Halfway Home

Well we have come to the halfway point of the 2008 MLB season. This year there have been many surprises good and bad. Starting with the NL West. This is a division that was thought by many to be the best in the League. The Colorado Rockies had high expectations after winning the NL Pennant last year. And the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks also had huge plans for a deep post-season run. The West at the halfway point is about as non-threatening as the French Army.
The Tampa Bay Rays is the feel good story of the year. After years of being the laughing stock of baseball the Rays is leading the way in the cutthroat Al East and have people in Florida caring about baseball again,
This brings us to the All Star game. This is a great game that showcases some of today’s brightest stars.
For the fourth time and first since 1977, The Mid-summer Classic is being held on the hollowed grounds of Yankee Stadium. This is sort of a far well to one of the most treasured stadiums in all of baseball. There have been some of the all time greats who have called it home, including Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle.
Given the fact that the winner of the game is granted home field advantage in the World Series, this might be the only All Star game in professional sports that still means something. The American League has dominated the last eleven All Star games going 11-0-1.
For the most part this is a very enjoyable sporting event to watch, but there are a few things that need to be changed to keep the tradition from becoming a glorified home run derby.
Starting with the idea that EVERY team must be represented. This is ridiculous. Not every team has a deserving player each and every season. I don’t think that the bottom feeders are going to have many All Star caliber players if any on their roster. And I know that this is all about pleasing the fans, but deep down the fans of clubs like the Nationals and the Royals will say that the only reason they even have an All Star is because of the silly rule. When the All Star rosters are announced, the next thing people always talk about is who got snubbed? Who didn’t get in but should have? If you don’t have to have a representative from every team, fewer players will get snubbed.
As for voting, the fans get a huge say in who starts. For the most part we the fans get it right, but if you know anything about baseball and who the best players are you know that every roster for the All Star game has at least one player from each side that got in just because he happens to play for the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs. Fan voting is something that baseball has to get rid of. David Ortiz, and Derek Jeter were voted in to be starters for the American League. Ortiz plays for the Red Sox and Jeter is a Yankee. Yes they are traditionally great players and most of the time they should be All Stars, but not this season.
Ortiz has been on the disabled list for the majority of the season. And when he has been in the line-up he’s only hitting .252 with 43 RBI’s and 13 round trippers, hardly All Star numbers. Jeter, is hitting a very average .284 and has just 4 home runs and 39 RBI’s. Give Michael Young of the Texas Rangers the start at short and have Jhonny Peralta, of the Cleveland Indians be the reserve.
As for the National League the Chicago Cubs Kosuke Fukudome should not be in the All Star game. Fukudome has just 7 home runs and 36 RBI’s and is hitting an ordinary .287. I say replace him with Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals, he is only hitting .271, but he has 20 home runs and 50 RBIs. And he was a washed up pitcher who has revived his career as an outfielder. It would add to an already great story.
It seems like these players are voted simply because of one of two things, first who they play for and second what have the done in past seasons? This happens every year the average fan just looks at how many players from the Cubs, Yankees, and Red Sox can I vote in? Just because one time in the past a player had a great year dose not mean that every season he should be honored for it. I don’t care if your Todd Helton, Ryan Howard, or David Ortiz, if you are having a bad season you should not get voted in based on reputation.
Here’s to a great All Star game and an incredible second half of the 2008 season.