The baseball season has been full of pleasant surprises thus far. Not only are teams like San Diego surprising fans, but many players, good and bad, are shocking spectators to the bone.
Young and old players alike are playing above and beyond expectations.
This slideshow is dedicated to the veteran oldies that have made an end-of-career surge.
The following five players are the biggest surprises of this season, with Vlad being No. 1.
The fans may not have given the Red Sox much love when casting their ballots for the all-star game, but opposing players and managers- as well as Major League Baseball itself- certainly did as six Red Sox were chosen to play in the Mid-Summer Classic next week in Los Angeles.
And now Sox fans can help to make certain that another player gets to go along too, as a seventh player (1B Kevin Youkilis) is one of five non-selectees nominated in the MLB.com Final Vote.
The American League starting squad will consist of two players each from the Minnesota Twins, NY Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers, as well as one Seattle Mariner… and in spite of the fact no Red Sox player was selected to start the game, The Olde Towne Team tied the Yankees for the most players to be selected for the AL squad, with six.
Boston players so honored were C Victor Martinez (4th selection), 2B Dustin Pedroia (3rd), 3B Adrian Beltre (1st), DH David Ortiz (6th), RHP Clay Buchholz (1st) and LHP Jon Lester (1st).
Unfortunately, Martinez and Pedroia are injured and won’t be able to participate in the ballgame. They will be replaced by Texas 2B Ian Kinsler and Toronto C John Buck, respectively.
And we will learn in the next 24 hours if Clay Buchholz will share their fate, as unconfirmed reports indicate he will likely join his teammates on the disabled list sometime this week.
Red Sox fans also have the opportunity to send Youkilis to the game- which would give the Red Sox an MLB-high seven all-stars!
He is one of the five players eligible to be selected to the team by fan balloting, along with 1B Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox, OF Nick Swisher of the NY Yankees, OF Delmon Young of the Minnesota Twins and 3B Michael Young of the Texas Rangers.
Voting can be done exclusively at MLB.com… click here to vote for YOUK!
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Here are your 2010 all-stars… starters are in bold-faced type:
American League:
C: Joe Mauer, MIN (Victor Martinez, BOS*; John Buck, TOR)
1B: Justin Morneau, MIN (Miguel Cabrera, DET)
2B: Robinson Cano, NYY (Dustin Pedroia, BOS*; Ian Kinsler, TEX; Ty Wiggington, BAL)
3B: Evan Longoria, TB (Adrian Beltre, BOS; Alex Rodriguez, NYY)
SS: Derek Jeter, NYY (Elvis Andrus, TEX)
OF: Carl Crawford, TB; Josh Hamilton, TEX; Ichiro Suzuki, SEA (Jose Bautista, TOR; Torii Hunter, LAA; Vernon Wells, TOR)
DH: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (David Ortiz, BOS)
SP: Clay Buchholz, BOS; Trevor Cahill, OAK; Fausto Carmona, CLE; Phil Hughes, NYY; Cliff Lee, SEA; Jon Lester, BOS; David Price, TB; and C C Sabathia, NYY
RP: Neftali Feliz, TEX; Mariano Rivera, NYY; Joakim Soria, KC; Matt Thornton, CWS; and Jose Valverde, DET
National League:
C: Yadier Molina, ST L (Brian McCann, ATL)
1B: Albert Pujols, ST L (Adrian Gonzalez, SD; Ryan Howard, PHI)
2B: Chase Utley, PHI* (Brandon Phillips, CIN; Martin Prado, ATL)
3B: David Wright, NYM (Omar Infante, ATL; Scott Rolen, CIN)
SS: Hanley Ramirez, FLA (Troy Tulowitzki, COL*; Jose Reyes, NYM)
OF: Ryan Braun, MIL; Andre Ethier, LAD; Jason Heyward, ATL (Michael Bourn, HOU; Marlon Byrd, CC; Corey Hart, MIL; Matt Holliday, ST L; and Chris Young, AZ)
SP: Chris Carpenter, ST L; Yovani Gallardo, MIL; Roy Halladay, PHI; Tim Hudson, ATL; Ubaldo Jimenez, COL: Josh Johnson, FLA; Tim Lincecum, SFG; Evan Meek, PIT; and Adam Wainright, ST L
RP: Jonathan Broxton, LAD; Matt Capps, WAS; Arthur Rhodes, CIN; and Brian Wilson, SFG
NL nominees for fans Final Vote: RHP Heath Bell, SD; OF Carlos Gonzalez, COL; 1B Joey Votto, CIN; LHP Billy Wagner, ATL; 3B Ryan Zimmerman, WAS.
* unable to participate due to injury
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And with that, there is already much discussion about the snubs from each team.
In the American League, the biggest snub was Youkilis- who has been the best player on the Red Sox thus far in 2010.
But beyond Youk, I have to admit I was surprised that LAA RHP Jered Weaver wasn’t named to the team- since he leads the league in strikeouts and the game is being played on his home field.
Also, what about Seattle righty Felix Hernandez- who is arguably one of the three or four best pitchers in the league even though his record doesn’t reflect his ability (he does, after all, play for the woeful Mariners)? Or maybe DET OF Magglio Ordinez or CWS OF Alex Rios, who finally appears to have harnessed his immense potential?
NOTE: NYY lefty C.C. Sabathia is scheduled to pitch on Sunday and, by rule, he won’t be permitted to take a spot on the AL’s active roster. While I suspect Joe Torre would prefer to name his own pitcher, Andy Pettitte (who has 10 wins) to replace Sabathia, it seems likely the league will say the Yankees already have enough players on the roster, and that either Weaver or Hernanadez will be tabbed to replace the big lefty on the active roster.
The betting here is Youkilis wins the Final Vote, and Weaver is chosen to replace Sabathia because of the fact the game is being played in Anaheim.
