July 7, 2008
Some All-Star Notes
Take a look at baseball's All-Star lineups and one would think the Cubs are the defending World Series champs. The lovable losers — who still look like the team to beat in the National League — are sending seven representatives to Yankee Stadium next week. Voted in as starters for the National League are outfielders Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome, as well as catcher and NL Rookie of the Year candidate Geovany Soto. Joining them in the Bronx will be pitchers Ryan Dempster, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano and third baseman Aramis Ramirez. Soriano, out with an injury, says he plans on playing in the midsummer classic. We should expect manager Lou Piniella to weigh in with more rational thinking as the NL Central race is far from over.
Meanwhile, the White Sox are sending two representatives to the game. Outfielder Carlos Quentin and third baseman Joe Crede made the AL team, while outfielder Jermaine Dye can still make the trip with final fan balloting. There's always a case for players deserving of inclusion. That said, Crede and his 17 errors this season does not deserve the trip. Who should have been selected? Probably one of the Sox pitchers, since they have the best team ERA in the league, or A.J. Pierzynski, who has to catch all those folks on a near-daily basis.
The Boston Red Sox (the one team in baseball with a fan base more annoying than the Cubs) are also sending seven players to the Bronx, four as starters.
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Pierzynski got robbed -- Jason Varitek is having a pathetic year at the plate and AJ is catching the best staff in the bigs. Evan Longoria should have gotten the nod over an undeserving Crede and, unfortunately for the also-overlooked Jermaine Dye, deserves to win the final roster spot.
The only Sox pitcher that really had a shot was Gavin Floyd, but with so many pitchers with similar numbers and not enough slots to go between them, it's all pretty much a crap shoot as to who gets in.
Take a look at baseball's All-Star lineups and one would think the Cubs are the defending World Series champs.
If one were an idiot who doesn't follow baseball, maybe. The All Star team isn't based on last year.
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And I just caught the swipe at Cubs fans at the end. You stay classy!
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It's an absolute travesty that Varitek was selected over... well, just about any of the other AL catchers. He's barely batting above the Mendoza line and on any other team, he wouldn't have gotten a second look. AJ's numbers are there, but remember: it's a popularity contest. Pierzynski apparently isn't "popular" enough with players around the league to hitch a ride to Yankee Stadium, which speaks volumes (and shouldn't be anything of a surprise.)
Gavin Floyd (or maybe Danks) probably deserved the trip, but as good as the Sox rotation has been overall, it's also been streaky enough to lack that unquantifiable "dominant" tag.
On the Cubs' side, the only one I fully disagree with is Fukudome. He's had a decent first half, but not quite All Star-caliber. One could also argue, I suppose, that Soriano's excess of time on the DL should disqualify him; but when not injured (and his weren't dick-around, Frank Thomas-esque injuries, either) he's been among the hottest hitters in baseball. Also, I suppose there's a case to be made for saying "Either Dempster or Zambrano, but not both" too, but each of their respective numbers pass muster without question.
Anyway, the whole All Star thing is a joke to begin with, so I wouldn't really be crying in my Corn Flakes were I a White Sox fan.
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Yeah, I missed that too. All I can say is: Typical.
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Alexei Ramirez
Alexei Ramirez
Alexei Ramirez
Alexei Ramirez
Alexei Ramirez
The best 120 lb SS/2B/CF/LF/clutch hitter in the majors. He doesn't need to got to the All Star game, we'll just keep him as our secret.
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As a Cubs fan, I still have to say this: Soriano's selection was just wrong. No way he should be there. Xavier Nady gets the shaft. Stupid.
And, yeah, the whole "Sox fans calling Cubs fans annoying" has long since gotten old. Because Sox fans aren't annoying at all. And neither are Yankees fans. Or battery-throwing Phillies fans. Or, for different reasons entirely, Braves fans.
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nice pointless baiting.
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Marcus: You're right that it's ridiculous that Nady didn't get the nod... What I don't get is how anybody looks at Pittsburgh and says, "Oh, yeah, I'll take Nate McLouth over Nady." Weird. And he's put up far better numbers than both Braun and Ludwick too. But I'd have Nady replace both of them before Soriano... Fonzie's got decent numbers, the benefit of the doubt with regard to hypothetical performance sans injury, and those tough to define "all star" intangibles.
ack: Alexei Ramirez has put up good numbers lately, but before early or mid-June, his numbers were unremarkable. A .230 or so BA prior to June 1 does not an All Star make.
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The Boston Red Sox (the one team in baseball with a fan base more annoying than the Cubs)
everyone hates a winner.
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So how does that explain legions of Cubs bandwagoners?
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I love it: The Cubs suck, and their fans are idiots for pulling for them... True fans (like Sox fans, supposedly) wouldn't show up at the park. Then the Cubs are good, and they're all just "legions of bandwagoners" (because there certainly weren't any of those back in '05, nuh-uh).
