Two very deserving individuals got voted into the All-Star game by the fans when Hideki Okajima and Chris Young were awarded the final slots on Thursday. The fans narrowed it down from 5 to one and Okajima and Young were the picks.
Chris Young, unquestionably deserves to be there. He was been lights out all year long and he and Jake Peavy have carried the Padres rotation. This was definitely the biggest snub of the All-Star Game so its good to see that it was corrected. If he was pitching for an team based on the eastern seaboard, he would certainly be an All-Star. Sadly, he was a victim of the all-to-real East Coast bias.
Hideki Okajima, on the other hand, is a reliever and a very impressive one at that. If someone were to tell you back in April that Okajima would be going to San Francisco in July and Daisuke would be staying home, that person would be regarded as crazy. Okajima received absolutely no hype coming in but has been the best reliever in the Red Sox bullpen, posting better numbers than even Jonathan Papelbon. He has been at or near the top of the AL in ERA all season long, which is no easy task for AL relievers to do. The only aspect of Okajima’s inclusion that I would have an issue with would be the fact that no other middle relievers got into the game or honestly, were even considered for a spot. Well, I suppose Pat Neshek of the Twins received some votes, but guys like Rafael Betancourt of the Indians, Heath Bell of San Diego and Ryan Franklin of St. Louis (who received a nice extension on Thursday so congrats) all deserved a good hard look and I doubt they got it.
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