[Charles Henrickson]

OK, now, let's hear your choices. Also, I can defend my selections, omissions, etc., if you like. Post your stuff. I'm be going to the Cardinals-Angels game soon, so I'll be able to write some more when I get back.

[Charles Henrickson]

Ping.

[Charles Henrickson]

Baseball ping.

[Slip18]

National League: The whole darned Diamondback team!

Sorry, I'm prejudiced. But aren't we great?

I'm hoping the Angels and the Diamondbacks battle it out in the World Series. There would be some fabulous games, and only six hours driving apart.

[Willie Green]

Alex "A+ Rod" Rodriquez

I thought JimRob banned A+Rod.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Here is a list of AL catchers with at least 100 ABs and with better batting avgs than Jorge Posada.

A.J. Pierzynski, .323
Dan Wilson, .300
Sandy Alomar jr., .287
Jason Varitek, .271
Benjie Molina, .271
Tom Wilson, .262
(Ben Davis with 98 ABs is hitting .276)

That is an old fashioned argument for several players being above Posada in the All Star race.

If you look at OPS though he is clearly only behind Pierzynski.

OPS for AL Catchers
A.J. Pierzynski, .872
Posada .845
The next closest is Tom Wilson with a .776 and it drops off pretty rapidly from there, not to mention most other Catchers are not playing nearly as much as Posada and P-ski. They all have caught much fewer games than those two except for Benjie Molina but his OBP is only .289 which is lousy and barely more than his Batting avg.

It's clear that Dan Wilson is having a comeback year this year and Varitek is clearly a very good catcher, but Posada and P-ski are by far the best two catchers in the AL this year and Posada's HR advantage, 10-4 over P-ski, makes him a notch above P-ski in many people's eyes but that is debatable due to the closeness of their OPS values.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

If you have to have a Tiger I go with Jeff Weaver over Fick because Weaver is just victimized by his run support and is a very good pitcher. He's not relying on power and movement alone this year from what I've seen but is actually learning how to pitch.

I think he's hit that magic "Innings Pitched" number where a talented pitcher puts talent to better use through the knowledge he's learned over his first 3-4 years of getting beat up by the league (look at guys like Mac Suzuki of the Royals who has the ability to hit 95 and has a very good splitter for an out pitch but can't even make it as a set-up man because he just hasn't figured out how to use those two pitches effectively).

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I would also take Hinske at 3b instead of Halliday as a pitcher for my Blue Jay selection. Only because there are more pitchers out there deserving in the AL that will get left off the squad than deserving 3rd basemen. It's not really wrong to go either way on that choice and you could even take both but that won't happen because the Blue Jays' record stinks this year.

[socal_parrot]

Anyone but John Burkett.

[BluesDuke]

I wouldn't choose Danny Graves this year - his performance to date clearly marks him as overrated. Nen (who's beginning to show too much of his wear and tear and age) isn't doing close to the level of Gagne, Kim, and Hoffman. And Glavine is the more clear-cut All-Star pitching choice on the Braves than Maddux this season among the starters. Tom Glavine may actually be the most underrated front-line pitcher of his time. I can't recall his name off the top of my head, but that new guy on the Cardinals who bounced around the minors and indies and even the Italian Olympic team until he got a callup this season is putting on an All-Star worthy show so far, a starting pitcher. I'd pick him in a New York minute.

[Dales]

Oh man. I haven't done this in at least a year. Let's see. NL first.

C Mike Piazza, NYM
1B Todd Helton, Col
2B Junior Spivey, Ari (out by injury, replaced in lineup by Jose Vidro, Mon)
SS Rollins, Phi
3B Pujols, StL
OF Bonds, SF
OF Sosa, ChC
OF Green, LA
P Glavine, Atl

Damien Miller, Ari
Ryan Klesko, SD
Jose Vidro, Mtl
To take Spivey's place on the roster, Jeff Kent, SF
Jose Hernandez, Mil
Lowell, Fla
Berkman, Hou
Giles, Pit
Dunn, Cin
Walker, Col
(Boy, NL OF is a bear)
Schilling, Ari
Johnson, Ari
Leiter, NYM
Morris, StL
Padillia, Phi
Ishii, LA
Perez, LA
Burnett, Fla
Oswalt, Hou
Kim, Ari
Gagne, LA
Nen, SF

I think I counted right. That should be 31 names, with Spivey out to make 30.

AL is tougher. Give me a few.

[Charles Henrickson]

Here are some objective stats, complete through June 20. I got them from the mlb.com website. This gives you a good pool of players from which to choose your All-Stars. There are a few surprises here! I know I will have to change some of my picks.

Listed are offensive players who rank in the top five at their position in Total Bases, with an OPS (On-base Plus Slugging) Percentage of at least .770. They are listed in order of OPS.

* An asterisk marks players who rank in the top two at their position in TB, with an OPS of at least .870.

Listed are starting pitchers who rank in the top sixteen in Innings Pitched, with an ERA under 3.30. They are listed in order of ERA.

* An asterisk marks starting pitchers who rank in the top twelve in IP, with an ERA under 3.00.

Listed are relief pitchers who rank in the top eight in Relief Man Points (accounting for wins, losses, saves, tough saves, and blown saves), with an ERA under 2.70. They are listed in order of ERA.

