I’d like to congratulate three members of the Minyan on being

selected to the 2009 MLB All Star Game:  Ryan Braun, Kevin

Youkilis and Jason Marquis. 

 

 

 

Ryan was selected as a starter by the fans, receiving the

highest vote total amongst ALL MLB outfielders!!!!  A huge

Chai 5 for the Hebrew Hammer!!! 

 

Youk had been leading the voting for AL 1B for most of the

Spring but was in a tight battle with Mark Teixeira, who

unfortunately beat him by 239,144 votes. 

Youk is thrilled by his selection!!

 

Youk, deservingly, was selected to the team by Tampa Bay

Rays manager Joe Maddon, who is an idiot (see below). 

 

Rockies starter, Jason Marquis, who is leading the NL in

wins with 10  11, was selected to the NL team by Philadelphia

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

 

However, I have a HUGE shankbone to pick with Ian Kinsler

being left off the team!! 

 

 

Ian was the leading vote getter amongst AL second basemen

all the way up to the final vote, then somehow, scruffy Dustin

Pedroia, beat him out by a measely 73,086 votes!!!! 

 

Dustin at the plate

 

So who does Joe Maddon pick??  His own guy, Ben

Zobrist!!!!  Who, you might ask?? 

 

 

Zobrist getting attacked by the batting cage.

 

Exactly is what I say!!!  What a low blow!!!  I now have lost

all respect for him.  Not picking Ian so that his own guy is on

the team??  Please!!! 

 

He must have had WAYYYYYYYYYYY too much of that

wine he likes when making that choice

 

 

 or Zobrist must have something on him!!!

 

 

Below are the total votes received and the resulting rosters. 

I’ll leave it to you, my loyal readers, to determine whether

these rosters are fair or not.  You already heard my opinion

about Ian.  So please go to http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp and

cast your votes for Ian!!!

2009 All-Star Vote Tallies

American League First Basemen 1 Mark Teixeira, Yankees 3,309,050 2 Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox 3,069,906 3 Justin Morneau, Twins 2,186,567 4 Miguel Cabrera, Tigers 1,447,125 5 Chris Davis, Rangers 1,145,037 6 Carlos Pena, Rays 1,083,447 7 Russell Branyan, Mariners 586,020 8 Lyle Overbay, Blue Jays 473,248 Second Basemen 1 Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox 3,404,384 2 Ian Kinsler, Rangers 3,331,298 3 Robinson Cano, Yankees 2,115,056 4 Aaron Hill, Blue Jays 1,233,710 5 Placido Polanco, Tigers 1,032,428 6 Brian Roberts, Orioles 779,159 7 Asdrubal Cabrera, Indians 511,542 8 Akinori Iwamura, Rays 474,552 Shortstops 1 Derek Jeter, Yankees 4,851,889 2 Jason Bartlett, Rays 2,098,422 3 Elvis Andrus, Rangers 1,586,224 4 Marco Scutaro, Blue Jays 1,064,344 5 Jed Lowrie, Red Sox 933,876 6 Adam Everett, Tigers 603,488 7 Alexei Ramirez, White Sox 602,329 8 Nick Punto, Twins 566,629 Third Basemen 1 Evan Longoria, Rays 4,315,210 2 Alex Rodriguez, Yankees 2,350,496 3 Mike Lowell, Red Sox 1,759,195 4 Michael Young, Rangers 1,741,982 5 Brandon Inge, Tigers 891,112 6 Scott Rolen, Blue Jays 850,033 7 Joe Crede, Twins 646,915 8 Chone Figgins, Angels 542,797 Outfielders 1 Jason Bay, Red Sox 4,087,450 2 Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners 2,846,069 3 Josh Hamilton, Rangers 2,412,359 4 Torii Hunter, Angels 2,363,481 5 Carl Crawford, Rays 2,253,397 6 Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox 2,250,799 7 Johnny Damon, Yankees 2,012,368 8 J.D. Drew, Red Sox 1,735,703 9 Nelson Cruz, Rangers 1,715,709 10 Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners 1,669,135 11 Adam Jones, Orioles 1,247,826 12 David Murphy, Rangers 1,101,818 13 B.J. Upton, Rays 1,080,662 14 Curtis Granderson, Tigers 1,068,626 15 Nick Markakis, Orioles 1,049,331 16 Brett Gardner, Yankees 1,033,1031 17 Bobby Abreu, Angels 1,024,786 18 Vladimir Guerrero, Angels 916,404 19 Grady Sizemore, Indians 908,434 20 Magglio Ordonez, Tigers 745,379 21 Michael Cuddyer, Twins 717,940 22 Matt Holliday, Athletics 689,018 23 Pat Burrell, Rays 678,426 24 Jermaine Dye, White Sox 656,536 Catchers 1 Joe Mauer, Twins 4,335,739 2 Jason Varitek, Red Sox 2,225,630 3 Jorge Posada, Yankees 1,916,436 4 Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Rangers 1,497,588 5 Victor Martinez, Indians 1,087,761 6 Dioner Navarro, Rays 569,785 7 Rod Barajas, Blue Jays 545,735 8 Gerald Laird, Tigers 527,388

