Phightins

Shane and Kinsler... Shane because I have to support my boy, and Kinsler because I have to pick an AL player every time I fill out the ballot. Also I felt bad for him getting overtaken by Pedroia at the last minute.

Gotta give props to Paul Janish though, for going out on the mound and getting his [expletive] handed to him, just to save their bullpen arms.

Holy [expletive].....

The Ibanez injury has kind of been a blessing in disguise. Greg Dobbs has gotten some much needed ABs and his swing looks better by the day. It's nice that everyone who had been struggling is getting their [expletive] in line at the same time (Rollins, Lidge, Dobbs, Madson, hopefully tonight gets Hamels in line as well). Just hope they save some runs for the rest of this series.

Jesus Christ....10 run first inning. 9 came off Cueto who didn't live to see the end of it.

Pretty convenient for the Canadiens...Kovalev to Ottawa and Komisarek to Toronto.

Holliday's home/road splits in his time in Colorado were ridiculous....like, flat out crazy. That stadium made him, and not just from a power perspective. There is a common misconception here...Coors is a "hitters" park and CBP, Great American Ballpark, etc are "homerun hitters" parks. Due to the air the ball happens to fly out of Coors (although not as much as it used to), but that outfield is huge and Holliday took advantage of those gaps like crazy. He isn't the only guy to do it, but he did it better than most. As for Howard, you are way off base. I honestly do not remember the last time Howard hit a "CBP aided homerun" that landed in the first row in right field or the flower bed in left. Pretty much every one he hits would be out of the grand canyon, and the fact that he has hit 12 of his 20 homeruns on the road this season, and that he has more homeruns on the road for his career (99 compared to 98 at home) will speak to this.

As I said in my initial post to you, I thought all along that Hawpe had a decent shot to make the team. As for Marquis, he absolutely did not deserve it over some of the guys who got snubbed. He was a long shot, but somehow he made it. Not quite sure what Charlie was thinking there, but as we are all learning, the selection process is 100% politics from top to bottom.

Poor Sergio, I guess my post jinxed him. He got sent down to AAA yet again today after Scott Eyre was activated from the DL.

Pujols is better than A-Rod in every single aspect of the game, IMO, and it's been that way for a few years.

Matt Holliday owes his career to the massive Coors Field outfield.

Nothing is going right, absolutely no aspect of the game. Thank god the rest of the division has been just as bad. With the Mets series this weekend, it's time to get everything straightened out...

His changeup has been flat and he has been leaving it up over the plate, it is that simple. It hasn't really been the whole year either, just his past few starts. Will he get it straightened out? Who the hell knows, but I sure hope so.

Jack Taschner was designated for assignment to make room for Lopez on the 25 man roster. Congrats to Sergio Escalona, it looks like he will stick on the roster for more than just 3 or 4 days this time. This is his fourth (or maybe fifth) stint with the MLB club this year, and each time he has been with the team for a grand total of 3 or 4 days, gotten into 1 game (if that), and then sent right down to AAA.

The thing about Coors that Holliday misses most is the huge gaps. Honestly I think he might be decent at Citi.

Also, just an FYI, the rosters are a little bit bigger this year. Each roster will have one additional player.

There are a ton of deserving starting pitchers in the NL this year. Would not shock me at all to see Marquis get left out. His numbers really are not that spectacular other than wins. Also, after last year's fiasco where they almost ran out of pitchers, I expect both teams to take as many relievers as possible this year. And the creator of this thread did not leave room for bench players. I can tell you with pretty much certainty that Hawpe will not be starting lol. Decent shot to make the team though.

American League C: Joe Mauer 1B: Kevin Youkilis 2B: Ian Kinsler 3B: Evan Longoria SS: Jason Bartlett OF: Jason Bay OF: Ichiro Suzuki OF: Nelson Cruz 10 P P: Roy Halladay P: Zach Grienke P: Justin Verlander P: Felix Hernandez P: Jered Weaver P: Mark Buehrle P: Mariano Rivera P: Joe Nathan P: Jonathan Papelbon P: David Aardsma National League C: Brian McCann 1B: Albert Pujols 2B: Chase Utley 3B: David Wright SS: Hanley Ramirez OF: Raul Ibanez OF: Ryan Braun OF: Adam Dunn 10 P P: Johan Santana P: Johnny Cueto P: Dan Haren P: Josh Johnson P: Tim Lincecum P: Chad Billingsley P: Francisco Rodriguez P: Heath Bell P: Francisco Cordero P: Trevor Hoffman This does not take into account the "every team must be represented" rule, and there is no bench. I pretty much just threw this together in five minutes, I guarantee I left some people out. I can also tell you that Ryan Howard will almost certainly take one of the bench spots, whether or not you think he deserves it this year. This is one of the perks of having Charlie Manuel manage the team. He knows how much it means to Ryan to play in the AS game in his home town. It sucks this year because there are so many deserving first basemen so it puts Charlie in a bit of a pickle, but I'd be shocked if Howard is not on the team.

I would have liked to see Recchi back in Philadelphia. I am alright with Laperriere, but I would have preferred somebody with a bit more of a scoring touch. We are losing a ton of offensive ability at RW with Lupul and Knuble leaving.

You're a Lost fan ECN?

I love the Boucher signing. As solid a backup goalie as you can find IMO, and for a very small cap hit. We absolutely need a right wing now though, preferably one with a little size.

LOL!!! That is terrible!

Yeah at first glance that seems like a pretty bad contract for a guy who might be retiring in a year.

Rodrigo Lopez will start on Friday night. Most Phillies fans probably had their hearts set on Carrasco, Carpenter, or Drabek, but honestly I think this is the right call. Carrasco clearly isn't ready mentally, and Drabek probably isn't ready physically, so I don't think the Phillies wanted to give one of them the call and spoil them, and get their service clocks started at the same time. Lopez has a lot of big league experience and has been lights out in AAA the past few weeks. Only downside is once he is up, he has to stick on the roster. We can't send him back to AAA or we risk losing him on waivers.

Looks like Brian Boucher will be our backup goalie.