* An asterisk marks relief pitchers who rank in the top four in RMP, with an ERA under 2.50.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Catcher (OPS, TB):
* Mike Piazza, NYM - .918, 113
Damian Miller, ARI - .869, 94
Michael Barrett, MON - .868, 85
Benito Santiago, SF - .812, 104
Paul LoDuca, LA - .806, 106

First Base (OPS, TB):
* Todd Helton, COL - 1.049, 160
Ryan Klesko, SD - .949, 123
Richie Sexson, MIL - .924, 150
Jeff Bagwell, HOU - .863, 122
Derrek Lee, FLA - .855, 136

Second Base (OPS, TB):
( * ) Junior Spivey (DL), ARI - .997, 125
* Jose Vidro, MON - .877, 137
Jeff Kent, SF - .834, 125
Luis Castillo, FLA - .793, 109

Shortstop (OPS, TB):
* Jose Hernandez, MIL - .873, 121
Edgar Renteria, STL - .779, 98
Jimmy Rollins, PHI - .775, 130

Third Base (OPS, TB):
* Mike Lowell, FLA - .937, 147
Todd Zeile, COL - .869, 116

Outfielders (OPS, TB):
* Barry Bonds, SF - 1.362, 144
* Sammy Sosa, CHC - 1.122, 174
Brian Giles, PIT - 1.060, 141
Larry Walker, COL - 1.032, 136
Adam Dunn, CIN - 1.018, 126
* Shawn Green, LA - .995, 154
Lance Berkman, HOU - .987, 152
Pat Burrell, PHI - .982, 142
Vladimir Guerrero, MON - .966, 151
Andruw Jones, ATL - .954, 150
Luis Gonzalez, ARI - .939, 136
Albert Pujols, STL - .933, 139
Cliff Floyd, FLA - .929, 125
Richard Hidalgo, HOU - .875, 124
Chipper Jones, ATL - .872, 124

Pitchers, Starting (ERA, IP, W-L):
* Tom Glavine, ATL - 1.71, 110, 11-3
* Odalis Perez, LA - 2.52, 107, 8-3
* Randy Johnson, ARI - 2.55, 116, 11-2
Pedro Astacio, NYM - 2.71, 96, 7-2
Vicente Padilla, PHI - 3.01, 104, 9-4
Matt Morris, STL - 3.06, 109, 10-4
A. J. Burnett, FLA - 3.12, 112, 8-5
Brian Lawrence, SD - 3.21, 103, 7-4
Roy Oswalt, HOU - 3.24, 102, 7-5
Russ Ortiz, SF - 3.24, 94, 6-4
Curt Schilling, ARI - 3.28, 115, 12-3

Pitchers, Relief (ERA, IP, RMP):
Jason Isringhausen, STL - 1.08, 33, 49
* Eric Gagne, LA - 1.22, 37, 75
* Byung-Hyun Kim, ARI - 1.25, 43, 62
* Trevor Hoffman, SD - 1.37, 26, 59
Robb Nen, SF - 2.10, 30, 54
Mike Williams, PIT - 2.30, 27, 51
Danny Graves, CIN - 2.63, 41, 57

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Catcher (OPS, TB):
* A. J. Pierzynski, MIN - .879, 104
Jorge Posada, NYY - .844, 115

First Base (OPS, TB):
* Jason Giambi, NYY - 1.022, 157
Jim Thome, CLE - .964, 129
Mike Sweeney, KC - .934, 134
Carlos Delgado, TOR - .920, 128
Paul Konerko, CWS - .894, 144

Second Base (OPS, TB):
* Alfonso Soriano, NYY - .924, 177

Shortstop (OPS, TB):
* Alex Rodriquez, TEX - .961, 153
* Nomar Garciaparra, BOS - .906, 145
Omar Vizquel, CLE - .880, 131
Miquel Tejada, OAK - .816, 142
Derek Jeter, NYY - .813, 130

Third Base (OPS, TB):
Robin Ventura, NYY - .915, 118
Eric Chavez, OAK - .890, 135
Tony Batista, BAL - .869, 139
Shea Hillenbrand, BOS - .847, 141
Troy Glaus, ANA - .808, 118

Outfielders (OPS, TB):
* Magglio Ordonez, CWS - .919, 139
Tim Salmon, ANA - .908, 124
Bernie Williams, NYY - .906, 130
* Torii Hunter, MIN - .903, 155
* Ichiro Suzuki, SEA - .901, 131
* Garret Anderson, ANA - .879, 157
Jacque Jones, MIN - .875, 147
Johnny Damon, BOS - .868, 132
Randy Winn, TB - .829, 128
Rob Fick, DET - .827, 121
Carlos Beltran, KC - .821, 128
Jay Gibbons, BAL - .801, 105
Melvin Mora, BAL - .770, 103

Pitchers, Starting (ERA, IP, W-L):
* Derek Lowe, BOS - 1.85, 97, 11-2
* Bartolo Colon, CLE - 2.58, 108, 9-4
* Mark Buehrle, CWS - 2.86, 110, 10-5
Pedro Martinez, BOS - 2.92, 95, 8-2
Barry Zito, OAK - 3.01, 95, 9-2
Freddy Garcia, SEA - 3.02, 110, 10-4
Roy Halladay, TOR - 3.11, 107, 8-3

Pitchers, Relief (ERA, IP, RMP):
* Kaz Sasaki, SEA - 0.35, 26, 48
( * ) Mariano Rivera (DL), NYY - 1.69, 26, 48
* Ugueth Urbina, BOS - 2.05, 26, 54
* Eddie Guardado, MIN - 2.41, 33, 56
Troy Percival, ANA - 2.49, 21, 46

[Slip18]

I'm sitting here laughing with your names of the baseball players.

Thought I was going to hemorrhage today with the Diamondbacks. Sheesh, what's going on? One last darn strike to end the 9th, and then a GRAND SLAM. I think I want to hide!