HR Derby: Monday,July 14th 8:00pm on ESPN


Lance Berkman
Houston Astros

Ryan Braun
Milwaukee Brewers

Josh Hamilton
Texas Rangers

Evan Longoria
Tampa Bay Rays

Justin Morneau
Minnesota Twins

Grady Sizemore
Cleveland Indians

Dan Uggla
Florida Marlins

Chase Utley
Philadelphia Phillies

It would be fun to see what Marcus could do in this. Maybe the dunk contest should only be open to all-stars. (nobody would do it)

79 All Star Game: Tuesday, July 15th 8:00pm


American League

Pos Player B/T

C Joe Mauer, MIN L/R
1B Kevin Youkilis, BOS R/R
2B Dustin Pedroia, BOS R/R
SS Derek Jeter, NYY R/R
3B Alex Rodriguez, NYY R/R
OF Josh Hamilton, TEX L/L
OF Manny Ramirez, BOS R/R
OF Ichiro Suzuki, SEA L/R
DH David Ortizº, BOS L/L

Pitchers

Pos Player B/T

P Justin Duchscherer, OAK R/R
P Roy Halladay, TOR R/R
P Scott Kazmir, TB L/L
P Cliff Lee, CLE L/L
P Joe Nathan, MIN R/R
P Jonathan Papelbon, BOS R/R
P Mariano Rivera, NYY R/R
P Francisco Rodriguez, LAA R/R
P Ervin Santana, LAA R/R
P Joe Saunders, LAA L/L
P George Sherrill, BAL L/L
P Joakim Soria, KC R/R

Reserves

Pos Player B/T

C Dioner Navarro, TB S/R
C Jason Varitek, BOS S/R
1B Justin Morneau, MIN L/R
2B Ian Kinsler, TEX R/R
SS Michael Young, TEX R/R
3B Joe Crede, CWS R/R
3B Carlos Guillen, DET S/R
3B Evan Longoria, TB R/R
OF J.D. Drew, BOS L/R
OF Carlos Quentin, CWS R/R
OF Grady Sizemore, CLE L/L
DH Milton Bradley, TEX S/R



National League

Pos Player B/T

C Geovany Soto, CHC S/R
1B Lance Berkman, HOU S/L
2B Chase Utley, PHI L/R
SS Hanley Ramirez, FLA R/R
3B Chipper Jones, ATL S/R
OF Ryan Braun, MIL R/R
OF Kosuke Fukudome, CHC L/R
OF Matt Holliday, COL R/R
OF Alfonso Sorianoº, CHC R/R

Pitchers

Pos Player B/T

P Aaron Cook, COL R/R
P Ryan Dempster, CHC R/R
P Dan Haren, ARI R/R
P Brad Lidge, PHI R/R
P Tim Lincecum, SF L/R
P Carlos Marmol, CHC R/R
P Ben Sheets, MIL R/R
P Edinson Volquez, CIN R/R
P Billy Wagner, NYM L/L
P Brandon Webb, ARI R/R
P Brian Wilson, SF R/R
P Kerry Wood, CHC R/R
P Carlos Zambrano, CHC S/R

Reserves

Pos Player B/T

C Russell Martin, LA R/R
C Brian McCann, ATL L/R
1B Adrian Gonzalez, SD L/L
1B Albert Pujols, STL R/R
2B Dan Uggla, FLA R/R
3B Aramis Ramirez, CHC R/R
3B David Wrightª, NYM R/R
SS Cristian Guzman, WAS S/R
SS Miguel Tejada, HOU R/R
OF Corey Hart, MIL R/R
OF Ryan Ludwick, STL R/L
OF Nate McLouth, PIT L/R


I'd be shocked to see anything but an American League win.

I agree on Marcus.

He's like the American League's version of Adam Dunn.

don't forget to get your fill of "the greatest stadium of all time" over the next couple days too

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/images/ballpark/ballpark1.jpg

Never been to Yankee Stadium, but man those LF seats have to suck. How can you even see from there?

Thames would be a monster in the HR competition...unless they throw him curve balls low and away.

Red Sox - 7 total players on roster

Yankees - 3 players on the roster

Game -- at Yankee Stadium

LOL.

Also, WTF with Eva Longoria at 3B?? I thought her position was catcher.
WOOO HOOOOO HOOOOO HOOO HAWWW HAWWWW HAWWW.....*?

lol at carlos marmol and jason varitek being all-stars...

like hell

I don't get Varitek being on there either. Some questionable ones are OK because you have to represent every team. No reason for Varitek though.

