Happy All-Star day to all. After a thrilling...not! (refer to "Borat" for proper use of the 'not' thing) Home Run Derby yesterday that was eventually won by Vladimir Guerrero at appoximately 3 AM EST, we turn to the actual game of games. It's the All-Star game, the game that every MLB player wants to be so darn much that the list of people who would rather not play isn't actually extremely long this year. Of course, Manny Ramirez heads the list of guys who aren't going to play. Other guys skipping out include Placido Polanco, who would've started because people didn't understand how much better Brian Roberts is, and Rockies' closer Brian Fuentes.

All-Star Lineups

American League

Ichiro Suzuki, CF
Derek Jeter, SS
David Ortiz, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Vladimir Guerrero, RF
Magglio Ordonez, LF
Ivan Rodriguez, C
Placido Polanco, 2B
Dan Haren, SP

National League

Jose Reyes, SS
Cheater, LF
Carlos Beltran, CF
Ken Griffey Jr., RF
David Wright, 3B
Prince Fielder, 1B
Russell Martin, C
Chase Utley, 2B
Jake Peavy, SP

Needless to say, we're going to remember this game for the rest of our lives or at least until the next Royals game. It should a complete and total epic experience, the likes of which shall never be matched. Hell, the outcome of the World Series is at stake, folks! This one counts!

Your pregame reading...

-I have not had a chance to read this latest article yet because I'm still catching up on the ones from earlier this month, but Carlos Gomez of The Hardball Times has done an excellent job with his draft articles. The link goes to his latest effort, which is on overrated and underrated picks, but you can navigate from that article back to the earlier ones. Good stuff.

- Baseball Prospectus is giving everyone who visits the site from today through the 15th free access to content that is usually accessible only if you have a premium account. Required reading is Will Carroll's latest article on injuries and The Week in Quotes is usually fun.

-Look, I have nothing against Mike Hargrove at all, but this article on mlb.com on him being "a winner" is hilarious given his recent managerial track record. Definitely a must if you want to see how to write an article in standard intangibly-sportswriter form.

- Fire Joe Morgan has updated since I last checked. If you don't read them on a regular basis, check them out. The blog is hilarious.

-Closer to home, marbotty weighs in on 2008, FTRF has stuff on everyone's favorite enigma, Lubanski, daveyork thinks he's located Justin Huber, and the All-Star break is apparently prediction time at Royals Review.

That's all for now. If I find something else interesting (or anyone else does) I'll post a link up here. Right now I'm trying to decide what the hell to do for Spreadsheet Baseball this week when there are no real games being played until Thursday, so that might not be up today. I'll keep you all posted. Will might randomly appear from the Caribbean at some point, as long as he hasn't been eaten by local wildlife or something.

Stupid me. I forgot: the game is on FOX at 8 PM EST, 7 PM CT, 6 PM MT, 5 PM PT, 4 PM Whatevercomesafterthattime.