July 04, 2005

Wunderbar.

posted by yerfatma at 11:25 PM on July 04, 2005

Yeah, I don't get Hillenbrand either- he was 7th in voting at his position, and he's not the only player on his team either, with Halladay the likely starting pitcher of the game. Although when they mentioned his name, I thought of how many all-stars are current, or former, Red Sox. Big Papi is not a surprise- he's gotten better year after year (that must really sting for Twins fans), his post-season was epic last year and his numbers for the last 2.5 seasons are fantastic, and most importantly he is in a DH spot with no other serious competition this year, unlike some of these other positions. Who else could you vote for? Here's hoping Jeter doesn't make it on that "special" ballot. I DVR'ed the ESPN "All-Star Selection Special" and those fucking cunts kept pimping captain intangibles like you wouldn't believe. I half-assumed that Jeter not being in the All-Star game was some kind of sign of the apocalypse, the way they breathlessly reminded us every five minutes he didn't get voted in or picked as a reserve. They practically electioneered the viewers to rush to mlb.com and vote Jeter! Newsflash, fucktards: he's pretty teh suck this year. Not bad for a shortstop, but not good for an All-Star, and not even in the top 3 or 4 shortstops in the league, not remotely. Don't let the pinstripes fool you, ass clowns.

posted by hincandenza at 02:57 AM on July 05, 2005

"big Papi"s success with the Sox does "smart' a little when we Twins fans lament abot the lack of power. However, Ortiz wasnt producing. He was hurt alot when he was a Twin. The Twins wanted results if they were going to pay someome big bucks. If only the Twins had more time to allow him to develop a little longer. I am glad Ortiz finally found success. I am more upset about Torii Hunter and Jesse Craine getting snubbed from the Team......

posted by daddisamm at 07:21 AM on July 05, 2005

Hunter leads his teams in homers and RBI-He is on a pace of having 30 HR and 100 RBIS-Not mention being a very good base stealer- Hunter is arguably the best defensive OF in the Majors. He is in the Team photo. Heck his Batting average is better than Manny's and he is certainly a better fielder that Manny and some of the other OF on the Team.... That said, I do see your point of why is isnt there. If Crain played for Boston, NY, etc he would certainly be on the team. I could Justify taking him over Nathan if it came to that....

posted by daddisamm at 08:33 AM on July 05, 2005

I'd just like to note that Carlos Lee plays for the Brewers. Derrick Lee plays for the Cubs. I was going to say the same thing. Oddly enough, I heard Al Newman, the Twins 3B coach, make the exact same mistake on the Twins' radio post-game radio show this weekend. Hunter didn't make it because the OF is tough to crack in the AL...I was actually more surprised that over a million people chose to vote for either Bret Boone or Tony Womack at second base in the AL. How fucking crazy is that?

posted by chris2sy at 10:34 AM on July 05, 2005

I respectfully disagree with both you and Aaron, Grum. Why is it so wrong for a guy having a fantastic first half to be named an All-Star? I'd rather see a team full of "all-stars" instead of a team full of "hot-first-halves". But that's a personal opinion, more than argument. I like cheering for the underdog as much as the next guy, so if it was some young Blue Jay player that was having a hot first-half, I'd probably flip to the other side of the argument. But the whole "everyone needs a representative" thing is just stupid. I like it because it gives fans for every team a chance to root for a player in the game. Otherwise, the seven Tampa Bay fans would have no reason to even watch the all-star game. And since it's just an exhibition, they should try to give as many people as possible something to watch. In the end, arguing over the participants for an all-star game is probably more fun than the game itself. It gives the casual and die-hard fan something to talk about, and that's always good for baseball.

posted by grum@work at 10:51 AM on July 05, 2005

What do I think of it?!? I think it's right in line with the rest of our horrid American us vs. them foreign policy. Bud Selig is no David Stern, that's for damn sure.

posted by hincandenza at 11:29 AM on July 05, 2005

My respectful two cents: I'm a big fan of all-star selection based on current performance, if only because of how all-star selection are viewed in retrospect. If someone is a "7-time all-star", it's usually meant to imply that he had seven notable seasons, instead of four seasons and three bonus all-star selections based on his past performance. Obviously it rarely works this way, but I like wishful thinking.

posted by DrJohnEvans at 11:43 AM on July 05, 2005

As far as "developing" Ortiz is concerned, all anyone had to do was let him start consistently and regularly. The Red Sox platooned him Twins-style for a while, but after the Hillenbrand-for-BHK trade, and the evaporation of Jeremy Giambi's roids stash, Big Papi became an everyday player and the rest is history! Who knew trading for a ruined Byung-Hung would be one of Theo's best moves (viewed in a larger context, of course...) Didn't follow D'Ort's career closely with the Twins, but that's my understanding. Certainly it's been true in his Red Sox career; once he got out there every day, he started tearing the league apart.

posted by Venice CA at 12:40 PM on July 05, 2005

....and if these games are going to be counting then clearly you should put the best team on the field that year. not the best team from two, or five years ago because its going to cause distinct disadvantages, like when jason giambi was the starting at firstbase last year for the AL.

posted by gregy606 at 12:59 PM on July 05, 2005

"When Ortiz was Healthy he was playing--for the most part" If true, I stand corrected.

posted by Venice CA at 01:28 PM on July 05, 2005

Mientkiewicz was playing first base most everyday 2001-2002. Ortiz was primarily the DH

posted by YukonGold at 01:44 PM on July 05, 2005

At the Time he was benched against lefties-he was still quite raw. He couldnt hit a leftie and still has problems with them. The notion that the Twins dont like big DH types is a little off. What the Twins needed from Ortiz, was consistency-which they never got. He would have "came of age" whether or not he stayed in Minnesota. He came up as a raw talant and it took him that long to develop especially in leau of his assorted injuries. The Red Sox got Papi at just the right time. I wouldnt read much more into it.

posted by daddisamm at 02:00 PM on July 05, 2005

hey grum at work i noticed you put jhonny peralta as not a fulltime shortstop but he qualifies for enough at-bats to be listed above jeter in i believe you said ops The minimum required plate appearances to qualify for a batting title is 3.1PA*games-played-by-team. Cleveland has played 82 games so far, so Peralta would need 254 plate appearances. He has 229 PA, so technically he hasn't batted the minimum number of times (since he's only appeared in 63 of the teams games, starting in only 60 of them). However, if you fill in the missing number of PA (25) with simple outs (which is how they do it when someone is just short of the required PA for a batting title), Peralta's new OPS would be .754, much less than Jeter's .836.

posted by grum@work at 02:51 PM on July 05, 2005

It's actually Derrek Lee. Yes, it's a weird spelling, but it doesn't take long to check it, and it's a sign of respect.

posted by qbert72 at 08:17 AM on July 06, 2005

it's a sign of respect. Sorry, Cubs sluggers get none o' that from me.

posted by rocketman at 01:43 PM on July 06, 2005

Even after throwing my support behind Jeter (*shudder*), I don't really have a problem with Posednik making the team. He's probably wildly overrated (.337 SLG is really weak), but if he's used properly by the AL all-star team (pinch-run, defensive replacement), he's a good bench player to have.

posted by grum@work at 07:45 AM on July 07, 2005