All Star Selections...

Reyes, Wright and Beltran are all heading to the All Star game as starters, as expected and Billy Wagner will be in the pen. I thought it was a little bit of a snub sending Cole Hamels to the All Star game and not John Maine after the way they've both pitched. The more I think about it though, the more I think that Maine didn't deserve to go. He had those three bad starts in a row (right while everyone was voting) and Hamels has scattered his.

The biggest snub I see in the National League is Eric Byrnes. Byrnes is one of the hardest players in the game and he's been great for Arizona this year. He's hitting in the top 5 in average & RBI for outfielders. He's in the top ten for outfielders in steals, runs and homers. He's hit first and fourth for the DBacks. He plays great defense. I mean, I don't know how much better he'd have to do to be considered for the All Star team. Byrnes numbers compare very favorably to who most consider the big snub, Jimmy Rollins. Byrnes is hitting several points higher with 1 more home runs and a couple RBIs. Defensively I'd put them on a par at their positions.

For the most part, I think the voting was dead on. Barry kind of has to go and its nice that he was voted to start. I've cooled slightly towards Barry because I've come to the realization that whenever he breaks Aaron's record, ARod will eventually break Bonds' record and Pujols will break ARod's record and so on. Home runs are more a part of the game now that ever. It's the only way some of these guys get on SportsCenter and for a lot of major leaguers, that's how they judge their careers!

There's been some question as to whether Manny was deserving of getting in as a reserve. I agree that its a same Orlando Cabrera didn't get into the game. This year, Manny probably didn't deserve to go, but the All Star game - whether its the fans or the players voting - is a popularity contest. If anyone had actually seen Cabrera play this year, the voting might have been different. Have you watched an Angels game yet this season? Me neither. Players watch SportsCenter too and if we don't see you, they don't see you. Cabrera deserved to go and its a shame. Think of all the players that deserved to go when Torre selected nothing but Yankees for the bench in 2000.