Lineups and other things

Love the mid summer classic. I would like to see DH used at all times, though. If you are trying to achieve high ratings then offense is the way to go.

I would rather see youk or morneau dhing than hallday hit. same for nl, rather see gonzalez hit then lincecum

Sucks seeing Teixeira in there.. SHOULD BE YOUK!!!!

I think its BS that Wakefiled doesnt get the start.....i mean up until yesterday he led the american league with wins.....i think it has to do with him beating up on the Rays so man times during his career.

Agree with poster 1, and Wakefield got ripped.

I predict an AL win, partly because they haven't lost since.......1996.....

You won't see Halladay or Lincecum hit, they will be taken out before they get to hit...unless one team bats around in the 1st inning....so don't worry about it.

This makes 4 years running that Ichiro will lead off followed by Jeter.

Good point about the DH. People tune in to see offense. Granted, the game is in an NL park but it would be easier to get guys in the game if the DH were used. And we all know how "precious and fragile" pitchers are, so I bet their managers would prefer they don't bat and risk pulling a hammie on the basepaths.

With the number of pitching changes and other substitutions, I would be surprised to actually see either pitcher hit during the game.

nutz, heard of "pinch-hitters"? It's a new concept, FYI.

Hey Bud, Now that inter-league play is accepted either dump the DH rule or use it in the NL . It's quite unfair to AL. lThere is nothing more ridiculus than watching an AL pitcher stand in the batters box taking 3 strikes or even trying to get a hit.
UPDATE PLEASE.

The worst part of Halladay being named the starter is that it means Wakefield won't pitch!The only catcher on the AL squad who can catch or who has caught a knuckler is Mauer and he'll be gone by the 3rd inning.Joe you did the right thing in naming Wakefield to the team and then you pull the bonehead move and don't start the winningest pitcher in the AL.

Hopefully Ichiro fires up the AL again before the game and this time someone has the good sense to record it and post it on youtube.

Wakefield has more wins, but his era is over 4 and doesn't rank in the top 50 in MLB. Sorry Boston fans...Halliday is a better choice...he plays on a weaker team and has 1 less win.

i agree, somebody on the sox got ripped off, but it wasnt wake, it was beckett, he's than halladay coming into the A.S. game! in three july starts beckett is 2-0 and has a 2.78 ERA. Halladay, in only two july starts is 0-1 has a 5.14 ERA. Thats a substantial difference!!

Ellsbury should have made the Allstars. Francona should have kept him at the lead off spot. Francona cost him the ROY award last year. Now he cost him the Allstars. Jacoby. .. Give us all good news by leaving the Redsox and sign with the Seattle Mariners when your a free agent. You will be in home territory. That way us Oregon fans can watch you on a regular, and you know we all love ya! The Boston organization don't see or know what we already know and appreciate. Their fans must have not voted for you enough either. Fenway Park are sold out for rest of the season. If they loved you like we do, you would have held the #1 spot.

Would expect to see Wake early on in the game when Mauer is catching, as he is used to catching the only other active knuckleballer in MLB (RA Dickey) in MIN. Don't see why Mauer wouldn't play at least 4-5 innings giving Wake a shot - Victor Martinez is the only other catcher on the AL roster and he's a 1B half the time anyway.

Forget Wakefield. What about Beckett! He has as many wins as Wakefield and has pitched better than Halladay

Using the DH would give the managers a break too, less double switches and all that and there would seem to be more of a chance that they run out of position players before they run out of pitchers this year. I mean, given the caliber of the pitchers on each side the pitcher's spot would come up a lot and some of those closers will have to hit.

Wins are about as useful for comparing pitchers as RBIs are for hitters.

Both are nearly useless.

Agree, Halliday is the right choice to start. Also agree: Youk should have started, but don't feel as strongly about that. His numbers and Tex's aren't that different. Wake and Youk are the sentimental, Sox-fans choices, but that doesn't hold up to the hard stats.

