This year, the baseball All-Star ballot is available in English, Spanish, and Japanese.

But not in French. Pourquoi pas?

One can only assume that MLB feels the loss of the Montreal Expos, the only French speaking city to host a team, makes the use of the French language unnecessary.

I guess the push by the Dodgers--reminding fans they can vote up to 25 times--has been effective: Carlos Izturis has moved into first place among NL shortstops in All-Star voting--displacing the perevious leader: Nomar Garciaparra. Very deserving.

~Adam

The fact that players like Nomar and Scott Rolen, who've missed a lot of time due to injuries (especially Nomar), can get so many votes really bothers me.

I read that due to a rainout the Phillies got the deadline for in-ballpark ballot distribution extended to June 25th -- of course, that will include a couple of the Red Sox games so Boston players can expect some extra votes. wink

FOX 5 here in DC just did a story last week on how none of the Nationals were in the Top 5 in any position, yet the team is in first place. Since I can be a little less biased in the National League (as opposed to the league that my Yankees are in ), I gave a quick twenty votes to Brad Wilkerson and Nick Johnson.

[ June 15, 2005, 12:49 PM: Message edited by: Cattledog ]

The questions I have for you Cattledog, and I am seriously not trying to start anything here is: How many Yankees did you vote for and do you honestly believe they belong in the All Star Game?

If I was to arbitrarily vote for all Royals (aka waste votes) as opposed to the players who actually deserve it, I am doing the same thing in the American League that NL voters are doing to the Nationals who deserve to be there.

Maybe since DC is new to MLB All-Star voting(ok they haven't done it in 34 years) they haven't become accustomed to the idea of voting en masse for your own guys.

Also let's not forget, these are the former Montreal Expos and really....what casual fan in America knows ANY of these guys??(Thanks to the total lack of exposure they got up there)

NL update: Bobby Abreu now leads all outfielders. Looks like he won't be anywhere near the "Final Vote" like last year! Also, Albert Pujols is only 59,000 ahead of Derrek Lee at first base and Cesar Izturis is only 44,000 ahead of David Eckstein at shortstop.

AL update: Mark Teixeira has moved in front of Tino Martinez at first base. (Thoughts of the two of them are dancing in my brain at the moment.... wink ) Johnny Damon is just 13,000 votes behind Ichiro Suzuki for the third outfield spot, but because only online voting is permitted between now and the June 30th deadline Ichiro seems to have an advantage, as he gets lots of online support.

Sorry... Just saw this...
Regarding how I voted, I am sure you respect the fact that my vote is sacred, and thus private. Okay. Quit laughing...
However, I can address how many I honestly believe belong (starter or non-starter) at the All Star Game.
Alex Rodriguez... Derek Jeter... Mariano Rivera (who probably won't be selected by Terry Francona despite his ERA under 1.00)... Gary Sheffield... Hideki Matsui... So, my answer is five.

Part of the All-Star festivities is the Home Run Derby. They've switched the format to help hype the World Baseball Classic next spring. Instead of having four players from each league, it will have eight players representing their native countries.

You just can't make stuff like this up. The Dodgers have requested a formal inquiry into All-Star voting after their shortstop, Cesar Itzuris, went from being 44,413 votes ahead of St. Louis Cardinal David Eckstein to trailing him by 337,131 votes...in just two days. MLB has denied the inquiry request.

