Kuzul

What do Michael Bourn, Marlon Byrd, Matt Capps, Andre Ethier, Yovani Gallardo, Jason Heyward, Omar Infante, Ubaldo Jimenez, Hong-Chih Kuo, Brian McCann, Evan Meek, Brandon Phillips, Martin Prado, Arthur Rhodes, Troy Tulowitzki, Joey Votto, Adam Wainwright and Chris Young all have in common?

They were all named to their first All-Star Game in 2010, representing about half of the National League roster last summer. 

With so many young players making a significant impact, let’s make a few predictions on guys who could become regulars on the National League All-Star roster but have yet to make a team for the Midsummer Classic.  

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What do Elvis Andrus, Jose Bautista, Adrian Beltre, Clay Buchholz, John Buck, Trevor Cahill, Robinson Cano, Fausto Carmona, Neftali Feliz, Phil Hughes, Jon Lester, David Price, Rafael Soriano, Nick Swisher, Matt Thorton, Jered Weaver and Ty Wigginton all have in common?

They were each named to their first All-Star Game in 2010. This particular bunch represented almost half of the American League roster last summer.

With so many up-and-coming players making a significant impact in the Majors, let’s make a few predictions on guys who will become perennial American League All-Stars but have yet to appear in the Midsummer Classic.

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The All Star game is probably the best of the exhibition “all star”  games in professional sports. Maybe a case could be made for the NHL All Star game, but that game is an anomoly, with no defense. The Pro Bowl in football is a joke. No one really wants to play in it, no one really wants to watch it. The “defense” is vanilla, and the “offense” is boring. The NBA All Star game is another one. No defense, just guys basically running up and down the court throwing it down. It’s schoolyard jams.

Baseball All Star games? Even the contrived “meaningful” All Star game we have now is better than every single other professional All Star game. And oh, the memories. At least for me.

It all begins for me in 1974. It’s the first All Star game I remember watching. I was 5. There were 22 future Hall of Famers in that game (and one who probably should be, Pete Rose), and three total Mets reprisented. Yogi Berra was a coach. Jerry Grote was one of the catchers, and a star Mets pitcher also made the team. Not Tom Seaver, but Jon Matlack. National League won.

The next memorable game was in 1976, another NL win. I remember this one for two reasons: first, Mark Fidrych pitched. He was the sensation of that year. “The Bird”, all the crazy antics. Everyone was talking about him, and in those days (I sound like a geezer, but heck, it WAS 34 years ago, for crying out loud) you only had ONE game a week you could watch, the game of the week on NBC. You couldn’t see him anywhere but the highlights on the local news or read about him in the newspaper. A real newspaper. One that was delivered to your house. One you physically held in your hands. Secondly, Fred Lynn hit a homer for the only AL run. Although a Mets fan, Fred Lynn was my favorite player (we lived in New Hampshire at the time, so in order to watch baseball, that meant watching Red Sox games, they were the only team you could see.

1979’s game was the Dave Parker show. He opened my eyes to real defense in the outfield. What a cannon for an arm. The guy had three of the most beautiful throws that you could ever see, In the seventh inning, he threw out Jim Rice at third trying to stretch a double into a triple. That was a great throw, but he topped that one in the eighth. Here’s the situation:

First and second, one out. AL threatening in a tie gems, 6-6. The dangerous Greg Nettles up. Netles hits a bloop off the end of the bat to right, Brian Downing rounds third trying to score the go-ahead run. Parker comes in, catches the ball on a hop and in one fluid motion hurls an absolute perfect strike, no hop as I remember, to Gary Carter blocking the plate. Downing is dead meat. Most perfect throw to this day that I have ever seen. NL goes on to win in the ninth.

Read the rest…

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There are currently two pitching phenoms in Major League Baseball.

One, though, is getting an absolutely massive amount of media attention in Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

The other is David Price, the Tampa Bay Rays starter who recently started the All-Star game in Anaheim this past Tuesday.

