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I Demand A Re-count

© Ryan Joseph Robinson

Of all the major sports in North America baseball has the the best all-star festivities. Sorry, NBA, but the Homerun Contest out-slugs the Slam Dunk Contest. Major League Baseball's all-star game itself is head and shoulders above any other all-star game in the known universe (especially when compared to the NHL all-star game, which looks more like a pick-up game of pond hockey). Clemens vs. Piazza. Randy Johnson vs. Ramirez. It's a baseball lover's dream, but with ballot stuffing and managerial favouritism running rampant this season the dream is turning into a nightmare.

Yankees' manager Joe Torre has long been known as a class-act, but his decision to select 7 Yankees to the A.L. all-star roster is about as classy as a hooker at a high school prom. Dir-ty. There is no denying the brilliance of Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera, and Mike Stanton this season, but no other Yankee has dominated their position. As all-star manager, Torre gets to select 21 reserve players (including all of the pitchers). To fill up one third of the reserve roster with his own players is a slap in the face to the thirteen other teams in the American League. Torre is selfishly using the mid-season classic to reward his own players. Shameless.

The Seattle Mariners must be slipping something into the beverages at Safeco Field, because there is no way that the Seattle fans should've voted John Olerud to the starting line-up of the A.L. all-star team. Mariners' second baseman Bret Boone deserves to be there, as he is second in the A.L. in runs batted in. M's outfielder Ichiro Suzuki also deserves to be there, as he is second in the A.L. in batting average, and even though he has his first name on the back of his jersey (don't they do that in Little League?), Suzuki is a worthy all-star.

How did John Olerud get voted as the starting first baseman for the American League? He's solid at first base (.313, 10 homeruns, 56 r.b.i., 53 runs scored), but there are a mitt-full of first baggers who are arguably more deserving of Olerud, including Jim Thome, Rafael Palmeiro, and Fred McGriff. How's this for ballot stuffing: Olerud received MORE THAN TWICE AS MANY VOTES as runner-up first baseman Jason Giambi. Mariners' fans voted Olerud into the all-star game; this reeks of Florida Republican involvement...

Bobby Valentine is the coach of the National League all-star team. Ludicrous. Valentine's Mets are 13 games under .500 this season, but Valentine gets the privilege of coaching the all-star team because he led the Mets to the World Series last season. Last season? Quit living in the past. Valentine shouldn't be coaching the Mets, let alone coaching the best players in the National League. The omission of Marlins' outfielder Cliff Floyd from the N.L. all-star roster is a testament to Valentine's selfish pettiness. Floyd has criticized Valentine in the past, and Bobby V extracted some revenge by leaving Floyd off the roster. An outpour of criticism might force Valentine to add Floyd to the roster if someone gets injured, but that wouldn't change the fact that the manager is just plain childish. No wonder the Mets seem to lack direction.

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