To Omaha and Beyond – Oregon State (50-16) used four North Carolina (54-15) errors, including a key 8^th inning miscue, to beat the Tar Heels by a score of 3-2 as the Beavers won their first College World Series championship in Omaha on Monday night.  With two on and two out in the crucial frame, Andrew Miller, drafted number 6 overall in this year’s amateur draft by Detroit, got pinch hitter Ryan Gipson to bounce one to 2B Bryan Steed.  Steed threw it away, allowing the go ahead run to score.  Oregon State closer Kevin Gunderson, who pitched 5 1/3 in his first start of the year on Sunday, came on with two on and one out to get the Beavers out of a 9^th inning jam and preserve the win.  Jonah Nickerson, who was making his 3^rd start in 8 days, got the win with just 2 unearned runs allowed in 6 2/3, and was voted the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.  DN&N congratulates the boys from OSU and salutes the Tar Heels on a great effort. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – Another wild finish in Beantown extended the Red Sox’ major league best - and season high - winning streak to 9 games, but not before the Phillies cracked Boston’s closer, Jonathan Papelbon.  Chase Utley showed why he should be an All-Star by smacking his 14^th home run in the 9^th inning off the rookie with the 0.24 ERA.  It was just the second blown save of the year in 25 chances for Papelbon, and just the second time this season he’s even given up a run, raising his ERA to a still quite impressive and All-Star-like 0.46.  However, after the Phillies grabbed a 7-6 lead in the top of the 12^th, the Sox rallied to tie the game before David Ortiz (for the second consecutive game) ended it with a walk-off hit.  This time a two-out line drive single to left-center brought home Kevin Youkilis with the winning run.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The ice-cold Pirates, losers of a major league high 11 straight, were off on Monday.  They return home Tuesday to face the White Sox who had their ten game win streak snapped on Sunday.  Ian Snell (7-4, 4.84) will take the mound in an attempt to stem the bleeding.  Snell is 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA in June.  He will be opposed by Mark Buehrle (8-4, 3.27).  During the Pirates’ current losing streak, Pittsburgh has been outscored 81-41. During the White Sox’ winning streak, Chicago has outscored its opponents by an 83-33 tally. 

 

Notable from Tuesday

 

Randy Johnson won his 9^th game of the year and the 272^nd of his career, tossing 7 shutout innings to beat Tim Hudson and the Braves 5-2.  Hudson, who began the year with the 6^th highest winning percentage of all-time, dropped to 6-7 for the season and 112-55 for his career, lowering his mark to .6706, the 12^th highest all-time, just behind Babe Ruth’s .6714.

 

Greg Maddux (7-8) allowed three home runs, including Carlos Lee’s 24^th and one of two hit by Prince Fielder, as the Brewers won 6-0 and denied the future HOF’er his 326^th career win.  Neifi Perez had three hits in the game and has 13 hits in his last 32 at bats (.406) while batting .318 (14 for 44) and slugging .455 in June.  Chris Capuano allowed just seven hits in 8+ shutout innings to earn his 9^th win. 

 

On Deck – Roger Clemens (0-1, 3.60) makes his second start of the year facing Nate Robertson (7-3, 3.38) and the Tigers today. Clemens is 25-10 all-time in his illustrious career against Detroit, his third most wins against any opponent. However, he is just 13-11 with a 3.76 ERA all-time in Interleague play.  Also on Tuesday, Derek Lowe (6-3, 2.90) and the streaking Dodgers travel to Minnesota to take on the red hot Twins and their young phenom, Francisco Liriano (7-1, 2.17) who out-pitched Clemens last Thursday. 

 

DN&N’s All-Star selections – National League

 

With voting scheduled to wrap up Thursday in MLB’s annual popularity contest designed to pick the starters for the All-Star game, DN&N thought we’d take some time this week to go over the various candidates for selection, and make our picks for this year’s contest to be held in Pittsburgh on July 11.  Our choices will include 32 players per team, with each team in baseball to be represented as stipulated by MLB rules.  We will choose 12 pitchers per side and 20 hitters per team.  We will not, however, bind ourselves to the results of this year’s fan voting; rather we will simply make our best choices to be selected to participate in this year’s mid-summer classic. 

