All Star Picks

I did this last year and enjoyed writing it so I thought I would give a shot at it again. I am a stat lover so looking at the players I always make sure to go for who is having the best statistical season at that position before I vote. If it was up to me players like Ozzie Smith would never have made it because even though he was the best defensive short stop in all of baseball his bat was never enough to usually make me vote for him. I also looked at what I thought would make the best overall team...so here are my picks for the all-star game rosters. All stats mentioned are through 6/19/11 and each position is based on how they are listed on the ballot.



American League Starting All-Star Roster




1B -- Adrian Gonzalez - Boston Red Sox

Gonzalez is leading MLB in average (.348) and RBI's (64) and has 15 home runs. I knew once he went to Boston he would only get better. Gonzalez also have a nice glove and would be a great person to start the game at 1B.
Other 1B who should make the team: Miguel Cabrera -Tigers, Paul Konkero - White Sox, & Mark Teixeira - Yankees.



2B -- Robinson Cano - New York Yankees
Cano was my pick last season and he has shown no signs of slowing down this season hitting .292, 14 Hr's, 46 RBI. He is tied with Neil Walker for most RBI's out of all 2B in the majors, also tied for most HR out of all 2B with Rickie Weeks., and is tied for 4th in runs out all 2B.
Other 2B: Ben Zobrist - Rays & Howie Kendrick - Angels



SS -- Asdrubal Cabrera - Cleveland Indians
This was a no brainer pick for me since Cabrera is on the surprising Indians who should be represented. He also happens lead all AL SS in HR, RBI, and Runs and has 11 Stolen bases as well all while batting a nice .296 and flashing an amazing glove in the field. Since Derek Jeter recently got hurt I seriously hope voters realize he should be starting.
Other SS: Jhonny Peralta - Tigers & Elvis Andrus - Rangers


3B -- Alex Rodriguez - New York Yankees
I know A-rod is old news but the facts are the guy can still play and hit. He is tearing it up this season hitting .289/ 13 hr/ 43 RBI and has the most runs out of any eligible 3B. He can still flash the leather and is a good player to have on any all star team.
Other 3B: Adrian Beltre - Rangers &Kevin Youkilis - Red Sox


C -- Alex Avila - Detroit Tigers
Most people would think that if a catcher was starting from the Tigers it would be Victor Martinez, who happens to be listed on the ballot but as a DH. Avila has been a surprise this season batting .305/ 9 HR/ 41 RBI, he happens to lead all Catchers in RBI's and average. I know he most likely will not be voted in but this guy should be in the game.
Other C: Miguel Olivio - Mariners & Carlos Santana - Indians


DH -- David Ortiz - Boston Red Sox
Ortiz is the best DH in the AL by far, he leads all DH in Runs, HR, and RBI's. His stats line up at .320/ 17 HR/ 46 RBI/ 46 R. He is having a career year at a later part of his career and is always a fan favorite, no doubter here!
Other DH: Michael Young - Rangers & Victor Martinez - Tigers


OF (3 Spots) -- Jose Bautista - Toronto Blue Jays
This guy came from nowhere and is now a fan favorite because he can hit homers with much ease. He is also having a monster season batting .336/ 21HR/ 46 RBI and would represent the AL nicely, I just hope they make him play in the home run contest!




Curtis Granderson - New York Yankees
This would make him the third Yankee starter on my roster, but sometimes the cards fall that way, plus Granderson is another no doubter to make this team. His stats could possibly be the best out of anyone in baseball at the moment. He is killing the ball hitting .283/ 21 HR/ 54 RBI/ 61 Runs/ 10 SB. Wow, this guy deserves to start! He is leading MLB in runs, tied for the lead in HR (with Bautista), 2nd in RBI's in all of baseball.




Jacoby Ellsbury - Boston Red Sox
Ellsbury is having a great season batting .312/ 8 HR/ 36 RBI/ 51 R/ 24 SB. He could be fastest player in the all star game and is fun to watch run on the base paths or out in the field. He is second out of all players in SB's and hits I think it would be fun to see him start the game.
Other OF - Carlos Quentin - White Sox, Matt Joyce - Rays, Brennan Boesch - Tigers, Melky Cabrera - Royals.