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I am now officially in love with Joey Votto…well, if he were a she. 

The main headline on the Yahoo splash page runs Votto through the ringer for not hugging and slapping the rear end of Marlon Byrd. 

It wasn’t the feature story for very long—enough time to send me into a legitimate laugh out loud.

Says Votto, “I don’t like the Cubs. And I’m not going to pat anybody with a Cubs uniform on the back. But because he made that really cool play, it turned out to be a really cool experience. I’m really glad we got the win today.”

Yeah baby, that’s the spirit! 

The Cubs outfielder made a great play…possibly a game saver. Votto acknowledged it as being a “really cool play”—so what’s the big deal?

I ask, what in the world is wrong with not liking a rival team? 

It wasn’t anything personal against Byrd. 

It’s just the fact that the Cubs outfielder happens to wear the wrong color jersey—although, I have always liked the Cubbie blue—very classy.

One of my biggest pet peeves in the game of baseball is being forced to watch camaraderie between opposing teams. Players yukking it up with the other team before the game, and especially during the game—it’s sickening.

Call me an old-school soul, but if Shoeless Joe had a smiley face on and tried to talk to Ty Cobb, it’s very likely Jackson would have been murdered on the playing field.

Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a catcher trying to make a batter lose his focus by making sport of the guy’s ugly wife. 

Or even, a little banter between a first baseman and a rival who has just reached base is okay.

I’ve seen Joey Votto do that numerous times…maybe even with Marlon Byrd—I’ll pay closer attention the next time the Reds are in Wrigley or the Cubs hit Great American.

“Votto refused to congratulate Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd.”

So what? Did everyone congratulate him? I doubt it, but if they did I’m for sure glad I turned off the tube when the game ended.

Were Votto and the rest of the NL All-Stars supposed to run into the outfield and join the jumping chest bump? 

The ninth inning play by Byrd, where he bull rushed the ball and made a last second decision to let it fall and get the force at second of the sloth-footed David Ortiz was the best play by a right-fielder in an All-Star game since 1979 when Dave Parker fielded a line drive single on a hop and gunned the third base runner down at the plate.

Byrd knew it was a spectacular play. Votto knew it. Everyone who saw it knew it.

According to Yahoo baseball “expert”, David Brown (what a lame name—get a pseudonym buddy), Votto should have congratulated Byrd with a, “Handshake…a wave…a wink…a nod…a glance…a happy thought.”

How about a tongue kiss? Would that have suited you, David Lame Name? 

Lame Name goes on to say, “What a leech—and a sorry excuse for an All-Star.”

Hmmmm….What’s worse, saying you are not going to pat the back of a divisional rival (while saying his play was “cool”), or calling a complete stranger “a leech” and “a sorry excuse for an All-Star?”

I know my answer.

Anyone half familiar with Votto’s style knows that the man takes the game very seriously. He very rarely even smiles.

Now, knowing he is a throwback to the days when joshing around with members of the opposition would lead to a beating, Joey Votto is officially my favorite baseball player.

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The All-Star game is in the books, and the National League finally managed to break their 13 year drought, thanks to a big three-run double from Braves catcher Brian McCann to give the NL a 3-1 win.

Despite the fact that the game was dominated by pitching, the game was not without its squandered scoring opportunities.

So here are the five players that were snubbed from the Midsummer Classic, and could have ultimately changed the outcome of the game.

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That statement is not in reference to Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak. For the first time since 1996, the National League won the All-Star Game. I didn’t watch the first half, but David Wright went 2-2. Jose Reyes , as expected, did not play.

Braves catcher Brian McCann hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh inning to give the NL the lead, 3-1, and they never turned back. He, of course, won the MVP award. Who was the MVP in the 1996 All-Star Game? Former Mets (and Dodgers and Marlins) catcher, Mike Piazza.

He was with the Dodgers at the time. So the Mets have home field advantage for the World Series— now they just have to get there.

W-Matt Capps

L-Phil Hughes

S-Jonathan Broxton

It’s sad that Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes loses the All-Star Game on the same day as the Yankees lose George Steinbrenner. Condolences out to him and his family.

