4TH OF JULY WEEKEND Cheering & Venting

[jefferey13]

Posey hits an RBI double except wait, he batted in sandoval's spot so he's out. It's amazing how they continue to find ways to be terrible.

Hanley felt bad and gave it back.

[daullaz]

I really like what they did with the final voting for the NL. since Puig came up I doubt he had a whole lot of overall votes for the all star game. so instead of just picking him and putting him on the team based on a limited number of games, they give fans the chance to pick him against other all star caliber players.

He had about 850,000 write-in votes by fans, as he wasn't on the ballot, which it feels like they release on the first day of spring training. Puig's write-ins were the most since Freddy Sanchez in 2006, IIRC. He'll win the final vote in a walk.

On the AL side, those are some pretty questionable choices by Leyland. Sure, they all have pretty ERA, but Delabar has walked 22 in 40 IP, while Scheppers has a 29:17 K:BB ratio in 42.2 IP.

I voted for Koji and Freddie, to make sure Puig doesn't win unanimously.

[daullaz]

Here's an incomplete list of the right-handed relief pitchers who would have been better candidates for the final vote than Delabar and Scheppers:

BAL Tommy Hunter
BOS Junichi Tazawa
KC Greg Holland
KC Luke Hochevar
OAK Grant Balfour

But then again, both Scheppers and Delabar are 5-1, which must be important.

[kimchi_chigae]

0 RBIs from my team last two days. Zero. 12 team league. Must be hard to do.

[daullaz]

More All-Star fun...

Because they release the ballot in April, you had the ability to make some pretty questionable choices before the deadline a few days ago.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-o ... ar-ballots

In fact, you could have submitted the following ballot:

American League
1B Mark Teixeira
2B Brian Roberts
3B Brett Lawrie
SS Derek Jeter
C Jesus Montero
DH Nolan Reimold
OF Rick Ankiel
OF Curtis Granderson
OF Aaron Hicks

National League
1B Corey Hart
2B Josh Rutledge
3B Luis Cruz
SS Clint Barmes
C Carlos Ruiz
OF Mike Baxter
OF Adam Eaton
OF Cameron Maybin

Some of those guys hadn't played an inning when the ballot came out. Some still haven't played an inning. Some were cut by the teams they were listed with on the ballot.

Here's some guys that weren't on the ballot, and I feel each would have been a better candidate than the corresponding guy above:

American League
1B Lyle Overbay
2B Brian Dozier
3B Jose Iglesias
SS Mike Aviles
C Yan Gomes
DH Jason Giambi
OF Raul Ibanez
OF Daniel Nava
OF Oswaldo Arcia

National League
1B Matt Adams
2B Anthony Rendon
3B Eric Chavez
SS Didi Gregorius
C Evan Gattis
OF Yasiel Puig
OF Gerardo Parra
OF Marcell Ozuna

Do I have a solution? Not really -- just wanted to point out specifically why I think it's ridiculous to begin All-Star voting in April.

[kimchi_chigae]

Just get rid of the whole ASB thing. Give all players a few days off.

[ayebatter]

Just get rid of the whole ASB thing. Give all players a few days off.

I like the game just let the players vote and leave everyone else out of it, the fans are as bad as the writers are picking for the HOF.

[ayebatter]

Sunday, July 7th

AL

Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees
(R) Jason Hammel (7-5) vs. (R) Hiroki Kuroda (7-6)

Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians
(R) Doug Fister (6-5) vs. (R) Corey Kluber (6-5)

Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays
(L) Scott Diamond (5-7) vs. (R) Todd Redmond (0-1)

Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay Rays
(L) John Danks (2-5) vs. (L) David Price (2-4)

Oakland Athletics at Kansas City Royals
(R) A.J. Griffin (6-6) vs. (R) Luis Mendoza (2-4)

Houston Astros at Texas Rangers
(L) Erik Bedard (3-4) vs. (R) Justin Grimm (7-6)

Boston Red Sox at LA Angels of Anaheim
(R) John Lackey (6-5) vs. (R) Jered Weaver (2-4)

IL

Seattle Mariners at Cincinnati Reds
(L) Joe Saunders (6-8) vs. (R) Bronson Arroyo (7-6)

NL

Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
(R) Kris Medlen (6-7) vs. (R) Jonathan Pettibone (4-3)

San Diego Padres at Washington Nationals
(L) Robbie Erlin (1-1) vs. (R) Stephen Strasburg (4-6)

New York Mets at Milwaukee Brewers
(R) Jeremy Hefner (3-6) vs. (L) Tom Gorzelanny (1-1)

Miami Marlins at St. Louis Cardinals
(R) Jose Fernandez (5-4) vs. (R) Lance Lynn (10-3)

Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs
(R) A.J. Burnett (4-6) vs. (R) Carlos Villanueva (2-4)

Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants
(L) Clayton Kershaw (7-5) vs. (R) Chad Gaudin (2-1)

Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks
(R) Roy Oswalt (0-3) vs. (L) Patrick Corbin (9-1)

[daullaz]

Just get rid of the whole ASB thing. Give all players a few days off.

I like the game just let the players vote and leave everyone else out of it, the fans are as bad as the writers are picking for the HOF.

That's not perfect either. Torii Hunter? Salvy Perez over Carlos Santana? I guess a .300 batting average is crucial for players, even though Santana's .374 OBP far exceeds Perez's .326 OBP.

[A Fleshner Fantasy]

0 RBIs from my team last two days. Zero. 12 team league. Must be hard to do.

Makes me feel better about the 1 that I had yesterday.