~Adam

The teams are announced:

AMERICAN LEAGUE - All-Star Stats thru 7/2/05

Pos Player B/T Age Games AVG HR RBIs

C Jason Varitek, BOS S/R 33 2 .308 13 34
1B Mark Teixeira, TEX S/R 25 1 .286 22 64
2B Brian Roberts, BAL S/R 27 1 .359 13 44
3B Alex Rodriguez, NYY R/R 29 9 .323 20 66
SS Miguel Tejada, BAL R/R 29 3 .321 19 60
LF Manny Ramirez, BOS R/R 33 9 .275 20 70
CF Johnny Damon, BOS L/L 31 2 .343 4 42
RF Vladimir Guerrero, LAA R/R 29 6 .350 14 47
DH David Ortiz, BOS L/L 29 2 .308 19 67

C Ivan Rodriguez, DET R/R 33 12 .293 5 29
1B Shea Hillenbrand, TOR R/R 29 2 .305 8 37
1B Paul Konerko, CWS R/R 29 2 .246 19 53
1B Mike Sweeney, KC R/R 31 5 .299 9 37
2B Alfonso Soriano, TEX R/R 29 4 .277 20 51
3B Melvin Mora, BAL R/R 33 2 .300 14 46
SS Michael Young, TEX R/R 28 2 .325 12 43
OF Garret Anderson, LAA L/L 33 3 .309 10 60
OF Gary Sheffield, NYY R/R 36 9 .297 13 57
OF Ichiro Suzuki, SEA L/R 31 5 .301 6 27


Pos Player B/T Age Games W-L ERA

SP Mark Buehrle, CWS L/L 26 2 10-1 2.42
SP Bartolo Colon, LAA R/R 32 2 11-4 3.06
SP Jon Garland, CWS R/R 25 1 13-3 3.29
SP Roy Halladay, TOR R/R 28 3 11-4 2.40
SP Kenny Rogers, TEX L/L 40 3 9-3 2.46
SP Johan Santana, MIN L/L 26 1 7-4 3.74

RP Danys Baez, TB R/R 27 1 13 2.83
RP Justin Duchscherer, OAK R/R 27 1 4 1.48
RP Joe Nathan, MIN R/R 30 2 22 3.67
RP Mariano Rivera, NYY R/R 35 7 17 0.88
RP B.J. Ryan, BAL L/L 29 1 18 1.67
RP Bob Wickman, CLE R/R 36 2 22 2.61


NATIONAL LEAGUE

Pos Player B/T Age Games AVG HR RBIs

C Mike Piazza, NYM R/R 36 12 .264 9 34
1B Derrek Lee, CHC R/R 29 1 .386 25 67
2B Jeff Kent, LAD R/R 37 5 .302 15 59
3B Scott Rolen, STL R/R 30 4 .250 5 21
SS David Eckstein, STL R/R 30 1 .290 2 23
LF Carlos Beltran, NYM S/R 28 2 .262 9 40
CF Jim Edmonds, STL L/L 35 4 .283 15 50
RF Bobby Abreu, PHI L/R 31 2 .314 17 52

C Paul Lo Duca, FLA R/R 33 3 .308 2 33
1B Albert Pujols, STL R/R 25 4 .340 21 66
2B Luis Castillo, FLA S/R 29 3 .338 2 16
3B Aramis Ramirez, CHC R/R 27 1 .299 17 50
SS Cesar Izturis, LAD S/R 25 1 .275 1 20
SS Felipe Lopez, CIN S/R 25 1 .321 14 48
OF Moises Alou, SF R/R 39 6 .325 12 39
OF Jason Bay, PIT R/R 26 1 .311 15 41
OF Miguel Cabrera, FLA R/R 22 2 .341 16 59
OF Luis Gonzalez, ARI L/R 37 5 .302 11 50
OF Andruw Jones, ATL R/R 28 4 .280 26 59
OF Carlos Lee, MIL R/R 29 1 .270 22 72


Pos Player B/T Age Games W-L ERA

SP Chris Carpenter, STL R/R 30 1 12-4 2.60
SP Roger Clemens, HOU R/R 42 11 6-3 1.50
SP Livan Hernandez, WSH R/R 30 2 12-2 3.32
SP Pedro Martinez, NYM R/R 33 7 9-2 2.74
SP Jake Peavy, SD R/R 24 1 7-2 2.89
SP John Smoltz, ATL R/R 38 7 9-5 2.68
SP Dontrelle Willis, FLA L/L 23 2 12-3 2.04

