Results tagged ‘ St. Louis ’
Meet Me in St. Louis – Part II
Just as I did yesterday, it’s time again to follow up and check on the American League ballot. Here are the AL starters if voting ended today:
C – Joe Mauer
1B – Kevin Youkilis
2B – Ian Kinsler
SS – Derek Jeter
3B – Evan Longoria
OF – Jason Bay
OF – Josh Hamilton
OF – Ichiro
And here is the lineup that I chose a little less than a month ago:
C – Victor Martinez
1B – Youkilis
2B – Kinsler
SS – Jason Bartlett
3B – Longoria
OF – Bay
OF – Nick Markakis
OF – Nick Swisher
Just like my National League picks, I have four correct at this point, with one player (Bartlett) in second place. We’ve also made some noise in pushing Bartlett up the ballot, but there is no chance, especially with his ankle injury and ensuing stint on the disabled list that he’ll catch Derek Jeter, whom he trails by 582,000 votes. In fact, Jeter has more votes than Bartlett and Texas’ Elvis Andrus combined.
1B – This call is no easier to make than it was the first time around. I can make an argument for any of the players currently in the top four: Youkilis, Mark Teixiera, Justin Morneau and Miguel Cabrera. Despite a stay on the 15-day DL with an oblique problem, Youkilis is continuing to rake at .366/.478/.672, trailing only Minnesota’s Joe Mauer in OBP and Slugging percentage among everyday players. After a miserable April, Mark Teixeira had a monster month since teammate Alex Rodriguez returned to the lineup. Teixiera batted .330 with 13 homers and 34 RBI in May. Morneau boasts at .342 batting average and leads the group with 47 RBI. Cabrera trails only Youkilis in average at .355. This race is too close to call, but I’m going with Kevin Youkilis because he has been the most consistent since Opening Day. All four players certainly deserve to be in St. Louis. Youkilis leads Teixeira by almost 94,000 votes.
2B – Ian Kinsler leads the group in homers (13), RBI (39) and is tied with Brian Roberts of Baltimore with 10 stolen bases, so on paper, there is no need to change this vote. That said, I am changing to Toronto’s Aaron Hill. Through the recent skid his Blue Jays team has gone through, Hill has remained a relative constant. He leads all of baseball with 77 hits and ranks third in the AL with 120 total bases. His .333 average is tops among AL 2B and his 12 HR and 37 RBI are second only to Kinsler. He is currently fourth on the ballot behind Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia and Robinson Cano. Kinsler leads Pedroia by 146,000 votes.
SS – I’m sticking to my guns with this one and voting for Tampa Bay’s Jason Bartlett. Don’t get me wrong, Derek Jeter is having a great season and was one of the few guys who played well for the Yankees when they weren’t playing so great in April and early May. I just don’t know how Bartlett can be ignored; his .373 batting average is the best in baseball, he has the same amount of homers as Jeter (seven) and has five more RBI and four more stolen bases than the Yankee captain, despite the fact that he hasn’t played since 5/24 with an ankle injury that’s sent him to the disabled list. Jeter is a reputation vote if there ever was one. As mentioned above, Jeter leads Bartlett by 582,000 votes.
3B – No reason to deviate from Evan Longoria, the AL’s leading vote-getter. He continues to lead all of baseball with 55 RBI and he ranks second in the AL (third overall) with 124 total bases. He ranks second among AL 3B with a .327 average. The 2008 Rookie of the Year has gone from playing at Class AAA Durham to a serious MVP contender in a mere 14 months. Longoria leads Michael Young by 594,000 votes.
C – I’m going to write what everyone is thinking: Joe Mauer is the best hitter in the American League and maybe even on the planet. He began the season on the 15-day DL, but since joining the Twins on May 1st, Mauer is hitting .414/.500/.838 with 11 homers and 32 RBI. Oh, by the way, his career high for home runs in a season is 13, set in 2006. Victor Martinez has played the whole season and has only five more RBI and three fewer homers. He’ll likely be chosen as the Tribe’s lone representative, but Mauer, no doubt, deserves the start. Jason Varitek has also had a nice season and deserves to be in St. Louis as well. Mauer leads Varitek by 362,500 votes.
OF – No argument with Boston’s Jason Bay. In his first full-season in the AL, the Canadian is trailing only Longoria with 49 RBI. He also leads AL OF with 15 HR. Manny who?
I’m going to vote for a Baltimore Oriole again, but it’s not Nick Markakis, it’s Adam Jones. In the second season with the O’s, Jones is showing no signs of cooling off in 2009. His .346 batting average trails only Ichiro (.352) and he has 11 HR and 36 RBI, which trails only Bay, Torii Hunter and Markakis (tied with Nelson Cruz).
Nick Swisher has probably played the worst of anyone since being named on my ballot in early May and despite a few nice games in Cleveland, this weekend, it’s not enough to keep around. The third spot is going to one of the guys who narrowly missed the cut the first, time around, the Angels’ Torii Hunter. No one will argue that he’s one of the best defensive players in the game and in 2009, he has 12 HR and 42 RBI to back it up.
