All-Star Shutout

Thankfully, Tony LaRussa and Jim Leyland got it right. On Monday, they announced that their starting pitchers for the 2007 All-Star Game would be Dan Haren of the Oakland Athletics for the AL and Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres for the NL.

Both men have seen their numbers rise some in recent weeks but overall, there has not been two more complete and dominant pitchers over the course of the year. This honor was well deserved for both Haren and Peavy.

The other options in the AL were not in the running in my opinion but in the NL, it was a tighter race as Chris Young, Peavy’s teammate in San Diego, and Brad Penny, last years All-Star starter, have had phenomenal seasons as well, keeping pace with Peavy at the top of the NL pitchers stats.

Should be a fine showdown between these two quality pitchers as they try and put down the most dominant hitters in the game. Reason # 459,911 why the MLB All-Star Game is better than any other All-Star game.

All-Star Game Starter

Everybody’s talking about yesterday’s showdown between C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander as the competition for All-Star Game starter. Verlander came away with the victory and has his manager, Jim Leyland, making the all-important decision.

I suppose Josh Beckett gets a vote too. He has been fairly inconsistent though this season, and similar to Sabathia's case, I'm not a big believer in Wins as a vital statistic. Only time will tell who Leyland goes for, but me, I’m a Dan Haren backer. The guy has been amazing all season and led MLB in ERA for 90% of the season. Haren has an ERA that is .96 better than Verlander’s and 1.38 better than Sabathia’s. He also has more K’s and less walks than Verlander but is behind Sabathia in that category, so if the competition is between anyone, it should be Sabathia and Haren, with my choice being Mr. Haren.

All-Star Preview?

Watched the Padres play the Red Sox this afternoon. This game had been hyped all week long and while it wasn't quite the pitching duel I had expected, it was worth the watch. Jake Peavy took on Josh Beckett, and Beckett came out on top. Beckett was on it all game long going eight strong, leaving it for Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth. Maybe a point of interest here, but David Ortiz just couldn't hit this series and struck out 3 times today and went 1 of 11 overall.

Peavy just couldn’t find it, and due to some rough patches early, he had to leave after five with over 100 pitches thrown. His NL leading ERA jumps a little bit, but he’ll be alright. Royce Ring threw really well in relief, as did Trevor Hoffman.

There is definite talk of these two pitchers starting the All-Star game in a couple of weeks, but it's hard to believe that Beckett would get the nod over Dan Haren of the Athletics who has been filthy all year and leads the MLB in ERA. Peavy should have his locked up for mid-July but Brad Penny may pitch his way into a repeat appearance as the starter at the mid-summer classic.

And on one final note, what’s Julio Lugo doing still starting for the Red Sox as July approaches? Seriously now, with an average under .200 and dropping, can’t Theo Epstein add someone to fill the glaring hole?