 

A lot of things went into our thought process, not all of which are detailed in our charts but in the interest of space and time, we’ll just present the mostly relevant information and briefly convey our reasons for our selections. 

 

Some deserving players will miss out; some simply because they were out-performed by other even more worthy players at their position.  Some will miss out due to the need to include a player from each team – an antiquated rule that, in light of the equally ludicrous decision to base home field advantage in the World Series on the outcome of an exhibition, seems in need of a serious second thought.

 

Today we will look at the National League position players and then tomorrow we’ll examine the American Leaguers.  Thursday we’ll make our pitching selections for the NL and on Friday, we’ll unveil our choices for the AL pitching staff.

 

Catcher (all statistics through 6/25 – Leaders in Fan Voting Italicized)

 

Catcher	TM	Fld %	E	PB	CS %	CERA	DP	TC		AVE	OBP	SLG	W/RISP	AB	HR	RBI
Estrada	Ari	1.000	0	7	30	4.32	7	408		0.309	0.329	0.466	0.426	204	6	41
Martin*	LAD	1.000	0	0	31	3.86	3	287		0.307	0.379	0.467	0.341	195	4	33
McCann	Atl	0.990	3	3	38	4.66	2	298		0.352	0.412	0.519	0.267	162	5	22
Lo Duca	NYM	0.988	5	5	23	3.59	1	425		0.280	0.321	0.394	0.230	236	3	22
Barrett	ChC	0.988	5	6	20	4.56	5	412		0.308	0.370	0.508	0.222	195	8	30
Olivo	Fla	0.987	4	2	33	4.10	6	312		0.287	0.317	0.456	0.286	171	6	24
Paulino	Pit	0.982	7	5	41	4.01	1	380		0.303	0.353	0.389	0.267	185	2	17

 

The catcher position has been surprisingly strong this season and the choice was not an easy one.  We go with three backstops and base our decision on a mixture of both offense and defense, which as a former backstop ourselves, we know the importance of. 

 

With sincerest apologies to Michael Barrett and Paul LoDuca, Johnny Estrada, Brian McCann and Russell Martin are our choices at backstop.  Estrada, makes the squad with his consistent mixture of solid hitting and errorless play behind the dish.  Brian McCann does as well with due consideration paid to his .352 batting average through Sunday as well as his .519 slugging percentage.  Rookie Russell Martin, however, has not only been the most consistent behind the plate (0 E, 0 PB), but he has also hit .360 in June after taking over the catching job from Dioner Navarro.  He has helped the Dodgers rise into first place in the West.  Martin not only makes our squad, he’s our surprise choice to start the game.   

 

First Base (all statistics through 6/25 - Leaders in Fan Voting Italicized)

 

1B	TM	AVE	OBP	SLG	W/RISP	AB	HR	RBI		E	FLD %	ZR
Garciaparra	LAD	0.361	0.426	0.574	0.403	216	8	44		1	0.998	0.885
Howard	Phi	0.292	0.357	0.618	0.250	267	25	66		10	0.986	0.814
Pujols*	StL	0.315	0.445	0.751	0.479	197	26	67		2	0.997	0.871
Berkman	Hou	0.313	0.396	0.614	0.397	249	21	65		2	0.996	0.875

 

Albert Pujols is the obvious deserving choice to start this game.  Any way you slice it after that however, someone is not going who should be.  With Lance Berkman as the Astros’ only selection, that leaves – should you, as we do, carry three 1B – Nomar Garciaparra and Ryan Howard to fight for the final spot.  Both are highly deserving choices, yet one must go fishing on July 11.  With apologies to young Howard, we are going with the league’s leading hitter in Garciaparra.  Not only has Nomar been hot all year long, he has been a major reason why the Dodgers are where they are, doing it in the clutch consistently, as evidenced by his .403 mark w/RISP.  Put that together with Howard’s 10 errors and Garciaparra’s fine play at an unfamiliar position, and we’ll resign ourselves to watching Ryan play in many future All-Star games.  Just not this one. 

