By Sarah Spain & Paul M. Banks
 

I’ll keep this short and sweet–like Ryan Theriot.

Cole Hamels is the biggest All-Star snub. 

Hamels is 9-6 on the year with a sick 3.18 era. He leads the NL in innings pitched (135.2) and is second in strikeouts (118).

He’s pitched two complete games and he’s also damn sexy. I know this much: if there were an All-Star team of hotness, he and Mark DeRosa would play every position.

As for the home field advantage now being awarded to the winning team’s league…I hate it. I understand that MLB wants to give the All-Star game more meaning and that they hope the new reward will prevent another debacle like 2002’s tie game, but it’s embarrassing to sacrifice the sanctity of the game to make a few extra bucks. More people may pay attention to the All-Star game this year because of the new rule, but a season full of hundreds of games should mean more than one exhibition game that doesn’t even include some of the best players in baseball. The team with the best record in baseball–Tampa Bay–has no starters in the All-Star game but could very well be the team that ends up winning or losing home advantage because of it. Ridiculous. Imagine if the new rule had been put in place for the NBA All-Star game. The Celtics may not have had home advantage despite having the best record in basketball. If MLB doesn’t make enough money with the All-Star game as is, then they need to find a way to bring fans back that doesn’t involve mixing exhibition frivolities with the significance of the real season.

–Sarah Spain

Journeyman’s Paradise

What I find most interesting about the All-Star squad every tear are the names that you’ll easily forget in a few years: the pedestrian journeymen who end up in the Mid-summer classic once or twice, but are out of baseball altogether within five years or less. This is the pinnacle of their career, guys like Jim “just give me one vote for the Hall of Fame, that’s all I ask” Deshaies. Two notable White Sox pitchers fit this mold. Both actually started the Midsummer classic for the American League. One is former Ace of the 2000 Central Division Championship team James Baldwin. The other is current re-tread Esteban Loaiza, who tied Fernando Valenzuela for the “Mexican Pitching Record” in victories with 21 in 2003. Loaiza finished second in the American League in wins in ’03, was an All-Star in ’04 and now, just four years later, is one muscle strain away from being exiled to the Joliet Jackhammers or Schaumburg Flyers. Getting back to James Baldwin, no, not the protest novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, not that James Baldwin, but the enigmatic former Sox pitcher who never put together a great season, but accomplished a lot of great halves. He was also unbeatable in domes for some reason. Baldwin bounced around six different teams after being released from the White Sox in 2001, just one year after his All-Star recognition. He was forcibly retired from baseball in 2006 with career numbers of 79-74, 5.01 ERA. Although there are plenty of position players who also fit this model of “one good half-season and then it’s back to mediocrity,” it’s certainly much more true of pitchers. It’s very difficult for a pitcher to remain healthy, and healthy enough to be effective, for a whole career. Life is easier for sluggers. So who will this year’s version of Baldwin and Loaiza be? I’d advise fans of San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum and Kansas City’s Joakim Soria to relish next week and save those memories up for the lifetime of anonymity that lies beyond July 2008.

Putting the System on Trial!

I think the whole voting for the last All-Star at mlb.com procedure is fixed. Fixed like a Chicago election involving a member of the Daley family. And I’m not crazy about the fan voting for the starters idea to begin with either. I actually didn’t vote this year and don’t vote for the All-Star game in most years, so I shouldn’t complain too much about all those seasons when Sammy Sosa got in even though he hit below .250 and accrued 100+ strikeouts by the All-Star break. However, the White Sox pitching staff got HOSED! We’ve discussed the complete B.S. of Gavin Floyd and John Danks being left off, but two middle relievers, Scott Linebrink (2-2, 2.37 ERA, 0.92 WHIP) and Matt Thornton (4-1, 2.21 ERA, 0.85 WHIP) really stand out as All-Star snubs. Of course, there are a few other relief pitchers on a couple other Major League squads that could make the same case. Unfortunately, that’s the injustice of the system. The All-Star selection process is not a meritocracy for everyone even though it’s supposed to be about who is doing his job the best during the first half of the season. It’s unfair to closers. It’s very unfair to set-up men and middle relievers.
 

–Paul M. Banks

Possibly Related Posts:

• Blue Jays Don’t Migrate to Milwaukee
• The MLB All-Star Game: Encouraging voter fraud one fan at a time
• 50% of 162 is…uhh…Where’s my Calculator?
• The Father, The Son, Aramis Ramirez, Amen.
• What Milwaukee’s Brewing: Sudsy Bubbles to All-Star Break

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