RP Chad Cordero, WSH R/R 23 1 29 0.85
RP Brian Fuentes, COL L/L 29 1 10 2.68
RP Jason Isringhausen, STL R/R 32 2 22 2.05
RP Brad Lidge, HOU R/R 28 1 18 2.73

The presence of Mike Piazza proves (once again) that the All-Stars is an annual exercise in low-brow, uninformed, homeristic, rube-like, Neanderthal voting. Congrats, cave people! You are all morons. And the meteor can't get here quickly enough.

[ July 03, 2005, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: AU Tiger in ATL ]

Piazza shouldn't have been voted in...but there's always going to be someone undeserving voted in as long as fans have the vote. I don't think we'll ever see the fan vote taken away entirely -- it provides too much free publicity for the game. I would like to see some sort of override if a choice is particularly bad.

Two Phillies are on the NL "Final Man" online ballot, which is unfair because they could cancel each other out, so the other three have an advantage. Oddly, neither of them are Pat Burrell. Two Yankees are on the AL ballot.

AL candidates:
Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay
Torii Hunter, Minnesota
Derek Jeter, NY Yankees
Hideki Matsui, NY Yankees
Scott Podsednik, Chicago

NL candidates:
Trevor Hoffman, San Diego
Brett Myers, Philadelphia
Roy Oswalt, Houston
Billy Wagner, Philadelphia
Brandon Webb, Arizona

JIP, thanks for posting the Final Man ballots.

Let's just decide the balloting here.

Jeter (not deserving)
Oswalt (deserving)

CD, I didn't respond initially, but Matsui??? There's no arguement for him. The Yankees got the players they deserved.

In the AL, Crawford deserves the nod over all the others, but Jeter will win easily. E-A-S-I-L-Y.

As far as the Royals, my team, no player deserved to make it and no player should have made it. SWeeney, what a joke. He'll freaking get hurt during the game.

It's time to revise the voting. Players should decide. Period. No Royal. No Rockie.

Oh, one more thing, for Gonzalez to make the team over Craig Counsell... joke.

[ July 03, 2005, 08:49 PM: Message edited by: coyoteugly ]

No NL catcher is exactly having an All-Star season... Piazza's numbers this year are as good or better than anyone else's, I think.

I read as much on ESPN- a writer there said that given the stats of other catchers, Piazza was a reasonable choice. Doesn't say much for the state of catching or for the Mets' chances of finding a good replacemnent for him.

I'd add Scott Rolen to the questionable All-Stars this season. This hasn't been his best season and he's played only a limited number of games so far.

~Adam

The winners of the Final Vote: the Astros' Roy Oswalt for the NL and Scott Podsednik of the White Sox for the AL.

Though I would have voted for Hunter, am pleasantly surprised that Podsednik drew more votes than either Jeter or Matsui. I figured Derek Jeter (Mr. True Yankee) would have been a lock.

~Adam

So I guess that means Ichiro is the entry from Japan for the homerun contest? I know that MLB was secretly hoping Matsui would win the vote!

Why doesn't MLB announce the totals for each player? I'd like to know if the combined totals for the 2 Yankees and the 2 Phillies exceeded the total of the winners. All it says is that Oswalt received 2,652,549 votes and Podsednik received 3,965,473, out of almost 15,000,000 votes. I have no doubt that Jeter would've won if Matsui weren't on the ballot.

Phillies.com reports that Jimmy Rollins and Billy Wagner have been added to the NL All-Star team.

Rollins replaces Cesar Izturis, who was placed on the disabled list. Rollins finished 2nd in the players' voting for shortstops.

Wagner replaces Pedro Martinez, who is starting for the Mets on the Sunday before the All-Star game. I don't recall such pitchers being replaced on the roster before. That tie game really screwed things up. That and the fact that pitchers nowadays are babied and pampered compared to the old-timers -- and yet, they still hurt their arms just as much. Hmmmmmmm....

