Byrd, Thornton Selected As All-Stars
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jul 4, 2010 6:20PM
The All-Star teams have been announced and thanks to the idiotic rule that every team has to have a representative, the Cubs will send Marlon Byrd (.310/9 HR/35 RBI) to next week's game in Anaheim. Meanwhile, for the Sox, Matt Thornton was the inexplicable pick (2-3, 4 Saves, 2.92 ERA in 33.2 IP) leaving Paul Konerko (.297/20 HR/57 RBI) at home, hoping he can make it through thanks to MLB's "Final Vote" where fans get to vote on the last player added to each roster. The picks are mind-boggling. No disrespect to Thornton, but how his average relief stats were deemed worthy of the selection instead of Konerko's offensive resurgence is beyond our comprehension. And as for Byrd, maybe it's easy to take his decent offensive output because the Cubs have otherwise been so awful (we've already gone on record as saying no Cubs should go to the All-Star Game as punishment for such a high pay roll and such an awful performance). You can check out MLB's coverage here, including starters, but you'll have to root around a bit to find lists of reserves.