NL All-Very Goods @ AL All-Stars

I'm going to stick to my guns and not watch the game tonight. However, I will attempt to objectively analyze the players that are there, whether they deserve to be or not. Let's take a look at the starting lineups in terms of stats, not names and positions.

National League BA/OBP/SLG/OPS

.311/.391/.566/.957
.291/.372/.582/.955
.347/.443/.653/1.096
.350/.466/.608/1.074
.376/.472/.614/1.086
.337/.421/.553/.975
.286/.324/.549/.873
.279/.383/.408/.791
.288/.369/.522/.891

American League BA/OBP/SLG/OPS

.304/.366/.371/.737
.284/.345/.395/.740
.310/.367/.552/.919
.312/.392/.581/.972
.293/389/.518/.908
.316/.440/.610/1.049
.314/.381/.552/.933
.322/.418/.455/.873
.314/.357/.458/.816

It's pretty clear that the NL has a superior starting lineup, both in terms of talent and lineup arrangement, the latter of which probably doesn't matter too much. However, if the NL is going to have a shot at winning, it's probably going to have to come off of Cliff Lee early. With the exception of Jason Varitek, the All-Stars have a stronger bench than the Very Goods. The NL pitchers will have to take advantage of Ichiro and Jeter batting so high because they probably shouldn't be batting 1 and 2.

I'm going to go out on a short limb and say the AL will win this game, and it might not be close. Yeah, I'm bitter. I dislike Clint Hurdle, and I feel that he, the fans and players alike did a poor job in choosing the so called NL stars. These are supposed to be the best of the best, and in some cases, the best are at home while players that are just pretty good are suiting up right now.

The NL is represented by 21 hitters, most of which are damn good players. However, let's look at Ryan Braun for a second. He is 21st in OPS among all NL players, but only 10th among OF. The team has 6 OF, not counting Soriano, so he's probably taking a spot of a more deserving guy, such as Pat Burrell, who has Braun trumped in in OBP, SLG and OPS while hitting the same amount of home runs.

He's not even the worst starting OF for the team. That honor would go to Kosuke Fukudome, the popular Japanese rookie for the Cubs. Having a strong international fanbase and playing for Chicago, Fukudome is obviously a popular player. That's why he's starting the game. However, at 18th among OF in OPS and only slugging .408, there were better choices to be made. These two should not be starting, and it's very debatable whether or not they should even be at the game.

While we're looking at the outfield, let's talk about Corey Hart. Milwaukee, I congratulate you on the campaign you launched to get him voted in as the final player. However, he is inferior to Pat Burrell offensively in just about every way. He has scored fewer runs, doesn't hit for the same power as Burrell and his OBP is a pathetic .327. I'll give Hart the obvious advantage he has in terms of speed and defense, but they don't make him a better player.

Ryan Ludwick? Great story. He's having a great year and deserves to be at the game, but he's not the Cardinals' only rep, so it makes me wonder why he was selected over a better player in Pat. I'm not going to complain about this one as much because he's been damn good this year too. I'm not happy about Nate McLouth being in the game, but I guess the decision-makers felt he was the Pirates' best player. I would argue against that too, but I don't care.

I'm not done yet. Let's talk about reserve players at other positions that I'm wondering about. Why would you take a total of four extra C/1B? I agree that Adrian Gonzalez deserves to be there as the Padres' rep, and Brian McCann should probably be the backup C. For Russell Martin, it comes down to whether or not he should be LA's rep. I thought Saito was deserving, but I'm not going to make a big stink about that one yet.

The rest of the infield is crowded too. Obviously you want a backup 3B, so Aramis Ramirez was a logical choice. David Wright is probably somewhat deserving to go to the game too, but consider the circumstances in which he got in. When it was officially announced that Soriano would not be playing, Matt Holliday replaced him in the lineup, and Hurdle needed a player to take his spot on the roster altogether. Wright is 20th in the NL in OPS, and even though he plays decent defense, there were several more players that should've been taken ahead of him.

Finally, in terms of position players, the SS position. Hanley Ramirez is an awesome player, and he earned the start. Christian Guzman was selected as Washington's rep, and this is irritating on a couple levels. First, I don't think he should've been Washington's guy, and similar to the case of Russell Martin, I think the NL should've taken RP Rauch over the position player. The more egregious selection here is Miguel Tejada. I don't get it. You don't need a third SS, and if you did, Jose Reyes would've been a better choice. His OPS is .739, and the adjusted OPS+ is below 100, which means his home ballpark inflates those already mediocre numbers. As I mentioned earlier, the NL has 21 hitters. Miguel Tejada is not top 21 in OPS, or even top 50. He checks in at 68th. Absolutely baffling.

I alluded to the bullpen a couple times, so now we'll talk about the pitching selections. I agree with most of them. Sheets definitely deserves the nod as the starter, and pitchers like Webb, Zambrano, Lincecum and Volquez are having good years. There are some players like Cook and Dempster that I can see have a case to make the team, but I personally wouldn't have chosen them. Johan Santana and Cole Hamels probably should be there tonight, but they aren't.

The bullpen is absolutely ridiculous. I agree with the selections of Lidge, who will close the game if presented the opportunity, Wagner and Wood. I have to take issue with Brian Wilson. Lincecum is the Giants' first rep, so it's not like they need another player here. I'll congratulate him and the Giants for giving him a lot of save chances (he leads the NL,) and playing a lot of close games, but his ERA is 4.58. Only three other players in the NL have double digit saves and an ERA higher than that. Two of them have lost their jobs, and one of them is a future Hall of Famer. I would take any number of relievers over Wilson, including the previously mentioned Rauch and Saito.

Finally, we have the Kerry Wood injury debacle. Maybe debacle is a strong word for the situation, but it's puzzling nonetheless. Wood was having a great season, and it's definitely one of those nice feel-good stories. He's battled injury after injury and remade himself as a closer. He's second in the NL in saves with an ERA just over 3 with great rates. Great selection for the team. Before the game, he pulled out because of injury concerns. Who's chosen to replace him? Fellow Cub Carlos Marmol. Lou Piniella isn't managing this team, so it doesn't even make sense that the manager would just pick his own guy. Marmol isn't a closer, and most relievers that play in this game are closers. He had a great 2007, and I'll give him that, but it's 2008. He has great rates, but the fact is, there are other relievers with good rates with better ERAs that close. The choices weren't even limited to relievers. He could've easily gone with a Santana or Hamels, but instead, he chose a pretty good set up guy instead of a good closer or great starter.

For all of these reasons, I am not watching the game tonight. The NL has not won since the Great Depression, and their chances don't look any better tonight with the mediocre squad that was put together. I know Major League Baseball or nobody cares that I'm not watching, but if they're not going to put the best players on the field, why bother?