National League First Basemen 1 Albert Pujols, Cardinals 5,397,734 2 Prince Fielder, Brewers 2,118,947 3 Ryan Howard, Phillies 2,059,760 4 Adrian Gonzalez, Padres 1,504,979 5 Lance Berkman, Astros 922,870 6 James Loney, Dodgers 622,482 7 Carlos Delgado, Mets 567,956 8 Derrek Lee, Cubs 542,371 Second Basemen 1 Chase Utley, Phillies 5,027,029 2 Orlando Hudson, Dodgers 1,703,710 3 Rickie Weeks, Brewers 1,355,204 4 Skip Schumaker, Cardinals 1,191,954 5 Dan Uggla, Marlins 893,916 6 Luis Castillo, Mets 729,780 7 David Eckstein, Padres 727,585 8 Kazuo Matsui, Astros 658,523 Shortstops 1 Hanley Ramirez, Marlins 3,218,917 2 Jimmy Rollins, Phillies 2,246,792 3 J.J. Hardy, Brewers 1,857,288 4 Miguel Tejada, Astros 1,415,539 5 Jose Reyes, Mets 1,114,295 6 Khalil Greene, Cardinals 819,412 7 Rafael Furcal, Dodgers 811,340 8 Ryan Theriot, Cubs 718,058 Third Basemen 1 David Wright, Mets 3,100,863 2 Chipper Jones, Braves 2,035,936 3 Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals 1,681,239 4 Bill Hall, Brewers 1,403,589 5 Pedro Feliz, Phillies 1,380,058 6 Casey Blake, Dodgers 972,763 7 Aramis Ramirez, Cubs 878,993 8 Pablo Sandoval, Giants 758,334 Outfielders 1 Ryan Braun, Brewers 4,138,559 2 Raul Ibanez, Phillies 4,053,355 3 Carlos Beltran, Mets 2,812,295 4 Alfonso Soriano, Cubs 2,692,994 5 Shane Victorino, Phillies 2,123,079 6 Mike Cameron, Brewers 2,018,879 7 Manny Ramirez, Dodgers 1,739,736 8 Corey Hart, Brewers 1,683,452 9 Rick Ankiel, Cardinals 1,632,113 10 Jayson Werth, Phillies 1,542,347 11 Ryan Ludwick, Cardinals 1,427,898 12 Justin Upton, Diamondbacks 1,282,501 13 Adam Dunn, Nationals 1,220,758 14 Matt Kemp, Dodgers 1,145,428 15 Andre Ethier, Dodgers 1,133,863 16 Carlos Lee, Astros 989,889 17 Chris Duncan, Cardinals 886,223 18 Brad Hawpe, Rockies 868,980 19 Hunter Pence, Astros 857,223 20 Kosuke Fukudome, Cubs 828,796 21 Nate McLouth, Pirates/Braves 777,613 22 Garret Anderson, Braves 723,537 23 Milton Bradley, Cubs 695,729 24 Jeff Francoeur, Braves 635,818 Catchers 1 Yadier Molina, Cardinals 2,641,467 2 Brian McCann, Braves 2,375,808 3 Ivan Rodriguez, Astros 1,810,308 4 Jason Kendall, Brewers 1,752,062 5 Bengie Molina, Giants 1,729,471 6 Carlos Ruiz, Phillies 1,417,906 7 Russell Martin, Dodgers 1,172,618 8 Geovany Soto, Cubs 756,900