Try telling that to Met fans whose season is riding on his arm. We've seen how fragile Pedro has been in the past. I wouldn't risk it over some meaningless game.

MLB's official stance is that it's not meaningless because the winning league gets home-field advantage in the World Series. You know the slogan: "This time it counts."

Derek Jeter - .308 AVG - 66 R - 10 HR - 35 RBI
.395 OBP - 100 H - 40 BB - 10 SB

Podsednik - .289 AVG - 48 R - 0 HR - 17 RBI
.331 OBP - 78 H - 32 BB - 41 SB

Jeter is out and Podsednik is in? I guess it's not that important to excel in every catagory (or even just two catagories) in order to get into the All-Star game. Do people even pay attention to who they vote for, or is this a ploy by National League fans to take a real hitter out of the American League's line up?

The White Sox did a major marketing campaign to get their fans to vote for Podsednik, even going so far as to have a laptop in the dugout before Tuesday's game so the players could submit votes.

Hey, suck it up. That's what happens when you let fans select the players. Many players of other lesser profile teams have been cheated from the ASG before. You finally take notice this time because it's Derek "bleeping" Jeter.

Yeah, I know. It still won't have any effect on players decision to play or miss the game for whatever reason.

This home field advantage rule could also diminish the importance of regular season games and how teams decide to play near the end of the season especially since WS homefield has already been determined.

I find it funny how Derek Jeter is among the players featured on all the ASG commercials and he won't be in the game.

Sorry Jete, that's the way the ball bounces.
Do enjoy your vacation.

Actually, the teams are fighting to get into the playoffs as a division winner or wild card, and to set up the playoff seedings, but NOT the World Series home field. Before they decided to use the All-Star game to determine home field, the leagues simply took turns. NL one year, AL the next.

Having the World Series home field advantage decided by regular-season play is impossible due to logistics -- arranging travel, hotels, etc. for the teams and team officials and league officials and umpires and TV network personnel, and assigning tickets to the participating teams and the rest of the teams and to sponsors and so on. All of that takes time.

DJ isn't a one hit wonder from the Royals, Rockies, or Brewers. He's a future hall of famer who's been the best, most consistent, hardest playing member of a team which has won 4 world championships and 8 division titles since 1996. Deserving players have been snubbed before? No kidding, Ozzie Smith and Cal Ripken sucked up somebody else's spot during their last few forgetable all star seasons (to name just a couple of the countless ridiculous fan selections). Nevertheless, I suppose it is important to recognize the accomplishments of a glorified pinch runner from the team with the best record in baseball.

The All-Star game gets the red carpet treatment with the "MLB All-Star Red Carpet Special presented by Chevrolet" on Fox Sports Net before the game...

I don't suppose we could get Kenny Rogers involved here, could we?

Going back to my point of letting fans select the players.
I did my part to keep Jeter out by voting for what's his name, Podesnk, 25 times. You should've done the same if you really wanted your man in the game.

It's fun to read threads like these - whether it's about All-Star team selection (you should've seen the hue and cry when it looked like Grant Jr wasn't going to be in the Major Lacrosse League All-Star Game) or the latest Rolling Stone "Top 100 Albums of All Time".

First and foremost, it don't matter. Even less so than the most sports stuff. Players may have contract stipulations that give them a bit of extra scratch if they make the cut, but that's rarely a make-or-break deal. Some players love playing in the game, some hate it, most can take it or leave it (although, as they say, "it's an honor just to be nominated").

Next, it won't matter. Game-With-Jeter vs Game-Without-Jeter? I don't think the outcome will change.

And this crap happens ALL THE TIME. Accept it. They leave your favorite movie out of "The Best 100 Films Ever" list. Some guys who would rather solve a rebus than shake their butt pick OK Computer as the best album ever. The Cincinnati Reds fans stuff the ballot box.