The whole Sox-fan inferiority complex / bullshit rivalry just grows more pathetic by the day.
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Oh, and just to be clear, that's not a swipe at you, Navin... I just made the mistake of listening to the Score this morning and am spring-loaded to react to more "The Cubs are [listen to me blahblahblahblah ad infinitum about them] but somehow aren't the more important team in town" lack of perspective demonstrated daily by Sox fans the city over.
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The system is wrong not the selections. People vote for who they like, this shouldnt surprise anyone. You may disagree with it, but its not news.
As for the Cubs fan base swipe, I reply at least we have a base. I have been to nearly half the stadiums in the major leagues, and the crowds at all but 3 are pathetic. Nowhere sells out the way the Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs are the only teams who continually sell out there parks. So the needless attack at our fan base, and that of the red sox is just out of jealousy IMO. Sitting in a half empty ballpark must get old.
The southsiders have greatly improved since the title year. But still to this day they only really consistently sell out holidays, opening days, Cubs games, Yankees and Red Sox games, and the occasional late season important divisional game.
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Slappy -
Say what you want about my boy, but he is the most joy you can watch on a baseball field.
I'm a sucker for the Cuban refugee that can adjust to a completely different style of ball in less than a season. If that's not All Star, I don't know what is.
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I just made the mistake of listening to the Score this morning
Well that was your first mistake, that's like being gently woken up by a jackhammer. Aside from actual games sports radio's pretty intolerable in general. And you disagree about the legions of bandwagoners? I know a lot of Cubs fans who are more annoyed with them than Sox fans are.
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ack: I hear what you're saying, and I think one could apply the same kind of consideration to a player like Fukudome.
My only point is that to be a serious contender for an All Star spot, you gotta produce All Star numbers for more of the season than just June 1st through July 7th, and that's really the only period in which Ramirez has. There's no real way to know if he's really an "All Star" or whether he's just had a hot month. Know what I mean?
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Navin: No doubt about it... not a good way to start the day.
Anyway, I guess I'd say that shitty fans -- regardless of what team they're pulling for -- are what annoy me.
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@RevSlappy: True. Of course, the whole notion of the fans picking the starters creates this problem, as someone else pointed out. While it's nice to have fans involved, at the same time you're not going to see guys like Nady, Rowand, or Longoria picked. How are there not more Rays players?
That said, the notion of each team having to send at least 1 rep is archaic and should be done away with. If it's an All-Star game, put the best players at this point in the season out there.
The fact that Burrell and Holiday aren't starting OFs for the NL seems to pretty much support the fact that fan voting for the ASG has long since jumped the shark.
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I am sorry but White Sox fans are more annoying than Cubs fans because they have no fricken imagination.
I'd rather make fun of Cardinals or Brewers Fans because they can at least make an intelligible response or have a sense of humor. The stuff that comes out of the crowd at the Cell is just lame insults and the occasional 5th grade 'all northsiders are gay joke'.
The reason why there no Sox pitchers in the All-Star Game is A) no one votes for a pitching staff, B) Jose Contreras sucks C) everyone else is lifeless just like the Cell on a Thursday game.
The reason AJ is not voted in is simply because he is a pompous jerk.
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White Sox fans...not annoying in the LEAST bit.
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Anyway, I guess I'd say that shitty fans -- regardless of what team they're pulling for -- are what annoy me.
Here here.
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Fukodome is Overrated.
There is no way he would be an all-star in a universe where all-stars were selected based on merit. He is an incredibly average player.
He's not the second coming of Ichiro.
Mark DeRosa was more deserving of an all star slot than Fukodome.
That said, it's pretty much over for the Cubs, who are going to start a long fade after the all-star break.
The Brewers will be your NL Central playoff representatives. You heard it hear first.
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just you wait cubs fans the future of chicago is the South Side
I can't ever remember watching an all star game shame on selig for making it matter. i'm glad they're tearing down yankee stadium i just hope joe buck doesn't ejaculate himself with all the tradition speak so does that leave wrigley as the only stadium left with lots of horrible seats??
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They may be horrible, but at least they are full. And I think Fenway would qualify in the same category.
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A few things:
1. I agree about Fukudome -- especially the DeRosa bit.
2. The Brewers? Nah. I'll take the Cubs offense over the Brewers' any day. I assume you're basing that idea on the (overrated, over-hyped) Sabathia deal; I don't mean to burst your bubble, but by most basic statistical measures of pitching (ERA, Ks per 9, Ks:BBs, ERA+, etc.) Harden is a significantly better pitcher than Sabathia. Significantly.
3. The NL Wildcard is going to come from the Central, no doubt about it. So even if by some catastrophic turn of events the Cubs do wind up in second, they're still in the playoffs -- at which point they'll still have at least as good a shot as any other team.
Typical, though: So much hate... so little thought.