2008 MLB All-Star Game

[RyanMcD29]

Worth noting David Wright is now in the All-Star game to replace the injured Soriano.

[Jigga]

Dear Mitch Williams (since he said this after today's Phils game)

Ryan Howard should not be an All-Star this year, he strikes out too much.

Yet he has 25 HRs (Tied for 1st)

and 57 Runs (#5)

and 80 RBI (#1)

I'm not sure about his errors, but offensively, he's damn good.

I'll be honest, there is no deserving Phillie for this year's All-Star team. There is NEVER a deserving Phillie for the All-Star team (and I'm a Phillies fan). Trust me, I'd rather see Dan Uggla in at 2nd. Perhaps they can bat Utley 9th and make a defensive sub, letting Uggla in at the bottom of the 1st?

(this is where I would note that had I been blessed with the talent to be a major league baseball player, I'd be ideally on a 20 year contract worth a total of $1M, with provisions that would prohibit selection for All-Star teams, as well as prohibition of accepting awards such as MVP and Cy Young, as they are pointless.)

Seriously, stop posting about sports...you just keep making yourself look worse and worse and worse. (Plus, I know you don't even mean half of this crap.)

[Cujo]

Chase Utley, Grady Sizemore, Dan Uggla, Lance Berkman, & Josh Hamilton are all entered into the Home Run Derby. 3 others will be added.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/allstar08/ne...tory?id=3476173

You can go ahead and add Ryan Braun and Evan Longoria to the list of Derby contestants.

If MLB sticks to their usual format, one more American Leaguer will eventually join. If I had to guess, I would say it'll be Justin Morneau.

[TBGKon]

Chase Utley, Grady Sizemore, Dan Uggla, Lance Berkman, & Josh Hamilton are all entered into the Home Run Derby. 3 others will be added.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/allstar08/ne...tory?id=3476173

You can go ahead and add Ryan Braun and Evan Longoria to the list of Derby contestants.

If MLB sticks to their usual format, one more American Leaguer will eventually join. If I had to guess, I would say it'll be Justin Morneau.

Agreed, Morneau is the only guy that I can think of. Is there any other possibility, excluding Vlad and Morneau?

[Billy B]

Chase Utley, Grady Sizemore, Dan Uggla, Lance Berkman, & Josh Hamilton are all entered into the Home Run Derby. 3 others will be added.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/allstar08/ne...tory?id=3476173

You can go ahead and add Ryan Braun and Evan Longoria to the list of Derby contestants.

If MLB sticks to their usual format, one more American Leaguer will eventually join. If I had to guess, I would say it'll be Justin Morneau.

Agreed, Morneau is the only guy that I can think of. Is there any other possibility, excluding Vlad and Morneau?

I think that Josh Hamilton is going to win it. From what I've heard, he can hit some bombs in BP. I also think that he will hit the longest home run in the competition.

[Cujo]

Chase Utley, Grady Sizemore, Dan Uggla, Lance Berkman, & Josh Hamilton are all entered into the Home Run Derby. 3 others will be added.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/allstar08/ne...tory?id=3476173

You can go ahead and add Ryan Braun and Evan Longoria to the list of Derby contestants.

If MLB sticks to their usual format, one more American Leaguer will eventually join. If I had to guess, I would say it'll be Justin Morneau.

Agreed, Morneau is the only guy that I can think of. Is there any other possibility, excluding Vlad and Morneau?

Vlad didn't even make the AL squad this year, so he's not an option.

Morneau is said to be thinking it over. But according to him, doing the Derby last year messed up his swing during the second half of the year. It does sound like it is his spot for the taking though.

[TampaBayEverybodyLovesRays]

Chase Utley, Grady Sizemore, Dan Uggla, Lance Berkman, & Josh Hamilton are all entered into the Home Run Derby. 3 others will be added.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/allstar08/ne...tory?id=3476173

You can go ahead and add Ryan Braun and Evan Longoria to the list of Derby contestants.

If MLB sticks to their usual format, one more American Leaguer will eventually join. If I had to guess, I would say it'll be Justin Morneau.

Agreed, Morneau is the only guy that I can think of. Is there any other possibility, excluding Vlad and Morneau?

Vlad didn't even make the AL squad this year, so he's not an option.

Morneau is said to be thinking it over. But according to him, doing the Derby last year messed up his swing during the second half of the year. It does sound like it is his spot for the taking though.

non All-Stars can participate if invited.

[TBGKon]

Chase Utley, Grady Sizemore, Dan Uggla, Lance Berkman, & Josh Hamilton are all entered into the Home Run Derby. 3 others will be added.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/allstar08/ne...tory?id=3476173

You can go ahead and add Ryan Braun and Evan Longoria to the list of Derby contestants.

If MLB sticks to their usual format, one more American Leaguer will eventually join. If I had to guess, I would say it'll be Justin Morneau.

Agreed, Morneau is the only guy that I can think of. Is there any other possibility, excluding Vlad and Morneau?

Vlad didn't even make the AL squad this year, so he's not an option.

Morneau is said to be thinking it over. But according to him, doing the Derby last year messed up his swing during the second half of the year. It does sound like it is his spot for the taking though.

non All-Stars can participate if invited.

Correct, remember Ryan Howard defended his title last season in San Fran while not being an All Star last season.