NEW YORK -- Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee ace Ben Sheets were picked as the starting pitchers for Tuesday night's All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

Lee is 12-2 with a 2.31 ERA, a remarkable resurgence after the left-hander was demoted to the minors last season. He was chosen by American League manager Terry Francona of Boston.

"I'm just honored to be here, to be honest with you," Lee said Monday. "To get the start is just icing on the cake. ... I'm kind of awe-struck by it."

NL manager Clint Hurdle of Colorado tabbed Sheets, who is 10-3 with a 2.85 ERA. Several other National League All-Stars pitched Sunday, making the well-rested Sheets a logical choice.

Alright Hamilton!

Josh Hamilton is a golden god.

die Berman

Fuck a Twin.

Jonathan Papelbon has poor grammar and likes to go 3rd person.


Papelbon says he should close, then defers to Rivera
ESPN.com news services

Updated: July 15, 2008, 10:11 AM ET

Confidence is a key element in a relief pitcher's mental make-up. And Boston's Jonathan Papelbon and the Yankees' Mariano Rivera, two of the game's best closers, don't lack for it.

Consider Papelbon, who on Monday suggested -- before toning down his comments -- that he should pitch the ninth in Tuesday night's All-Star Game rather than Rivera, even though the game is at Yankee Stadium.

"We've both earned that right; us, by winning the World Series and having the opportunity of having our manager there and our team being represented, and Mariano by what he's done for this role, we're in Yankee Stadium and blah, blah, blah," Papelbon said. "It's not that easy. Everybody thinks it's a cut and dry answer, but it's not."

"If I was managing the team, I would close," Papelbon said. "I'm not managing the team, so it don't matter."

But Rivera feels the same way about taking the mound for the ninth. "It's definitely tough, but we're here in Yankee Stadium. I think I should get the shot," Rivera said. "I definitely would love to. Knowing [Red Sox manager] Terry Francona, I have a feeling he'll put me there if we have the opportunity to close the game."

Francona, who is managing the AL thanks to Boston's 2007 World Series triumph, was mum when asked who would pitch the ninth. "Out of the spirit of the game and competition, and having a little bit of fun, we're not going to announce the rest of our rotation yet," Francona said.

In additional comments on Monday, Papelbon lessened the suspense, saying Rivera should get the nod.

"I'm making a statement right now, saying I don't want it, I want [Rivera] to have it. I said all that earlier, but that's the way I feel about it," Papelbon said.

"This is what I think, of course I want to close the game out. I wouldn't be Jonathan Papelbon if I didn't want to close the game out," he said. "But at the same time, there's also things within this game I have to understand and people have to understand. It doesn't always work out that way.

"I feel I owe a lot to this game and that's one of the things I owe to this game, to let an elder statesman go ahead of me."

That little jagoff Lincecum ended up in a NYC hospital with "dehydration and flu like symptoms" this morning and might not be available tonight.

What do you think he was doing last night?

Could have the flu......

Bad diarrhea caused by dehydration. Can't really play with that.

It's nice of you to give him the benefit of the doubt.

You're right, it must just be a coincidence.

There's nothing to do in NYC when you feel like celebrating your first All Star selection, anyways.

Exactly. Such a boring poh-dunk town.

That little jagoff Lincecum ended up in a NYC hospital with "dehydration and flu like symptoms" this morning and might not be available tonight.

What do you think he was doing last night?

Did he pee in your cherios? I read the SI story on him (he was just on the cover) and he seemed like a pretty good kid actually.

Wow, you've gotta be kidding me. Two errors by Uggla leads to the bases being loaded for the AL with nobody out, and the NL ends up getting out of the inning.

I've never seen so many blown opportunities in a game before.

JD Drew, trying and be a hero.

This is great. Kazmir wasn't supposed to pitch at all, let alone more than an inning. If this goes more than another inning, they seriously have to consider bringing in a position player to pitch, and since they're out of bench guys, Kazmir would then have to play in the field as well.

Bases loaded, so it may all be moot.

En9eiH4dTK0

Sooooo, what happened?

They should have won long before that. The umps missed 3 or 4 calls at bases. Guys stole 2nd with phantom tags that were missed and one AL player scored at home (the catcher that was in there) but they called him out. The ball beat him but the tag was above his leg and missed. They jacked up 3-4 calls while I was watching, and I only saw innings 10-15.

Ichiro’s speech to All-Stars revealed
By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
Jul 15, 12:22 pm EDT

NEW YORK – Piece by piece, the legend started to reveal itself.