I'm less concerned about who plays in this game than I am in who plays in October.

Welcome to Pink Hat Central, population: this comment thread.

Seriously, guys, I'm as big of a Wakefield fan as anyone else, but starting the All Star Game? What in god's name is wrong with you people?

Statistically speaking, Wakefield is easily the worst pitcher on the All Star roster. I'm glad he's there and all, but he has no business starting over the likes of Grienke and Halladay. Sure, he leads the league in wins, but his ERA is effectively league average. The only reason he's leading in wins is because he's getting a ton of run support this season. Sure, he may not get into the game, but being there with a 4.30 ERA is a pretty big privilege. Try not to make us all look like moronic homers, guys.

Absolutely no chance a pitcher will bat. If you think about it, it really doesn't matter if there is a DH in the All-Star game or not, as the pitcher will always be pinch hit for.

Did anyone bother to ask Bud what further preventive measures has baseball taken to make dissuade players from taking HGH? Of course not. C'mon, where are all those hard-hitting hardball journalists? The baseball media has its head up its collective a$$, just as it did in 1998 during the Great Home Run Farce.

I wouldn't have Wakefield start; I'd keep Wakefield for the 8th. And I'd keep him in until the 9th, or until it's not tied, because Wakefield could pitch until the NL has bench position players pitching and it wouldn't even be an unreasonable workload for him. (And he's got his mid-season rest afterward since it's his slot that Buchholz is taking.) On the other hand, I'd be sure to save a catcher who can catch him, too, or the NL will win on a walk and three passed balls or something.

Wakefield should not start. It's great to root for your home team (and players) but don't be so ignorant. He made the team, that's more than enough. Madden left his own guy off! It wasn't like Wake was a lock.

Why is it I need to look at boston.com to see the lineups for the All Star game? And when I found them here, no stats are with the players names.
They should have been on the sports front this morning instead of 2 pages of drivel from Stan Grossfeld. No wonder circulation is down. Try to do a better job please.

Halliday throws heat, then the NL has to figure out Wakefield's offspeed junk. Good strategy by the coach. Keep their timing off. Also take the pressure off Wakefied in his 1st All Star game.

I'm happy to the see the Sox get a rest. Let the Yankees play the whole game for I care. They need to rest up for the playoffs! It's a marathon.

What else will Toronto demand in their "ha ha, come and get it" effort to dangle/tease/trade Roy Halladay? That you can't look at his teeth and hoofs? You can't see a mileage report or check the odometer? How about no "pee in the bottle" tests while we are at it? Any team stupid enough to give in to Ricciardi at this point deserves to lose their shirts. Wait another year and Toronto will be desparate to unload him. We know the Sox won't bite, and that is the way it should be. In baseball, one man doesn't make that big a difference.

Boston fans are being misled, as according to some Yankees sites, discussions are already under way with the Jays and Yankees discussing a proposed deal. Wake up Boston, they are beating us to the punch again.

"Also agree: Youk should have started, but don't feel as strongly about that. His numbers and Tex's aren't that different. "

A quick perusal of their splits says differently. Even with his slump lately, Youkilis' numbers are overall monumentally better when you take their road splits into account. While Youk is batting pretty consistently in Fenway and out, Tex has pretty good NYS numbers floating some pretty pedestrian road numbers (Pedestrian for a general position, but as far as first basemen, he's one of the worst in the league on the road). Tex is batting a paltry .251 on the road and only around a third of his home runs have been outside of Yankee Stadium, with most of them at YS over that extremely short right field wall (Only, I think, three of his homers this season were to left at YS).

Morneau should be starting, Youkilis should be backing him up and Teixeira shouldn't even be there. His numbers are simply not consistent enough to consider him an All Star. He belongs there about as much as Johnny Damon would (Another Yankee having a career year in Yankee Stadium, but doing merely average everywhere else).