Seeing All Stars
I love the All-Star game. It's not so much that it's fun to watch (it usually isn't), it's that it's one of those pat-on-the-back orgies that are so rare in sports these days (about as rare as my sarcasm).
I'll go into more detail next Wednesday (the game's played on the 12th), but for now I'll leave you with my annual All-Star Awards based on the lineups announced Sunday.
The Jason Giambi Award (Least Deserving Fan-Voted Starter)
...goes to Scott Rolen, who was hitting a whopping .246 with 5 round-trippers on June 30th (the deadline for fan voting). Has spent most of the year on the DL. And the funny part is, this wasn't the fault of the fans of St. Louis-- those guys (and gals) actually know their baseball.
The Scott Cooper Award (Biggest Argument Against the 'Every Team Gets a Player' Rule)
...goes to Tampa Bay reliever Danys Baez. Who?, you ask. Exactly. Runner-up goes to Brian Fuentes, who would have won the award if not for the fact that it would have given him too much recognition. 50 points if you can guess which team Fuentes plays for.
The Lost the Win-Win Award (Deserving Starter Who Just Missed Out)
...is Albert Pujols, who would have run away with the starting nod if not for Derrek Lee, who was just slightly more deserving. Nobody could argue against either one of these guys. This race, by the way, is what the NL MVP voting will look like in 4 months.
The Won the Lose-Lose Award (Undeserving Starter Who Sucked the Least)
...again goes to Mike Piazza (he's won like 6 of these), who has managed to stink the least out of an intensely weak crowd of NL catchers. Can you really argue that Paul LoDuca (the NL reserve catcher) should be the starter? Not very well. It's like deciding which Golden Girl you'd rather sleep with-- how do you win?
The Susan Lucci Award (Most Notable Snub)
...Morgan Ensberg of the Astros, who has hit 22 HRs for a small-market club. Stat-head trivia: How many HRs did Ensberg have by the All-Star break in 2004? (Yes, he was still the starter in Houston)
Anybody?
Anybody?
Bueller?
Zero. Exactly none. So this is a pretty remarkable turnaround for this kid. He should've breezed in. No reason why he's not on the vote-in ballot instead of guys like Billy Wagner and Trevor Hoffman. The NL is loaded with top gun starting pitchers-- an extra reliever makes absolutely no difference to them. Him and Jose Guillen need to fight to the death on pay-per-view for the 32nd spot. I'd watch.
Or, maybe a better idea would be to have Ensberg and Guillen bludgeon Carlos Beltran (.262, 9HR, starting CF) to death for the spot. Are you listening, Selig?
The Cal Ripken Award (Lifetime Achievement Award, Despite Less-Than-Stellar Stats This Year)
...Luis Gonzalez, who despite taking away spots from the guys mentioned above, still should be an All-Star. This is the guy who, if he does something important in the game, will get the loudest applause from the fans. Like when your grandpa makes it all the way to the bathroom. It's sweet, and a little heartwarming. Like in a 'Aw look, he thinks he can still play, isn't that cute?' kind of way.
The Barry Bonds Award (Most Unwanted or Negative Publicity)
...Mr. Media himself, Kenny Rogers. Come on, Kenny, can you kick my ass? I've got a Canon Sure-Shot aimed right at your mug.
posted by BJC @ 11:58 AM
Your thoughts (3 so far)
3 Comments:
Put Andruw Jones in the MVP discussion if (IF!) he continues to use the open batting stance and doesn't fall in love with the home runs. Voters (not fans) will take into consideration that he is the single best defensive outfielder in baseball and takes away 2-3 runs per series from opposing teams. In their minds, those runs withheld are as good as RBIs. I've been watching AJ since he came up in 96 and this is the first year he's taken consistently good swings at breaking balls.
Good call. I read about that change in spring training and figured it was one of those "best shape of his life" stories that always tank.
I think if he raises his avg a little AND the Braves take a shot at the wild card, he'll be in it for sure. But I think without the attention that comes with a playoff race, he might get buried and grouped along with the Carlos Lee's of the world (not that that's a fair comparison but you see what I'm saying).
AJ was on my ballot for the NL starters. Waaaaaay ahead of Beltran and Edmonds. (Abreu and Cabrera were the others).
Looks like we have our 50-point winner.
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