Starting Pitcher -- Justin Verlander - Detroit Tigers
Well for one thing in my scenario he would have his own catcher so no need for signs..but even without that Verlander is having another outstanding season for the Tigers. He is 9-3 with a 2.54 ERA and 110 K's to only 26 walks. His team is doing well and he leads the AL in wins (tied with others) and K's. Plus he can throw some gas which is always fun to see in the All star game.
Other SP - Josh Beckett - Red Sox, Jared Weaver - Angels, James Shields - Rays, CC Sabathia - Yankees, & Jon Lester - Red Sox


NATIONAL LEAGUE





1B -- Prince Fielder - Milwaukee Brewers

I am taking Prince because he is hitting .301/ 20 HR/ 62 RBI and Albert Pujols just went down with an injury so he most likely will not be starting. As per usual the first base NL is full of good candidates but Fielder is always fun to watch play for his mammoth home runs and unique personality.
Other 1B: Joey Votto - Reds, Albert Pujols - Cardinals, Gaby Sanchez - Marlins, & Ryan Howard - Phillies






2B -- Rickie Weeks - Milwaukee Brewers
Two brewers in a row! I really wasn't sure who to vote for before going in but Weeks won me over because he having a great year, hitting .288/ 14 HR/ 32 RBI/ 51 R/ 7 SB and he is always impressive in the field. He leads all NL 2B in HR, Runs, Hits, and Doubles (with 19!). He would be a good player to have on the squad.
Other 2B - Neil Walker - Pirates, Danny Espinosa - Nationals, & Brandon Phillips - Reds



SS -- Jose Reyes - New York Mets
Most people will look at Troy Tulowitzki, I know he has had an impressive season but so has Reyes and he gets my vote because he is having a great year for the Mets. He is hitting .341/ 3 HR/ 29 RBI/ 26 SB/ 54 R. He is a guy who can manufacture a run without going yard and is fun to watch play.
Other SS - Troy Tulowitzki - Rockies & Starlin Castro - Cubs



3B -- Placido Polanco - Philadelphia Phillies
By far the weakest position in the entire game, NL 3B has only a few guys who I would want on my squad. Polanco plays for the 1st place Phillies and is hitting .295/ 4 HR/ 38 RBI and leads all NL 3B with 81 hits. This category could have gone to Pablo Sandoval, Ryan Zimmerman or David Wright if they didn't get hurt and played more.
Other 3B - Chipper Jones - Braves



C -- Buster Posey -- San Francisco Giants
He will still get my vote no matter what, he was having a good season before he went down with a season ending injury, at the time he was batting .284 / 4 HR/ 21 RBI. But since he is not going to be starting the game I would vote for Brian McCann of the Braves, he is also having a great season (.297/ 11 HR/ 39 RBI, all tops for NL Catchers) and deserves to start as well. There are also a few others who warrant a spot behind the dish.
Other C - Miguel Montero - Diamondbacks & Yadier Molina - Cardinals



OF (3) - Matt Kemp - Los Angeles Dodgers
Kemp is having a great season hitting .328/ 20 HR/ 57 RBI/17 SB's. There is pretty much no stat category that Kemp is not doing well in, and he is becoming a force in the NL. Kemp is fast and can make some good catches in the field, he should be a no doubter!



Ryan Braun - Milwaukee Brewers
Make that 3 Brewers in the starting line-up now! Braun is just a rare talent that can hit with the best of them. He is doing his usual great season hitting .310/ 15 HR/ 51 RBI/ 16 SB. He should be an all star mainstay for many years to come, and with good reason.



Lance Berkman - St Louis Cardinals
This was a surprise comeback season for Berkman who is just hitting the shit outta the ball. I really tried not to have him as a starter but his stats just jump out at you and the guy is doing it all. Hitting .308/ 17 HR/ 51 RBI. He is a liability in the field, so I would feel more comfortable shifting him to DH but he still deserves a vote from me and a place in the game.
Other OF's - Jay Bruce - Reds, Hunter Pence - Astros, Justin Upton - Diamondbacks, & Drew Stubbs - Reds,



Starting Pitcher - Roy Halladay - Philadelphia Phillies
I want this guy starting for my NL squad every time because he is just that good. Halladay again is having a monster season going 9-3/ 114 K's/ 2.56 ERA. He could easily throw a no hitter in his time as starter.
Other SP's - Cole Hamles - Phillies, Jair Jurrjens - Braves, Tommy Hanson - Braves, Clayton Kershaw - Dodgers, & Ian Kennedy - Diamondbacks.

