your 2005 All-Star ballot(s)

C Varitek
1B Morneau
2B Roberts
SS Tejada
3B ARod
OF Damon
OF Manny
OF Sheff
DH Ortiz

NL

C Hernandez
1B Delgado
2B Kent
SS Greene
3B Wright
OF Edmonds
OF Abreu
OF Cabrera

Like Morbs, I don't like to vote for potential flashes in the pan (ahem, Clint Barmes), and mix it up between the best guys and the guys I like.

I have just realized that the AL is seriously short on All-Star calibre outfielders (compared to the NL).

Wright deserves some props. I don't really like any AL 1B'men, so I voted for Morneau, who is killing the ball and is Canadian.

1B in the NL is the toughest choice of the bunch, but I like Delgado, so there.

avg "run production" walks steals power defense 6'5" of team-carrying pwnage

1) Albert Pujols
2) Derrekk Llee
2a) Carlos Delgado's smile
3) Carlos Delgado

Derrek Lee 42.0
Albert Pujols 28.9

.278
.299
.303
.281
.370 (!!!!)

Albert Pujols EQA (2001-2005):

.324
.315
.356
.334
.319

As if being a runner-up All-Star is bad. Just because shitbombs like Ken Harvey and Scott Cooper were benchtastic All-Stars don't mean it's a shame when you get picked to back up the best non-injured player in baseball.

Given that Derrek is already half-way to matching his career-high in HRs (703 SLG!), I think he's flipping his script and gathering stats for a long and cold post-July swoon.

Whose VORP will be higher after 162, Derrek or Albert? I think I know.

well "maxed out" was the wrong phrase, but I think that an OBPS of 950-1000 for the next few years is a possibility!

Nomar leads the NL voting for shortstops. what a joke.

NL
Hernandez
Lee (I don't feel too bad for Pujols because he will be the first reserve taken)
Kent
Glaus (tough call over Wright)
Itzuris (his defense made him my pick over flash in the pan Clint Barmes and out of nowhere Felipe Lopez)
Abreu
Cabrera
Giles

I can't vote for a guy -- unless he's a clear landslide winner and I'm trying to push an underexposed guy to runnerup -- unless he's the plausible answer to "Is he the best at this position in his league?" Not this WEEK or for TWO MONTHS, but at this phase of his career.

YOU'RE the one!

Tino leading at Al 1b is a joke too, but I don't think even Yankee bots can keep that up.

Stay alert for the first "Bonds is 13th among OFs -- see how unpopular he's gotten?" column.

NL
C: R. Hernandez
1B: D. Lee
2B: J. Kent
SS: J. Rollins
3B: T. Glauss
OF: B. Abreu
OF: C. Lee
OF: M. Cabrera

P: P. Martinez
P: D. Willis
P: J. Peavy
RP: C. Cordero

AL
C: J. Varitek
1B: M. Texiera
2B: B. Roberts
SS: M. Tejada
3B: A. Rodriguez
OF: G. Sheffield
OF: M. Ramirez
OF: I. Suzuki
DH: D. Ortiz

P: J. Santana
P: R. Halladay
P: M. Buehrle
RP: S. Shields

David Wright 23.5
Morgan Ensberg 19.6
Chipper Jones 18.2

So play the game the Wright Way!

Willie batted Wright 6th and 5th on Sunday, maybe he's seen the light.

What is the difference between Jimmy Rollins and Cesar Izturis in VORP?

It is a shame about Barmes, as he had blasted out of his slump against the Cards and Reds in the past week. He will have to hear about carrying those grocerys for the rest of his career.

They're down at themo (daily update I presume).

I thank you for your support.

However, by my own standards of going by "Who is the best now, and is likely to be at the end of the year?", I must admit the proper choice is Rolen, month on the DL or not. Likewise I am going to restore Vlad to my ballot.

P: P. Martinez
P: D. Willis
P: C. Carpenter (over J. Peavy)
RP: C. Cordero

AL
C: J. Varitek
1B: M. Teixeira
2B: A. Soriano (over B. Roberts)
SS: M. Tejada
3B: A. Rodriguez
OF: G. Sheffield
OF: T. Hunter (over M. Ramirez)
OF: C. Crawford (over I. Suzuki)
DH: D. Ortiz

P: J. Santana
P: R. Halladay
P: M. Buehrle
RP: M. Rivera (over S. Shields)

Good to see that the fans came through with that last-minute voting push for Derrek Lee.

I don't think anything like this has happened before, but I wouldn't find it out of place if they removed him from the All-Star roster.

"He was voted in by the players. He appealed his suspension and the league will not hear it until after the All-Star Game," said Boston's Terry Francona, the AL manager. "I abided by the process."

If the appeal was going to be heard before the All Star Game, I'd guess he'd be barred from the game. He lucked out in the timing.

Also, I guess double digit wins and the third best ERA in the league isn't good enough either.

voted on by the players or not, if he is put in, that's pretty pathetic...though i'm not sure i agree w/ a 20 game suspension.

re: ensberg

i've actually heard a lot of bitching about larussa this year. maybe it's just soemthing brewing at the post, b/c i know boswell specifically was bitching about guillen and nick johnson getting left off the squad, but i've heard other folks talk shit about larussa, too.

Somehow I wouldn't be shocked if Andruw has a middling second half. He doesn't have an established All-Star starter level; Edmonds does.

The last-spot vote is ridiculously easy, Jeter and Oswalt. (Oswalt would clearly be a bigger snub than Ensberg)

(It was decided during the off-season, though I think Smoltz did most of the deciding. That's why the Bravos got Kolb. Genius!)

