Since 2002, the MLB All-Star Game has determined home field advantage for the Fall Classic, making logical player selections ever more crucial. Since 1988, the team that played Game 1 at home would go on to win fifteen out of twenty times. Incorporating the fans vote is a tried and true business method on the part of the MLB, giving people a say in the lineups, but with repercussions extending from July into October, it is not necessarily the most accurate way to determine All-Stars. Expectedly, fans most often get caught up in past triumphant years and team loyalties.
For the most part, granted, the fans made good choices of starters, but a few selections stand out as simply absurd. How many GMs and other executives would have chosen Josh Hamilton to start (or even join the team)? Yes, he had a tremendous 2008 campaign and entertained at the Home Run Derby, but this a man who has missed roughly half the season to date, and even in games he did participate in, failed to contribute at the elite level expected of All-Stars. Hamilton has hit at a ghastly level of .248/.299/.436 through 41 games, yet is starting Ahead of the legitimate All-Stars in Carl Crawford (.310/.368/.400, 44 SB), Torii Hunter (.305/.380/.558, 65 RBI), and Ben Zobrist (.293/.413/.599).
On the National League side, the list of faux All-Stars extends, with Yadier Molina starting things off. We can all agree he is one of the best defensive catchers, if not the best defensive catcher, in the game today. An inspection of his offensive statistics shows that he has batted decently at .280/.350/.384, but not near an All-Star level. But given that this year’s exhibition is being played at his home park, we will let it pass.
The selection of David Wright is not accurate in the least, in my view, despite having the eighth best batting average in the NL. He is hitting twenty points better than last year, but is on pace to hit nine homers and drive in 81 runs, a far cry from his 33 HR, 124 RBI campaign in 2008.
In spite of all this, Wright made the team ahead of the 22-year old infielder/batting phenom Pablo Sandoval, who despite limited name recognition, has put together an exceptional offensive year, far better than the former. With the San Francisco Giants having reached the exact middle of the season, Sandoval is hitting .334/.387/.583, despite his free-swinging ways, and is on pace to break the century mark in RBIs and register 29 home runs. In other words, he is not just hitting more than Wright, he is hitting harder than Wright.
Much of the illogicalities and questionable integrity of voting, however, are not represented on the lineup cards Charlie Manuel, with Joe Torre and Tony LaRussa, and Joe Maddon, with Trey Hillman and Don Wakamatsu, will write up (talk about the old vs. new guard, eh?). Manny Ramirez was a legitimate contender for much of the season, despite being barred from playing due to concealing steroid use. Boston shortstop Jed Lowrie finished in fifth place for his position despite playing only five games at the start of April. The Yanks utilized their new stadium and a lucky schedule (a home stand close to the All-Star break) to push Mark Teixeira ahead of Kevin Youkilis by 240,000 votes with the help of public laptops available to Yankee Stadium visitors. It’s just a shame that we did not witness antics reminiscent to the Giambino’s mustache.
All in all, fans cannot be trusted to make a decision that accurately reflects the talents in the American and National leagues, let alone the team that will have a great chance of being crowned world champions.