“How do you know about that?” Michael Young asked.

A whisper here. A story there. Something about the greatest pregame speech since Rockne invoked the Gipper, one laced with profanity and delivered to the American League All-Stars every year.

“It’s why we win,” David Ortiz said.

He pointed to Ichiro Suzuki, the Seattle Mariners’ wisp of an outfielder, a man who still uses a translator to do interviews with English-speaking reporters – and happens to be baseball’s amalgam of Anthony Robbins and George Carlin. Every year, after the AL manager addresses his team, Ichiro bursts from his locker, a bundle of kinetic energy, and proceeds, in English, to disparage the National League with an H-bomb of F-bombs, stunning first-timers who had no idea Ichiro speaks the queen’s language fluently and making returnees happy that they had played well enough to see the pep talk again.

The tradition began in 2001, Ichiro’s first All-Star appearance, and the AL hasn’t lost a game since. Coincidence?

Um. No.

“I know how important it is to the game,” Ichiro said. “I’m more concentrated at that moment than I am in the game.”

A wide grin spread across his face. Ichiro’s secret had been exposed, so, hey, why not have fun with it?

He crafts his public portrayal similar to the image he projects on the field: a technician, a warrior, a Ph.D. in stoicism. In reality, Ichiro’s All-Star teammates love him for his wicked sense of humor and sly deceit, shown with a vocabulary far more expansive than he leads on.

All the first baseman around the AL know Ichiro speaks English, singles accounting for 1,393 of his 1,711 hits since joining Seattle in 2001. Generally, the conversation doesn’t move much past pleasantries, which makes the speech all the more shocking.

“That’s kind of what gets you, too,” Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau said. “Hearing him say what he says. At first, I talked to him a little bit. But I didn’t know he knew some of the words he knows.”

The exact words are not available. Players are too busy laughing to remember them. Ichiro wouldn’t dare repeat them in public. So here’s the best facsimile possible.

“Bleep … bleep bleep bleep … National League … bleep … bleep … bleeeeeeeeep … National – bleep bleep bleepbleepbleep!”

“If you’ve never seen it, it’s definitely something pretty funny,” Morneau said. “It’s hard to explain, the effect it has on everyone. It’s such a tense environment. Everyone’s a little nervous for the game, and then he comes out. He doesn’t say a whole lot the whole time he’s in there, and all of a sudden, the manager gets done with his speech, and he pops off.”

And onto the field they go, enemies during the regular season, friends because together they just saw a 5-foot-9, 160-pound man from Japan, a national icon who surely could win office there, create beef where there wasn’t any.

Certainly it ranks high on his list of accomplishments. Two-time AL batting champion. Rookie of the Year. MVP. Unparalleled instigator.

“The cool thing,” Young said, “is that for two days, at least, we call a truce and become a bit of a team.”

It is somewhat bittersweet, then, to change sides and end up playing for the hated National League, as many have done over Ichiro’s eight seasons. These players know the Ichiro effect, relish it, perhaps even need it to win.

And so Miguel Tejada, the longtime Oakland and Baltimore shortstop who made the NL team this season with Houston, wonders whether the speech isn’t so much an Ichiro thing as it is a cultural blessing.

“I hope Fukudome does it this year,” Tejada said.

Kosuke Fukudome, the Cubs outfielder, will start in center field for the NL team. He is not fashion conscious, does not have a sycophantic following and does not start trends. He is, aside from sharing a left-handed swing and exemplary bat control, the anti-Ichiro.

“I have no plans for that,” Fukudome said.

Which leaves the NL hoping for some kind of a miracle. Ichiro was asked how much he believes the speech has contributed to the AL dominance that has stretched more than a decade now.

“I’ve got to say over 90 percent,” he said.

Well, maybe last year. Ichiro went 3 for 3, hit the All-Star Game’s first inside-the-park home run and won MVP honors in the AL’s 5-4 victory. And, remember, he concentrates more on the speech.

At the All-Star interview session Monday, Ichiro readied himself for Tuesday’s performance with his vocal cords – albeit with some trepidation.

“If I don’t say it this year, I want to see if we win or not,” Ichiro said. “Personally, I want to see what happens. But I think Ortiz is going to make something happen.”

Oh, Big Papi knows better than to let an All-Star Game go by without Ichiro’s speech. The winner gets home-field advantage in the World Series, and his Red Sox may need it. And the All-Star Game just wouldn’t feel right without a waif Japanese warrior telling the National League to …

Bleep!

:BARWIS:

I would pay to see that.