In the National League, Bell, Gonzalez and Votto are on the Final Vote ballot. In addition I would add a couple of other snubs – C Miguel Olivo of the Colorado Rockies (.308 / 11 / 39) or RHP Mike Pelfrey of the NY Mets (10-2, 2.93).
It says here that Votto will win the Final Vote, although I will vote for Bell, who leads all of baseball in saves.
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The 2010 MLB All-Star game is upon us.
On July 13th, baseball’s best will gather in California and battle it out for home field advantage in the World Series.
The starters and the players who fill the final roster spot will be voted in by the fans, while the reserves will be selected by the managers and players.
Some starters will be well deserving of the honor. Others will be voted in simply because they’re the fan favorites.
From Joe Mauer in Minnesota, to Josh Hamilton in Texas, and Miguel Cabrera in Detroit, there are great players from all over the American League. But the time has come to decide, what 10 players from just the AL East deserve a trip out to the Golden State for All-Star week?
Without further ado, I present “The AL “B-east”: 10 Deserving All-Stars from MLB’s Toughest Division.”
Is your favorite player on here?
Let’s find out, as we begin with an easy selection, and a player who’s earned
the right to represent the American League in the All-Star game.
Caption: 3B Adrian Beltre hit a solo home run to get things started in the Red Sox 11-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays tonight at Tropicana Field.
Maybe I should head back out of town.
During my recent sojourn to southern-most Canada (Ontario) and Chicago, the Red Sox have shaken off the doldrums that afflicted them over the first six weeks of the season. As a superstitious fan, I am nervous my return to New England will disturb whatever karma has suddenly ignited their play.
Since I departed for Windsor and Chicago, the Sox won the final game of their brief two-game series against the Yankees, swept a two-game series against the Twins, won two of three games against the Phillies in Philadelphia and—with tonight’s win in Tampa—swept a three-game series against the first-place Rays. The Olde Towne Team has won eight of their last nine games.
The sweep in Tampa answered the Rays four-game sweep against the Red Sox in Boston last month…the Sox are now a season-best six games over .500 (27-21).
This evening at “The Trop,” 3B Adrian Beltre had four hits, including two home runs, and drove in six runs as the Red Sox prevailed, 11-3, over Tampa. Beltre is batting .516 over his last eight games.
DH David Ortiz, who batted third for the first time in a year, added two hits, including his 10th home run, and raised his batting average to .266 in the process. It was his sixth homer in his last 11 games and ninth of the month.
Beltre hit a solo homer off Rays starter Matt Garza in the second inning and added a three-run shot off him in the third inning to give the Sox a 4-1 lead. Ortiz’s two-run homer in the fifth staked the club to a 6-2 advantage.
Meanwhile, RHP John Lackey allowed twelve baserunners in 6.1 IP, but he held the Rays to just two runs with clutch pitching with runners in scoring position… Tampa was just 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position against him.
The bullpen closed out the ballgame, allowing one run over 2.2 inninghs. LHP Hideki Okajima got the final two outs in the seventh. RHP Ramon Ramirez pitched a perfect eighth inning and newly-recalled righty Joe Nelson gave up a solo homer to Ben Zobrist in the ninth.
CF Jacoby Ellsbury was out of the lineup for the second straight night because of soreness in his left side.
Tampa Bay LF Carl Crawford stole second base in the fourth inning, giving him 32 straight successful steals against the Red Sox, who have not thrown him out since on Sept. 21, 2005.
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The brooms were out in St. Petersburg tonight as the Boston Red Sox rocked the Rays 11-3. This was an impressive series as the Red Sox completed the first sweep of the Rays at Tropicana Field since 2002.
Completing the sweep was important and all, but now the Red Sox have climbed back into the AL East, sitting only 5.5 games behind the Rays and now six games over .500.
Throughout the series the themes were run prevention and solid, quality pitching, the two themes this ball club is built on.
The team witnessed strong outings from Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, and John Lackey. It appears that Lester is now getting in the “zone” and Lackey’s and Buchholz’s performances are definitely confidence boosters.
The Sox scored a total of 19 runs while holding the Rays to only four. Quite simply, that’s just dominance.
Besides the strong pitching performances, including the one-hit shutout on Tuesday, Boston has shown some quality hitting performances, too.
David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, and Adrian Beltre were the team’s offensive powers this series. Ortiz went 5-11 with two home runs while tallying up five RBI. Youkilis also had five hits. But the biggest contributor of them all was Beltre who went 7-13 with an astonishing seven RBI, six of them coming in the rubber game.
It appears that Boston has avenged the four-game sweep that Tampa Bay completed on Boston back in April.
Boston looks good. They are pitching very well, from their starting pitching to the bullpen. And their bats have awakened.
Now is the time for Boston to gain some momentum after going 9-4 through a tough stretch against American League powerhouses. Boston will open up what appears to be somewhat of an “easy” stretch against Kansas City, Oakland, Baltimore, and Cleveland.
As Terry Francona said after completing the three game sweep, “Someone asked the other day if I think (good pitching) is contagious. If it is, I hope we get an epidemic.”
The Sox hope that their pitching staff will be the key to their success in their climb in the American League East.
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The Red Sox are team still struggling to find their identity as they near the midpoint of May.
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Since the conclusion of the 2009 season, I’ve frequently been seen plastering the Bleacher Report’s proverbial walls with my 2010 MLB predictions, some reasonable and some outlandish.
Well, most are outlandish.
Here’s a review of my predictions, an update on the reality set against my fantasy, and a grade of my performance.
Please feel free to tell me I’m full of it when you see an outrageous prediction with early success, but don’t forget to pick me up when you see me suffering an early reality check.
All in all, I judge myself to be 7-5-4. Hey, that’s a winning record.