentionally or not, his harshest penalty yet for corking his bat. better luck next year dude
posted by kjh at 12:27 AM on July 07, 2003
Delgado made the all-star game in 2000 (according to the 'Hurrah, three of our players made it' news item on the bluejays website). I just had to check. Delgado has been the best player the Jays have had for a while and since they take at least one player from each team for the game I couldn't believe that Delgado would be making his debut. The Jays don't have a pitcher tearing it up every year. And I recalled that he had a big season a few years ago that lead to his $17m/season contract which is now a third of the payroll or something. That looks like 2000. Maybe he wasn't voted in that time though.
posted by gspm at 01:10 AM on July 07, 2003
Delgado is the first Blue Jay voted to the All-Star game in 9 years (the previous one being Roberto Alomar). My take (on AL only): The biggest mistake by the fans would be H.Matsui being voted to the starting lineup. Remove him entirely from the voting and I think M.Mora or V.Wells should get the nod. Next in line is T.Glaus getting picked ahead of H.Blalock. Not a crime, but it's simply a case of "known" vs "unknown" by the fans. That won't be the case for too long. The biggest mistake in the "one-from-every-team" choice is L.Carter (relief pitcher) going for Tampa Bay and A.Huff (outfielder) getting no invite at all. R.Baldelli has had a flashier start (mainly because of an amazing April) but A.Huff has been the better all-around hitter, and L.Carter hasn't even been an average pitcher this year. The biggest "flash-in-the-pan" appearance is probably a tie between the best starting pitcher and reliever so far this year: E.Loaiza and B.Donnelly. Both of them deserve an appearance because of their INCREDIBLE starts, but I think we'll look back at those selections in 5 years and say "Who?" The best selections on the idea that "This Time It Counts" actually means something is having relief pitcher S.Hasegawa (2nd best reliever in AL) and OF/3B/1B D.Young (absolutely on fire as a hitter since May 1 and multi-positional to provide flexibility). My vote for the "eTopps Final Vote": J.Giambi because the AL needs one more bat from the left side and he's still got that "one-swing-to-win" power.
posted by grum@work at 01:56 AM on July 07, 2003
Any ideas on who the starters should be? I'd love to see Woody Williams get the nod, but I think Jason Schmidt is the leader. I don't know how Dusty Baker will deal with starting a player from the Giants though. I don't keep up with the AL as much, but I would think that it's between Moyer and Loaiza. Interesting that Zito and Mulder made it, but Hudson didn't. Hudson has pitched slightly better than Mulder so far this year, but only has a 6-3 record to show for it (due mostly to 4 blown saves). I can understand how you might not want three starters from the same team, but I would have chosen Hudson myself.
posted by mbd1 at 10:07 AM on July 07, 2003
mbd1, all of those potential starters would not get an arguement from me. I would, however, point out one that's missing from your NL list: Kevin Brown. He's been simply dominating this year. I certainly hope his slight quad strain won't keep him out of the game. I've been a big fan of his ever since I saw him basically destroy Atlanta in the 98 NLCS (even though I was pulling for the Braves).
posted by trox at 10:37 AM on July 07, 2003
Myself, I don't see anything wrong with Matsui getting voted in. He is playing excellent baseball right now, and is already one of the better all-around OF in the AL. Same goes for Ichiro. If compelling fan interest from abroad or from new Asian-American fans at home is driving their inclusion, that seems like a good thing for the game. The expanded rosters are great. Hasegawa has deserved all-star status a few times in his career. If we still had last year's selection rules, Matsui would have been voted in and Wells would have missed out and that would have been a real crime. What jumps out at me is how crappy the Mets are, Benitez is a big minus on a roster full of underachievers and he's *still* arguably the most sensible selection.
posted by pastepotpete at 10:55 AM on July 07, 2003
oh and, i'll bet Alex Gonzalez got robbed because Cincinatti needed an all-star, which has to be Aaron Boone and Gonzalez doesn't get in over Furcal or Renteria.
posted by pastepotpete at 11:03 AM on July 07, 2003
as usual, largely a joke. The AL outfield determined by the country of Japan, leaving out two very deserving players in Mora and Wells (and this is a Yankee fan speaking here). The worst is the stupid auto inclusions, but not even that they're there but that the wrong choices were made out of Tampa and Pittsburgh. How on earth was a reliever with a 6.00+ ERA placed on an all star team? The lack of Yankee pitchers is mildly upsetting - mostly Mussina. I think Mo is a tad overrated and was on the DL, as was Pedro, so those *sort of* make sense as omissions. And Clemens, while he has a good record and stats, is really not one of the 10-15 best anyway. They're taking too many damn relievers. And this would all be fine, except the stupid commish made this game matter, which is a complete joke. Mark Kriedler had a wonderful column about this on ESPN.com...