Photo Credits:
Kevin Youkilis
Joe Mauer
Meet Me in St. Louis
As we turn the calendar to June today, I will look back at the way I voted for the National League All-Stars and make a few revisions. The latest results released by MLB this afternoon show the starters to be as follows:
C – Yadier Molina
1B – Albert Pujols
2B – Chase Utley
3B – David Wright
SS – Hanley Ramirez
OF- Ryan Braun
OF- Raul Ibanez
OF – Alfonso Soriano
This is the lineup I picked a month a go:
C – Bengie Molina
1B – Pujols
2B – Utley
3B – Zimmerman
SS – Hanley
OF – Carlos Beltran
OF – Raul Ibanez
OF – Manny Ramirez (later changed to Andre Ethier upon Man-Ram’s suspension)
A month later, that’s four correct picks with two others in second place (Zimmerman and Beltran – technically he’s fourth). First off, I want to thank baseball fans everywhere for heeding the call last week to stop voting for J.J. Hardy and showing love for Ibanez, who climbed up from sixth to second in about a week’s time.
Here is how I’m casting a ballot today:
1B – I still have to give the vote to Albert Pujols, this year’s hometown hero. His average has dropped to a more realistic .339 since May 7th (when I wrote the first post), but the power numbers continue to be there with 16 homers and 42 RBI. Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres has more homers (20) and Prince Fielder has more RBI (48), but their averages are nowhere close to Pujols’, plus he’s still a decent threat in the running game with seven steals. I am surprised that Gonzalez is all the way back in fourth place behind Pujols, Fielder, Ryan Howard and Joey Votto. Gonzalez will be in St. Louis as a Padres representative, perhaps along with Heath Bell. Pujols leads Fielder by 713,000 votes.
2B – Chase Utley and Orlando Hudson are both making great cases to be the NL’s starter at second base. Utley is hovering near .300 with 11 home runs and 33 RBI. Hudson is setting the table for one of the best offensive teams in baseball with a .332 batting average, three homers and 31 RBI. The O-Dog also leads the NL in hits with 70. He’s been put into the third spot in the lineup by manager Joe Torre and he’s hardly skipped a beat. The best team in baseball should have a starter in the lineup and since it won’t be Manny Ramirez, it should be Orlando Hudson. Hudson currently trails Utley by over 625,000 votes.
SS – Hanley Ramirez remains the class of a weak crop of NL shortstops this season. Batting .330 with eight homers, 23 RBI and eight stolen bases is clearly the best of this bunch. Miguel Tejada and Cristian Guzman are putting together pretty solid seasons, but they play for last-place teams and aren’t being noticed like they should. Guzman has also been nicked up quite a bit this season. Ramirez leads Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins by 16,600 votes.
3B – Much the same as second base, David Wright and Ryan Zimmerman are both playing well and deserve a chance to run out onto the field in the top of the first inning in St. Louis. It’s tough to decide because, while Zimmerman’s Nationals have been playing poorly from the word go, he has remained a constant bright spot. He had this season’s longest hitting streak to-date at 30 games, he’s batting .319 and leads all NL 3B with 35 RBI. Wright’s home run numbers are down – only three this season, but he’s still knocking in runs (30) and is a threat to steal (12 SB). In addition, the Mets are only a half-game out of first place. No matter, I’m still voting for Ryan Zimmerman at this point, who trails Wright by almost 204,000 votes.
C – In the first entry, I wavered between which of the Catching Molina Bros. I would give my vote to, eventually deciding on the elder, Bengie. I’ve wavered again and now my vote lies with St. Louis’ Yadier, even though Bengie has 10 more RBI (32) than any other NL backstop (Pudge Rodriguez has 22). He’s also tied with Chris Iannetta with eight homers. It’s not right that Bengie is not even in the top five, but I do think he’ll be chosen to back-up little brother in the game. I enjoy Yadier’s all-around game better and I try to put hometown starters in the game where possible. Molina leads Milwaukee’s Jason Kendall by more than 157,000 votes.
OF – Outfield is always one of the toughest positions to sort out because you have about 45-50 players to sort through to get to the top three. Raul Ibanez remains a no-brainer for me. He leads the position in homers (17) and RBI (46) and he is in the top five in batting average (.332). Ryan Braun has also proved that he is worthy of a starting spot. The left fielder for the first-place Brewers has nine home runs and 32 RBI while maintaining a .316 batting average.
For the final selection, I’m going completely off the radar. In fact, I’m choosing a player who isn’t even in the top 15 at his position as released this afternoon: Colorado’s Brad Hawpe. Hawpe is batting .348 with seven home runs and 39 RBI. Perhaps this weekend’s managerial change will get the Rockies pointed in the right direction and will have more people noticing Brad Hawpe in the final month before the game. Carlos Beltran trails Alfonso Soriano for third place by 33,000 votes. Manny Ramirez is in fifth place and Mike Cameron in sixth.
Photo credits:
Ryan Zimmerman
Brad Hawpe
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