Flushing Baseball Daily reporter, Tyler Moore. Follow Tyler on Twitter, where he’ll discuss Mets, and also his posts. If you wish to e-mail him, send an email to Tyler with the subject of Flushing Baseball Daily Mail. Thanks for reading!

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The best players in baseball don’t always make the All-Star teams. It’s a fact of life that we have come to accept.

And yet, each year, we (or at least, I) are shocked by the idiocy of the fan, player, and coach selections. With all of the slumping stars, humdrum homers, and straight-up head-scratchers that end up filling out the rosters, it’s hard not to keep thinking about the deserving players who got left off.

I feel terrible for the players who are sitting in their living rooms this All-Star Break, watching their inferior peers being honored on national TV. So I thought making an All-Star team for them was the least I could do.

In this slideshow are the nine snubbed hitters and two overlooked pitchers who most deserved spots on their respective leagues’ teams. The resulting team isn’t as good as a real All-Star roster, but it’s certainly talented enough to give either league’s squad a run for its money.

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Ubaldo Jimenez is without a doubt the best pitcher in all of Major League Baseball this season.

His 15-1 record is easily the top mark in the majors, while his 2.20 ERA is fifth best among pitchers with 10+ decisions.

His three complete games include a no-hitter versus the Atlanta Braves, which is the first ever in the Colorado Rockies’ 18-year franchise history.

“(He’s) one of the great talents, and he’s a treat to watch pitch. He’s 15-1. His record speaks for itself. I said Jimenez from the beginning, he was my pick,” National League manager Charlie Manuel said of choosing Jimenez to start over Florida’s Josh Johnson.

“I want to say it’s a huge honor just to be out there. Having the chance to share all those moments tomorrow with all the stars, just to be there, I’m honored just to be in the clubhouse,” Jimenez said of the opportunity to start the midsummer classic.

Jimenez’ selection to make the team and to start the 2010 All Star game were no-brainers, as was the case for Rockies’ star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Tulowitzki would have started the game if not for the broken left wrist he endured June 17. And while it’s disappointing that the young star won’t be able to play tonight, an even bigger travesty has left another young and extremely talented Colorado player off the roster.

Carlos Gonzalez, one of the three players the Rockies received in a trade for Matt Holliday following the 2008 season, is in the middle of enjoying a better season than the All Star Holliday.

Holliday is currently hitting at a .300 average, with 51 RBI and 16 HRs. Gonzalez on the other hand, has a .314 average, 60 RBI, 17 HRs with four more runs scored (56-52) and double the stolen bases Holliday has swiped (12-6). On top of all that, Gonzalez is completely comfortable on defense as he is the NL leading outfielder with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, with three assists and zero errors compared to Holliday’s .994 fielding with two errors on the season.

Carlos “CarGon” Gonzalez is a rare commodity in the MLB to be sure, as a truly legit five-tool player.

CarGon can easily smash baseballs into the Mile High night and his sweet swing allows him to hit for a solid average as well.

Once on the base paths, Gonzalez gallops gracefully with blistering speed that allows him to smartly steal bases or be used in hit-and-run situations that produce runs for the Rockies.

In the field, Gonzalez glides effortlessly towards balls hit into the expansive Coors Field outfield and his arm is surprisingly strong as well.

In fact, the argument can be made that Gonzalez is outperforming Hollidays since the 2008 trade that both were the centerpieces of. While the Rockies also gained a great closer in Huston Street and starter Greg Smith that put in some time earlier this year as a fill-in.

And while Gonzalez continues to improve while Holliday is plateauing, CarGon was left off of the All Star roster—he was straight up robbed.

Ryan Braun (.292 average, 13 HR, 54 RBI), Corey Hart (.288 AVG, 21 HR, 65 RBI) and Andre Eithier (.324, 14 HR, 54 RBI) are the three starters for the NL and Gonzalez’s numbers are comparable with Hart’s and better than the other two. CarGon’s numbers are much better than reserve OFs Michael Bourn, Marlon Byrd and quite comparable to Holliday’s and Chris Young’s production.