Smoltz's success in his 2nd run as a starter isn't so much surprising as it is unprecedented.

I guess the player vote is the reason Brad Lidge made the team. As an Astro fan, I didn't really consider him to be a prime candidate for the team this year. He has been pretty up-and-down so far and had stretches early on where his save opportunities were few and far between. I think the consensus among Astro fans is that Oswalt deserves it far more than Lidge, based on this season's numbers.

Your responses in bold text.

1) Who was the AL's most glaring omission?

28.7% Matt Clement, RHP, Boston (9-2, 3.82 ERA)
24.1% Jesse Crain, RHP, Minnesota (8-0, 1.41 ERA)
20.0% Travis Hafner, DH, Cleveland (.304, 14 HR, 51 RBI)
14.0% Dustin Hermanson, RHP, Chicago (19 saves, 1.44 ERA)
5.7% Kevin Mench, OF, Texas (.292, 15 HR, 42 RBI)
4.7% Brandon Inge, 3B, Detroit (.294, 7 HR, 35 RBI)
1.9% Grady Sizemore, OF, Cleveland (.296, 8 HR, 37 RBI)
0.8% Emil Brown, OF, Kansas City (.292, 8 HR, 37 RBI)

2) Who was the NL's most glaring omission?

29.2% Morgan Ensberg, 3B, Houston (.287, 22 HR, 59 RBI)
21.1% Jose Guillen, OF, Washington (.310, 17 HR, 46 RBI)
12.5% Cliff Floyd, OF, NY Mets (.288, 21 HR, 53 RBI)
12.2% Matt Morris, RHP, St. Louis (9-1, 3.31 ERA)
8.0% Carlos Delgado, 1B, Florida (.300, 15 HR, 57 RBI)
7.8% Pat Burrell, OF, Philadelphia (.289, 17 HR, 61 RBI)
5.6% Nick Johnson, 1B, Washington (.320, 8 HR, 42 RBI)
2.2% Chase Utley, 2B, Philadelphia (.305, 11 HR, 38 RBI)
1.4% Josh Beckett, RHP, Florida (8-5, 3.14 ERA)

3) Who is the least deserving AL All-Star?

24.1% Justin Duchscherer, RHP, Oakland (3-1, 1.48 ERA, 4 SV)
20.7% Ivan Rodriguez, C, Detroit (.293, 5 HR, 29 RBI)
16.6% Mike Sweeney, 1B, Kansas City (.296, 9 HR, 37 RBI)
16.5% Shea Hillenbrand, DH, Toronto (.305, 8 HR, 37 RBI)
14.6% Danys Baez, RHP, Tampa Bay (4-2, 2.83 ERA, 13 SV)
7.4% Ichiro Suzuki, OF, Seattle (.301, 6 HR, 27 RBI, 18 SB)

4) Who is the least deserving NL All-Star?

31.0% Scott Rolen, 3B, St. Louis (.260, 5 HR, 22 RBI)
20.2% Carlos Beltran, OF, NY Mets (.262, 9 HR, 40 RBI)
16.6% Mike Piazza, C, NY Mets (.261, 9 HR, 34 RBI)
14.9% Cesar Izturis, SS, Los Angeles (.275, 1 HR, 20 RBI)
10.7% Brian Fuentes, LHP, Colorado (1-3, 2.68 ERA, 10 SV)
6.5% David Eckstein, SS, St. Louis (.290, 2 HR, 23 RBI)

5) In light of his 20-game suspension, should Kenny Rogers be on the AL All-Star team?

68.2% No
31.8% Yes

6) Which future Hall of Famer will be missed the most in Detroit?

44.2% Barry Bonds
22.6% Ken Griffey Jr.
14.1% Randy Johnson
12.1% Greg Maddux
7.1% Rafael Palmeiro

7) Who should be the DH for the National League?

64.9% Albert Pujols, St. Louis (.342, 21 HR, 66 RBI)
16.4% Carlos Lee, Milwaukee (.271, 22 HR, 72 RBI)
12.2% Andruw Jones, Atlanta (.280, 26 HR, 59 RBI)
6.6% Miguel Cabrera, Florida (.340, 16 HR, 59 RBI)

8) Who should be the NL's starting pitcher?

56.6% Dontrelle Willis, Florida (13-3, 1.89 ERA)
32.4% Roger Clemens, Houston (7-3, 1.41 ERA)
6.2% Pedro Martinez, NY Mets (9-2, 2.74 ERA)
4.8% Chris Carpenter, St. Louis (12-4, 2.60 ERA)

9) Who should be the AL's starting pitcher?

56.1% Roy Halladay, Toronto (12-4, 2.33 ERA)
20.5% Jon Garland, Chicago (13-3, 3.29 ERA)
20.5% Mark Buehrle, Chicago (10-2, 2.58 ERA)
2.9% Bartolo Colon, Los Angeles (11-4, 3.06 ERA)

Total Votes: 82,348

AL: Carl Crawford
NL: Trevor Hoffman

No one said Konerko?!?

Crain is a glaring omission and Duchscherer least deserving?

Crain 38.1 IP, 17.3 VORP
Duchscherer 42.2 IP, 16.0 VORP

ppl who think Rolen is least deserving = Kruk-level droolers

Hafner wasn't even on the last-spot ballot? And Carlos Guillen gets crapped on once again. Thank God everyone forgets all this shit two days after the game.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3260413