Tuesday, June 19, 2007

National League All-Star Team

Yesterday I gave my selections for the American League All-Star game....today I take my shot at the National League....

Catcher - Russell Martin, Los Angeles - the kid is quietly doing the job (.288, 7, 41)
First base - Prince Fielder, Milwaukee - Pujols may be da man, but this year Prince is da king (.290, 25, 54)
Second base - Chase Utley, Philadelphia - quickly becoming the best in the business (.320, 12, 54)
Third base - Miguel Cabrera, Florida - David Wright gets all the press, but Cabrera may be the best player in the league (.332, 16, 51)
Shortstop - Jose Reyes, New York - Reyes is the most dynamic player in the game (.318, 3, 32, 37 sb)
Outfield - Matt Holliday, Colorado - no one outside of the Rockies knows about him (.363, 12, 53)
Outfield - Ken Griffey, Jr, Cincinnati - Junior is having a nice season (.287, 18, 43)
Outfield - Barry Bonds, San Francisco - I may not like him, but the game is played at his house (.287, 14, 31)
Starting pitcher - Jake Peavy, San Diego - the best pitcher in baseball (8-1, 1.82, 103)

The reserves are....
Catcher - Bengie Molina, San Francisco (.295, 6, 33)
First base - Albert Pujols, St. Louis (.305, 16, 45)
First base - Dmitri Young, Washington (.333, 7, 34)
Second base - Freddy Sanchez, Pittsburgh (.296, 1, 23)
Third base - David Wright, New York (.281, 12, 37)
Shortstop - Hanley Ramirez, Florida (.322, 8, 21, 22 sb)
Outfield - Carlos Lee, Houston (.299, 11, 55)
Outfield - Aaron Rowand, Philadelphia (.325, 10, 38)
Outfield - Alfonso Soriano, Chicago (.294, 11, 23)
Outfield - Eric Byrnes, Arizona (.307, 10, 35)


Starting pitcher - John Smoltz, Atlanta (R) (8-3, 2.84, 76)
Starting pitcher - Cole Hamels, Philadelphia (L) (9-2, 3.47, 104)
Starting pitcher - Brad Penny, Los Angeles (R) (8-1, 2.18, 61)
Starting pitcher - Ben Sheets, Milwaukee (R) (7-3, 3.31, 61)
Starting pitcher - Oliver Perez, New York (L) (7-5, 2.93, 76)
Starting pitcher - Matt Morris, San Francisco (R) (7-4, 3.21, 48)
Starting pitcher - Brandon Webb, Arizona (R) (7-4, 3.14, 90)
Closer - Takashi Saito, Los Angeles (R) (1-0, 1.61, 19 saves)
Closer - Francisco Cordero, Milwaukee (R) (0-1, 2.45, 25 saves)
Closer - Trevor Hoffman, San Diego (R) (2-3, 2.08, 19 saves)
Closer - Brian Fuentes, Colorado (L) (0-0, 2.01, 18 saves)

Analysis - The National League have a bunch of "clump" players....and by that, I mean there are many quality and deserving players clumped at one position....take for instance shortstop....I went with Reyes and Ramirez, but could have easily taken Edgar Renteria (Atlanta), Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia), J.J. Hardy (Milwaukee)....the same could be said at first base where Derek Lee of the Cubs and Todd Helton of the Rockies was left off....the Cubs have only 1 representative and I went with Alfonso Soriano because he is starting to swing a hot stick and he is capable of stealing bases, which gave him the nod over Lee....

It was a lot easier getting left-handed pitching in the National League compared to the American League....I have four southpaws, with Oliver Perez being one of the last players to make the team....I went with Perez because #1 he is a southpaw, and #2 last year this time he was down in the minors wondering if he would ever get his head straightened out - and he did....the one player I love on this team is Hanley Ramirez....most people don't know about him....but he was Boston's prize prospect who they traded in order to get Josh Beckett....it looks like it worked out for both teams....

The statistics were through Sunday, June 17th

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