Well that is who I am voting for this time, players who I want to see starting in this season All-Star game in Arizona. I am sure you may agree with some or disagree with others but let's hope for a good game!

Flea Market Report

Last Sunday I went to the flea market with some old friends and coworkers. It was another perfect day at the flea and plenty of sellers were out. I ended up buying most of my stuff from one seller who happen to have some interesting stuff.

I saw that he had a ton of dvd's in a box but they were in a box sort of hidden in the back. Usually a box like that will contain a bunch of shit everyone else at the flea has (dvd's like Unbreakable, Beerfest, and Napoleon Dynamite (not to say these are bad flicks but you see them over and over again). The guy said 3 movies for $5 bucks so I grabbed up two movies really quick. The first one I got was Stand By Me and it was still in the shrink wrap, I know its usually only like $5 but I really enjoy the movie and haven't really seen it around at the flea all to much (at least not sealed). The second one I got was the Naked Gun trilogy. This set was just one regular dvd box but inside it had all three dvd's. Again this was a pretty cool find and it gave me 2 extras dvd's and the entire set of what is a pretty funny series, too bad they didn't have the entire tv show because I would have gotten that too. The last one I nabbed was Aladdin on dvd. I really like the movie and I got it for Katie, but when I opened it I noticed it only had the first disc which is the movie but I couldn't find the second disc with the special features. I decided since it was suppose to be two dvd's I will just throw in one of the many loose dvd's that were at the bottom of the box. I looked hard for the second Aladdin disc but since I couldn't find it I just grabbed the first disc of the Lion King which again only has the movie and not the bonus features. So all in all I got one disc in the packaging, as well as 5 other dvd's.




While I was waiting around for my friends to find stuff I looked at this same sellers table and he had a really cool old 49ers pennant. I picked it up and underneath was a Detroit Lions pennant as well, these just happen to be my two favorite football teams. The pennants were in okay shape, some wear and tear but they looked pretty old, at least from 1970 if not before. I looked one up and someone on ebay says its from the 60's and they are selling it for $35 (but its in much better shape). I knew I had to have these if the price was right. I asked the seller and he said $10 for the pennants, which wasn't entirely too bad. I asked for how much for everything, and he sold me the dvd's and pennants for $13, knocking off a couple more bucks. I would have paid the $15 anyway.




I kind of hit a dry spell for a while but still enjoyed walking around with my friends as they haggled over walk-men and records. I was altered that someone had a braile copy of playboy. I saw some nintendo games but they were in pretty bad shape, they had writing on them and looked like they has seen better days. I ended up getting my last purchase of the day, a Nintendo copy of Beetlejuice for $1. I really do not know much about the game, but I have never seen it at the flea market before and it could be rare plus for only a dollar I am okay if it sucks or doesn't work.



Well that was my haul for this report!

MLB Power Rankings

Power Rankings as of 6/15/11:

# TEAM NAME (Record) (Previous Rank)

1. Philadelphia Phillies (41-26) (-)

2. Boston Red Sox (39-27) (11)

3. San Francisco Giants (38-29) (4)

4. New York Yankees (37-28) (9)

5. Atlanta Braves (38-30) (7)

6. Milwaukee Brewers (38-30) (18)

7. St Louis Cardinals (38-30) (8)

8. Detroit Tigers (37-30) (10)

9. Arizona Diamondbacks (37-31) (26)

10. Tampa Bay Rays (36-31) (5)

11. Cincinnati Reds (36-33) (6)

12. Cleveland Indians (35-30) (2)

13. Texas Rangers (36-32) (14)

14. Toronto Blue Jays (33-34) (17)

15. Seattle Mariners (34-34) (29)

16. Florida Marlins (32-34) (3)

17. Pittsburgh Pirates (33-33) (22)

18. Chicago White Sox (33-35) (23)

19. New York Mets (33-34) (24)

20. Los Angeles Angels (33-36) (12)

21. Baltimore Orioles (30-34) (19)

22. Colorado Rockies (32-35) (13)

23. Washington Nationals (31-36) (21)

24. San Diego Padres (30-39) (19)

25. Los Angeles Dodgers (31-38) (20)

26. Kansas City Royals (30-37) (16)

27. Oakland A's (28-40) (14)

28. Minnesota Twins (26-39) (30)

29. Chicago Cubs (27-39) (25)

30. Houston Astros (25-43) (28)