And Yet...

Since last I wrote about the All-Star game, the fans and managers have done everything they could to alter the story. After I complimented their collective sagacity, the fans voted the wrong two players into the game and the managers added their personal favorites to replace injured worthies.

Fans chose 29-year-old Shane Victorino as the last addition to the NL squad over Matt Kemp, among others. Victorino is a dashing young player sporting a park-inflated .851 OPS and 15 steals in 20 attempts. He is unlikely to keep that up, even with Citizens Bank Park on his side.

Matt Kemp is younger, at 25, more dashing, with 19 steals in 23 attempts, and easily out-hitting the Flyin' Hawaiian despite playing in one of the most offense-allergic parks in baseball. His .324 average and .892 OPS are much more in line with expectations. Fangraphs also rates Kemp as twice the fielder Victorino is. But he is seriously lacking a cool nickname.

Then Charlie Manuel added insult to injury by skipping over Kemp to pick his third outfielder, 30-year-old journeyman Jayson Werth, as an injury replacement. Werth's park-inflated .895 OPS and 12 steals in 14 attempts is impressive, and he might very well be the best-looking player in the NL, but he is no Matt Kemp and he is playing well over his head. In short, Charlie Manuel picked his guy over a player who is having a better year at the plate and in the field in a tougher ballpark who is younger and already more accomplished. Sigh.

In the AL, fans chose Brandon Inge at third over Ian Kinsler at second. This is more defensible because Inge is a nice glove man who's made the unusual move from catcher and is swatting big flies so far this campaign. My problem with Inge is that the third baseman missing from the game is not so much him, but this Rodriguez fellow who is merely the second-best ballplayer on the planet. I understand that some look askance at his struggles and missed games, but despite a hip that will still require off-season surgery, ARod has put up a .943 OPS (not counting today's two dingers) and has already blasted 17 homers in 195 at bats. By year's end he will be a top-eight MVP candidate and we'll be struggling to get that pesky Inge off our shoes.

Joe Maddon's contribution to the mayhem was to add the Rangers' exciting outfield phenomenon Nelson Cruz as an injury replacement for Torii Hunter. Cruz is a defensive stud with an Uzi connected to his shoulder and he has blasted 21 homers out of the sandlot in Arlington. He is a sentimental choice, playing his first full season at age 29, which means his career's expiration date can't be far off. Compare that to Kinsler, a fourth-year Ranger on a Hall of Fame track who has but one less homer in the same park, plays a tougher position, and is far less replaceable. If Maddon needed an outfielder, I would have suggested Jermaine Dye. His OPS is 70 points higher than Cruz's and, while not the fielder, he's crushed 20 long balls in a real baseball stadium.

I don't want to belabor the point, because other than snubbing Kemp, and a few odd pitching selections, the rosters really do form a reasonable representation of the best players in the game having the best years. Maddon is one of the three best managers in the game in my opinion and the fans really did try to pick the most deserving players.

So enjoy the game, and even more, enjoy the second half of the season. Man, it's going to be great.
b