My All-Star Ballot

AL:
C - Jason Varitek
1B - Mark Teixeira
2B - Brian Roberts
3B - Melvin Mora
SS - Miguel Tejada
OF - Manny Ramirez
OF - Johnny Damon
OF - Torii Hunter
DH - David Ortiz

NL
C - Ramon Hernandez
1B - Derrek Lee
2B - Marcus Giles
3B - Aramis Ramirez
SS - Felipe Lopez
OF - Carlos Lee
OF - Jason Bay
OF - Bobby Abreu



Nothing out of the ordinary, except that I refuse to vote for Alex Rodriguez out of principle. Just can't bring myself to vote for that sack of douche. And besides, does he have sextuplets? No. Melvin Mora does, so therefore he is clearly the better player. Oh and I give the nod to Torii Hunter over Vlad Guerrerro because a.) I refuse to acknowledge the existence of that team that changed its name in Anaheim and b.) Hunter is better defensively, steals more bases and is hitting for some decent pop this year.

Also, I should point out just how much I hate everything to do with the MLB All-Star game. Most fans just don't have a clue when they're voting. This isn't the "Get As Many Yankees In The Starting Lineup As Humanly Possible Game" or the "Well, Sure There's A Younger, Better, Lesser-Known Player With Better Numbers At The Position, But Let's Put In The Over-The-Hill Big Name Player Instead Game". Case in point: Tino fucking Martinez was leading AL first basemen in the voting earlier this week. I think finally fans came to their senses and overrode the asshole Yankee fans and Teixiera took over the lead, thankfully. In the NL, nobody is hitting at the shortstop position except Lopez, but somehow Cesar fucking Izturis is leading the voting. And Carlos Lee is buried down at 14th right now amongst NL outfielders, despite the fact that he's leading the league in RBI's and he's #2 in homers. The only category Carlos Beltran is leading him is amount of money wasted on his salary, yet he's set to be one of the three OF starters.

The other thing I hate is that "this game counts" as MLB proudly touts in their advertisements. It shouldn't. No game in which it is mandatory to have a member of the D-Rays, Royals or Rockies on the team should determine who gets home field advantage in the World Series. If I'm playing for home field advantage, I don't want Emil fucking Brown or Dewon fucking Brazelton to have anything to do with it. Just because Bud Selig got embarrassed by a tie one year does not mean we should make a silly midseason game determine what goes on in September. Give it to the team that has the best record that year, it's the only fair way.