My picks:
- Victor is a lock. He's been the best catcher in baseball and deserves to be starting. Damn voting system.
- CC is a virtual lock at this point. His 11-2 record and ERA near 3 should be good enough to get him on the team, barring any implosions. Its also not out of the realm of possibility that CC could be the All-Star game starter, but that will take continued dominance and Haren having a few subpar games.
- Betancourt should deserve an appearance. His 1.10 ERA is great and that stat isnt that misleading either considering how he has only let 2 inherited runners score all season. With that said, its rather hard for non-closing relievers to make the team. Most non-closing relievers are just filler from teams who dont have anyone else who will be representing them.
- Fausto has an outside shot of making it but there are quite a few other pitchers with similar to slightly better stats and since Fausto doesnt have the name recognition of guys like Verlander, Beckett, Escobar, and Lackey he might get left off. This is tough luck because he's had a suberp first half, there have just been some others who have been pitching phenomally so far:
Dan Haren- 9-2 1.78ERA 0.90 WHIP
Josh Beckett- 10-1 3.14 ERA 1.07 WHIP
Justin Verlander- 9-2 2.78 ERA 1.13 WHIP
Kelvim Escobar- 9-3 2.81 ERA 1.11 WHIP
John Lackey- 10-4 2.96 ERA 1.22 WHIP
Those were from Sunday, so may not be completely up to date.
Fausto may also run into the problem of someone like Gil Meche making it on in front of him, just because KC has no one else to send.
- Outside of those guys we really dont have anyone else who should make it. Hafner and Sizemore havent been themselves all year. Blake's hitting streak was impressive but he still is ony hitting .275. Peralta has been solid, but not All-Star calibur by any means. Borowski's save totals are impressive(21), but his ERA isnt (6.11).
Now Im putting an unjinx on this entire post. Call me superstitious but I dont want to be the one to cause someone to play like crap after I post this, so UNJINX.
Your thoughts?