Still, Gonzalez didn’t make the All Star team.

It’s another instance of a stellar player from the Mile High City being overlooked in favor of others from bigger towns. Holliday lost out on the MVP when he was with the Rockies, and Tulowitzki was robbed of the Rookie of the Year as well. Despite Carmelo Anthony playing at an extremely high level the last three seasons, he was basically an afterthought for the NBA MVP.

As Denver continues to “grow up” (a funny term when reminiscing about the three professional championships and four major professional teams the city sports) in the eyes of coast-biased media outlets, more respect will come regarding our sports’ stars.

The Rockies have opened eyes as a well-run organization that grows its own stars and now competes annually for postseason play—and along with his incredible performance, Jimenez has been getting shine from all across America.

People will wake up and realize that Gonzalez is a star in the making, just as they did with Tulo, and CarGon will make his fair share of All Star games.

But that’s not much of a consolation for now, Gonzalez is meant for an All Star game, he’s flashy, exciting and plain fun to watch. The MLB could have at least let CarGon go deep a few times in the Home Run Derby—he would have done better than Nick Swisher, Holliday and some of those other chump performances.

For Gonzalez, he should use this snubbing as another motivating force and if he keeps playing at this extremely high level, we’ll all see him in the outfield in 2011.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and a freelance journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist on bleacherreport.com, Kurtzman is a contributor on NFLTouchdown.com , the CSU Rams Examiner and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner on examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com .

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Most baseball fans believe success in the Home Run Derby translates to a power outage in the second half of the season. Josh Hamilton in 2008 comes to mind, but it would be foolish to make assumptions based on that one particular instance.

To answer this presumption, I tallied the first and second half home run totals of each Home Run Derby winner since 2000. The results may surprise you.

The following table shows the pre and post All-Star Break at-bat per home run rate (AB/HR) of each player in the season they won the Home Run Derby. (Note: an AB/HR rate of 14.0 simply means the player hit a home run once every 14 at-bats.)

Of the last 10 Home Run Derby winners, six of them went yard more frequently after winning the contest.

While most of the AB/HR rates didn’t change all that much, there were three major outliers.

In 2005, Bobby Abreu hit a homer once every 17.9 at-bats before the All-Star Break. In the second half, that number ballooned to 44.2.

Garret Anderson displayed a similar regression after his Home Run Derby success in 2003. After going yard once every 17.2 at-bats in the first half, his AB/HR rate sky rocketed to 40.5 following the Mid Summer Classic.

Miguel Tejada’s Home Run Derby title in 2004 translated to big time power, as his AB/HR rate dropped from 24.6 in the season’s first half to 15.6 after the All-Star Break.

After averaging the totals over the last 10 years, the data revealed that winning the Home Run Derby generally had very little effect on a player’s AB/HR rate.

If anything, the success rendered a slightly better AB/HR rate, as the 10 Home Run Derby champions combined to average one home run per 15.7 at-bats prior to the All-Star Break, while posting a 15.3 rate following it.

If we count only the players who hit the most homers in each Home Run Derby (opposed to the actual winner), the results are very similar. Despite Josh Hamilton’s power drop-off (17.9 AB/HR pre ASB, 22.5 post) following his 35-HR show in 2008, the average AB/HR rate dropped from 15.6 (pre ASB) to 14.9 (post ASB).

So what does this all mean?

Well, despite what some people may tell you, David Ortiz’s success in the 2010 Home Run Derby isn’t a good reason to trade him in your fantasy league. In fact, Papi’s highest home run totals by month are September, August and July, and his career AB/HR rate following the All-Star Break (15.2) is better than his first half total (17.3).

Bottom line: Big Papi could be in for a big second half, and his success at the Home Run Derby isn’t going to change that.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: FANTASY BASEBALL INSIDERS

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