[Joshawaggie]

Morneau was against being in the derby again, as Curt mentioned, it messed up his swing last year. The only reason he is considering is because it is at Yankee Stadium.

[Joshawaggie]

Mourneau it is for HR derby

I'm a bit torn, it's always cool to have players from your fav team showcased, but Mourneausie is tearin it up right now, hitting .324. He isn't hitting with power like last year as much before the break, but he is an RBI machine with clutch hits. Maybe the Derby will have the opposite effect it had on him last year.

[Billy B]

Kerry Wood has a blister on his hand, so Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol will be taking his spot on the All-Star team.

[Cujo]

Kerry Wood has a blister on his hand, so Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol will be taking his spot on the All-Star team.

Wow. Marmol and his 4.13 ERA actually made the All-Star Game.

I'm sorry, but he shouldn't be going to NYC over relievers such as Brandon Lyon or Takashi Saito.

[STL FANATIC]

Kerry Wood has a blister on his hand, so Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol will be taking his spot on the All-Star team.

Wow. Marmol and his 4.13 ERA actually made the All-Star Game.

I'm sorry, but he shouldn't be going to NYC over relievers such as Brandon Lyon or Takashi Saito.

Or a handful of starters that could go and pitch out of the pen, two being Cole Hamels and Kyle Lohse.

[WJMorris3]

Kerry Wood has a blister on his hand, so Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol will be taking his spot on the All-Star team.

Wow. Marmol and his 4.13 ERA actually made the All-Star Game.

I'm sorry, but he shouldn't be going to NYC over relievers such as Brandon Lyon or Takashi Saito.

Or a handful of starters that could go and pitch out of the pen, two being Cole Hamels and Kyle Lohse.

Hamels I'll doubt, because 9-6 is not an All-Star record, but I could live with Lohse. How about Ricky Nolasco? He's 10-4... or if you want to go relief pitcher, you could go Brian Shouse.

[STL FANATIC]

I put less stock in record than ERA, and Nolasco trails Hamels and Lohse in that category. Plus he trails Lohse in record anyways.

But I wouldn't be upset if Nolasco got it seeing as my point was not so much that someone definitely deserves it, just rather that Marmol does not.

[gingerbreadmann]

Kerry Wood has a blister on his hand, so Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol will be taking his spot on the All-Star team.

Wow. Marmol and his 4.13 ERA actually made the All-Star Game.

I'm sorry, but he shouldn't be going to NYC over relievers such as Brandon Lyon or Takashi Saito.

Or a handful of starters that could go and pitch out of the pen, two being Cole Hamels and Kyle Lohse.

Hamels I'll doubt, because 9-6 is not an All-Star record, but I could live with Lohse. How about Ricky Nolasco? He's 10-4... or if you want to go relief pitcher, you could go Brian Shouse.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Wins and losses don't mean . Hamels is having a far better season than any of the other guys you mentioned, except Shouse, cause he's a reliever. It's really a matter of whether you want another starter or reliever, but I'm sure you'll pick Shouse because of your not-so-hidden agenda of making Philli players look like farm leaguers often using obscene statistics to do so.

[See Red]

Win/loss record is meaningless when judging a pitcher. Half the game is played when the pitcher isn't even on the mound... if his team doesn't score runs, what can he do?

Lohse has the best FIP out of he, Nolasco and Hamels.

I would've gone with Lohse or Hamels over Marmol, personally.

[gingerbreadmann]

I'm using ERA+. Where do you get your FIP stats, Hardball Times stats?

And Will will love this. in ERA+, the league average score would be 100 (and this is all ballpark-adjusted and .). So an average pitcher's ERA+ is 100. Brad Lidge, he who "clearly doesn't deserve to bake the All-Star team," has an ERA+ of 479. 479! The next best pitcher (well, reliever, but relievers have the highest scores) in all of baseball is Mariano Rivera. His ERA+? Only a measly 384. That's how much Brad Lidge is the best pitcher, not only ahead of Valverde, but the best in all of baseball. By far.

Oh yeah, Trevor Hoffman's career ERA+ is 144.

[WJMorris3]

Ideally, what we see is Utley bat 9th, and be replaced defensively by Uggla in the bottom of the 1st. Lidge doesn't pitch, and no Phillies get hurt. That's part of the reason I never want to see any Phillies in the All-Star Game.

[See Red]

I'm using ERA+. Where do you get your FIP stats, Hardball Times stats?

And Will will love this. in ERA+, the league average score would be 100 (and this is all ballpark-adjusted and .). So an average pitcher's ERA+ is 100. Brad Lidge, he who "clearly doesn't deserve to bake the All-Star team," has an ERA+ of 479. 479! The next best pitcher (well, reliever, but relievers have the highest scores) in all of baseball is Mariano Rivera. His ERA+? Only a measly 384. That's how much Brad Lidge is the best pitcher, not only ahead of Valverde, but the best in all of baseball. By far.

Oh yeah, Trevor Hoffman's career ERA+ is 144.

Yeah, Hardball Times is where I get all that fun stuff.

ERA+ is a good stat, I tend to use FIP, though it's not ballpark adjusted.

I would be interested in seeing Rivera's ERA+ in save situations, or FIP for that matter... he's only given up 1 run in 24+ innings, I believe.