Seattle – Who says White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen doesn’t have compassion?
In a season in which the American League has treated the National League like a speed bag in interleague play, Guillen selected Kansas City’s Mark Redman to the AL all-star team.
Nothing illustrates the AL’s confidence, if not its dominance – the Red Sox and White Sox swept the past two World Series – more than Guillen, with a straight face, taking a pitcher with a 5.59 ERA.
Redman’s statistics make him arguably the worst all-star ever along with Pirates reliever Mike Williams, who disappeared from the planet after his forgettable 2003 selection. The AL is so deep, so talented, its best team – the surprising Detroit Tigers – has only two representatives: pitcher Kenny Rogers and catcher Ivan Rodriguez. No Justin Verlander. No Chris Shelton.
“It’s disappointing to see. Verlander is (third) in the league in ERA and has 10 wins,” said Detroit pitcher Jeremy Bonderman, his team the victim of the outdated rule requiring every club be represented at the All-Star Game, which this year is July 11 in Pittsburgh. “What else do you have to do? I really thought more of our guys would get in.”
It speaks to the oddity of the process that the Tigers and Pirates have the same number of all-stars. With the Pirates hosting the game, fans and front- office types stuffed the ballot box, electing outfielder Jason Bay. Third baseman Freddy Sanchez landed a reserve role, leaving deserving players from better teams, such as Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips and Arizona catcher Johnny Estrada, on the cutting room floor.
“Sometimes it’s a popularity contest and it depends on the market you play in,” said Estrada, who had hoped to catch for teammate Brandon Webb in the game. “Of course, we are a small market. But if you look at the numbers, I deserve to go.”
Every year, despite the mechanics of the voting changing to include fans, players, coaches and managers, there are memorable snubs.
The Braves have three representatives – catcher Brian McCann, shortstop Edgar Renteria and outfielder Andruw Jones – despite winning only six games in June. And yet the Cubs’ Michael Barrett, the Mets’ Carlos Delgado and the Cardinals’ David Eckstein will need press passes to get in. Perhaps Fox can get Delgado a credential since he’s on the TV ads for the game.
For some, there is a safety net for instant revisionist history: 10 players, five in each league, are eligible for the Final Man balloting conducted at MLB.com. AL candidates are Verlander, Minnesota’s Francisco Liriano, Cleveland’s Travis Hafner, the White Sox’s A.J. Pierzynski and Baltimore’s Ramon Hernandez. NL candidates are the Dodgers’ Nomar Garciaparra, the Padres’ Chris Young, the Brewers’ Chris Capuano, the Phillies’ Bobby Abreu and the Mets’ Billy Wagner.
Guillen found himself in an unenviable position – wanting to reward his White Sox players, while limiting the anger toward him. That’s why he added closer Bobby Jenks and Mark Buehrle and not Boston’s Curt Schilling. Heck, his guys have shown they can win, regardless of what the rest of baseball thinks of them.
The All-Star Game figures to have a White Sox flavor from Guillen’s entertaining mouth to his substitutions. He’s on record wanting Jose Contreras to start, leaving the Cuban matched up possibly against Webb.
The winning league, remember, receives home-field advantage in the World Series. The NL hasn’t claimed an all-star victory since 1996. So even with Redman on the AL roster, it’s fair to wonder: Will it even matter?
National League
Starters in the field, with number of All-Star Game appearances:
1B Albert Pujols, STL 5
2B Chase Utley, PHI 1
3B David Wright, NYM 1
SS Jose Reyes, NYM 1
C Paul Lo Duca, NYM 4
OF Jason Bay, PIT 2
OF Carlos Beltran, NYM 3
OF Alfonso Soriano, WSH 5
American League
Starters in the field, with number of All-Star Game appearances:
1B David Ortiz, BOS 3
2B Mark Loretta, BOS 2
3B Alex Rodriguez, NYY 10
SS Derek Jeter, NYY 7
C Ivan Rodriguez, DET 13
OF Vladimir Guerrero, LLA 7
OF Manny Ramirez, BOS 10
OF Ichiro Suzuki, SEA 6