And what happens? People get mad. People argue. Which might in fact be the best reason for having these things. It gets people riled up. It gets people talking about them, where previously they might not.

Enjoy the game.

LXN

If the NBA and NHL can do it, why can't MLB do it? I don't get what's so much more complicated about their logistics.

The number of people working the game -- between the teams and officials and media -- is MUCH larger for the World Series than the NHL or even the NBA. And with many more tickets being given out to teams/sponsors, that means many more hotel rooms are required, that have to be booked well in advance. Hotels aren't going to reserve that many rooms -- with the possibility of dropping them at the last minute if a team doesn't make it to the Series -- for a 10-day stretch because a team won't know if they'll be home or away.

Ok, let's say the AL wins the All-Star Game. And this fall the ALCS goes to 7 games, while the NLCS is over in 4. Nobody will know until the ALCS is done which city they're going to, so arrangements will still have to be made at the last minute. I don't see how it makes it any easier by knowing which league will have home-field advantage 2.5 months ahead of time, but not which city until just a couple days in advance.

Hotels are not going to block out a large group rooms for 10 days JUST IN CASE the World Series might come to town for part of that time. They risk being stuck with a virtually empty hotel for 10 days. So they're going to book conventions and reserve rooms for tourists and so on. If they know that a team might host the Series for the game 3-4-5 stretch in the middle of the week they can handle that better.

Besides that, what about airline reservations for all those media people, etc. traveling to the game?

If they know by the beginning of the ALCS that the World Series will be in (for example) Boston or New York for games 1 and 2, 6 and 7, or games 3-4-5, some planning can be done.

Perhaps our MLB Umpire can chime in here, or one of our travel agents, to give their perspective on this?

The Home Run Derby lineup -- with its World Cup setup -- is official:

Andruw Jones, Atlanta (representing Curacao)
David Ortiz, Boston (Dominican Republic)
Bobby Abreu, Philadelphia (Venezuela)
Jason Bay, Pittsburgh (Canada)
Hee-Seop Choi, Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (Korea)
Carlos Lee, Milwaukee (Panama)
Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit (Puerto Rico)
Mark Teixeira, Texas (USA)

Last year was a perfect example of hotels not being available in Boston for the World Series since they were effectively given a few days notice. I was staying at the Quincy Marriott last year during the series. The St.Louis Cardinals could not get a single suitable hotel in Boston. They ended up staying at my hotel in Quincy and were complaining about it the whole time.

This is extremely exciting for me as I live
1 and 1/2 miles from Comerica Park! I think it will be a great game!

Too bad they don't follow the Miss Universe Pageant lead and have the players decked out in "colorful native costumes."

By the way, thanks for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles.

~Adam

I think it belongs to Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez!

You have my sympathies then. If I was to analogize the city of Detroit to a part of the human body, the armpit is the most accurate comparison.

I'm curious about this, too, Joe. I don't know if MLB Umpire peruses these parts of the forum. Perhaps you should send him some smoke signals.

Awwwww, D-Town ain't THAT bad, actually I think it's on a bit of an uptick in recent years. Visitors simply shouldn't go in there expecting a glitzy glamourous place.

Comerica's a great park too, doesn't have the intimacy of Tiger Stadium - heck, what park does or did. But it goes to great lengths to celebrate the history of the home club in ways not seen in other parks.

"You have my sympathies then. If I was to analogize the city of Detroit to a part of the human body, the armpit is the most accurate comparison."

"Analogize?" Wow!

Thanks Blueraider.I was not saying anything about Detroit but merely that it's pretty exciting to be that close to the stadium during this big event.I personally am not that crazy about this city either but I was born here,I work here and I only have a 1 mile commute to work.

No problem.....always like going there. And I forgot to mention what a great sports town it is.
Heck, the Lions draw well and they've won 1 playoff game in the last 50 years!!!