Joakim Soria Named To All-Star Team

Every single one of their in-studio analysts were wretched. Ripkin, Wells and Eckersley all mad generic “he’s a stud” or “he gets a lot of RBI” comments that made my head spin.

Couple that with the awful selections (Yadier Molina? REALLY?), the fact that we can’t even vote for DeJesus to inevitably finish last in the final ballot poll and the show’s host once again fucking up Joakim’s first name (JOE-KEEM), it was a complete and utter waste of time.

Should’ve slept in.

Just like the whole event.

Charlie Manuel actually picked Omar Infante as a managers choice as his 4th Brave. WTF is wrong with the world?

Seriously TBS? That you can’t even get the guy’s name right is wrong for so many reasons, not the least of which is it isn’t that uncommon or “exotic” of a name!!!

Sure am glad that loser's not on our team anymore.

AL starters
C: J. Mauer, MIN
1B: J. Morneau, MIN
2B: R. Cano, NYY
SS: D. Jeter, NYY
3B: E. Longoria, TB
OF: J. Hamilton, TEX
OF: I. Suzuki, SEA
OF: C. Crawford, TB
DH: V. Guerrero, TEX

NL starters
C: Y. Molina, STL
1B: A. Pujols, STL
2B: C. Utley, PHI
SS: H. Ramirez, FLA
3B: D. Wright, NYM
OF: R. Braun, MIL
OF: A. Ethier, LA
OF: J. Heyward, ATL

AL Player Ballot pitchers include starting pitchers David Price of the Rays, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester of the Red Sox, Phil Hughes of the Yankees and Cliff Lee of the Mariners, along with relievers Neftali Feliz of the Rangers, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees and Jose Valverde of the Tigers.

AL Player Ballot position players include Cabrera, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, catcher Victor Martinez and DH David Ortiz of the Red Sox, shortstop Elvis Andrus of the Rangers, and outfielders Vernon Wells and Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays and Torii Hunter of the Angels.

Pedroia and Martinez receive full honors as elected All-Stars, but because they are both injured and unavailable, they are replaced on the roster by second baseman Ian Kinsler of the Rangers and catcher John Buck of the Blue Jays, respectively. Both of them finished second on the Player Ballot at their respective positions.

NL Player Ballot position players include catcher Brian McCann of the Braves, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres, shortstops Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies, third baseman Scott Rolen of the Reds, Prado, and outfielders Corey Hart of the Brewers, Matt Holliday of the Cardinals and Marlon Byrd of the Cubs. Because Tulowitzki is on the DL and unavailable, he is replaced by Reyes, who was the next choice on the Player Ballot behind him.

NL Player Ballot pitchers include starting pitchers Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies, Roy Halladay of the Phillies, Josh Johnson of the Marlins, Tim Lincecum of the Giants and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals, along with relievers Matt Capps of the Nationals, Brian Wilson of the Giants and Jonathan Broxton of the Dodgers.

From there, Manuel, in conjunction with MLB, filled out his roster with the following: first baseman Ryan Howard of the Phillies, second baseman Brandon Phillips of the Reds (replacing Utley), infielder/outfielder Omar Infante of the Braves, outfielders Michael Bourn of the Astros and Chris Young of the Padres, and pitchers Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals, Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers, Tim Hudson of the Braves, Evan Meek of the Pirates and Arthur Rhodes of the Reds.

Matt Thornton is the White Sox equivalent of Kyle Farnsworth making the all-star team

Not that DDJ isn’t deserving or anything, but you have to have a huge year in KC to go as an offensive players these days with the “this one counts” dumbshit rule. That rule has prompted the managers to take a lot more relief pitching.

thanks Charlie.. Dayton just found his replacement for Willie Bloomquist, 2 years/$5.2M

A picture of Soria? ‘Cause if they didn’t, they probably thought they were talking about this guy.

They also put up pictures of ballots completely filled in with Royals selections, and I know it’s the team’s job to promote its own players, but you can’t seriously suggest voting for Ankiel.

i think Podsednik with his glove, avg. and 24 stolen bases was overlooked as well as Dejesus!

well, Podsednik does usually wear a glove while fielding, so he is correct

DeJesus truly was more deserving …

Has anyone really been paying attention to the kind of season Soria’s been having? Or is it an attempt to generate some late-inning drama?

sadly, the AP Image Archive doesn’t include any pics of Ken Harvey getting hit by outfield throws (which happened six years ago yesterday)

Outfielders:
1. Josh Hamilton, 161
2. Jose Bautista, 140
3. Shin-Soo Choo, 140
4. Nick Swisher, 137
5. Vernon Wells, 135
6. Carl Crawford, 134
7. David DeJesus, 134
8. Magglio Ordonez, 133
9. Torii Hunter, 132
10. Alexis Rios, 131
14. Ichiro, 123
15. Delmon Young, 118

Bautista, counted as an infielder, has more games in right field than 3rd base. And nobody likes Shin-Soo Choo.

First Basemen

1. Justin Morneau, 181
2. Miguel Cabrera, 176
3. Kevin Youkilis, 159
4. Paul Konerko, 150
5. Billy Butler, 135
6. Deric Barton, 121
7. Mark Teixeira, 110

So Billy Butler has the fortune of being a good first baseman, at the time that he is the 4th best first baseman in his division.

seriously?