 

Second Base (all statistics through 6/25 - Leaders in Fan Voting Italicized)

 

2B	TM	AVE	OBP	SLG	W/RISP	AB	HR	RBI		E	FLD %	ZR
Uggla	Fla	0.313	0.366	0.532	0.323	265	13	43		6	0.983	0.822
Phillips	Cin	0.310	0.357	0.461	0.324	232	7	43		5	0.983	0.830
Vidro	Was	0.307	0.362	0.404	0.291	277	5	29		2	0.993	0.794
Weeks	Mil	0.290	0.377	0.424	0.224	262	7	24		20	0.940	0.751
Utley	Phi	0.288	0.358	0.490	0.377	292	13	43		7	0.981	0.801
Carroll	Col	0.343	0.420	0.460	0.216	198	3	12		0	1.000	0.849

 

Dan Uggla has impressed DN&N this season with his average and power numbers as well as his steady play in the field.  We even strongly yearn to start him, but we will be content to select the rookie to his first All-Star game as a backup to starter Chase Utley.  Though Uggla’s overall BA, OBP and SLG are higher, Utley is rewarded in part due to his well-earned status as the best 2B in the league.  Rickie Weeks, were it not for his 20 errors, would merit consideration for selection, but the surprising Jamey Carroll instead edges out the also surprising Brandon Phillips to earn our third 2B spot. Carroll’s versatility – he can play second, third and short – along with his .343 BA and spotless play in the field make him in All-Star in our book.

 

Third Base (all statistics through 6/25 - Leaders in Fan Voting Italicized)

 

3B	TM	AVE	OBP	SLG	W/RISP	AB	HR	RBI		E	FLD %	ZR
Sanchez	Pit	0.351	0.388	0.500	0.375	248	4	39		4	0.967	0.773
Cabrera	Fla	0.347	0.443	0.570	0.373	265	11	49		11	0.943	0.711
Rolen	StL	0.341	0.409	0.559	0.294	229	9	48		6	0.971	0.812
Wright*	NYM	0.336	0.402	0.606	0.369	292	18	64		9	0.950	0.724

 

It was a mighty hard decision to leave Sanchez off this team, but with the competition he’s up against and the roster restraints involved, he’s also the obvious one.  There just simply is not enough room.  Both Rolen and Wright can each lay a certain claim to the starting job.  But our pick is David Wright.  He doesn’t give you the defense you’d get from Rolen, but we think a lot of him and his chances for a second half run at the MVP and he is our choice to start at 3B for this years NL squad.  Cabrera has earned his spot with his impressive hitting, but it’s his ability to play the outfield that offsets his not-so-impressive defense at third.

 

Shortstop (all statistics through 6/25 - Leaders in Fan Voting Italicized)

 

SS	TM	AVE	OBP	SLG	W/RISP	AB	HR	RBI		E	FLD %	ZR
Eckstein	StL	0.320	0.380	0.378	0.283	291	1	17		5	0.984	0.914
Vizquel*	SF	0.304	0.388	0.404	0.317	260	3	23		1	0.993	0.847
Renteria	Atl	0.302	0.385	0.445	0.267	265	8	30		8	0.972	0.797
Reyes	NYM	0.302	0.361	0.495	0.289	325	8	36		7	0.977	0.877
Hall	Mil	0.277	0.330	0.584	0.263	238	15	36		9	0.951	0.819
Wilson	Pit	0.275	0.314	0.404	0.280	265	7	23		11	0.966	0.810

 

As we did with the catcher position when we placed a premium on defense, we do the same with the shortstop position. Combine that key aspect of the position with some solid and timely hitting, and you have Omar Vizquel, the NL starting SS.  Omar is currently riding a 55 game errorless streak that has his fielding percentage at .993 while his ZR of .847 is the 6^th best in the league.  So while the venerable veteran may have lost a small step, the Giants defensive wizard remains one of the top fielding SS in the game.  David Eckstein has the top average among SS at .320, while both Vizquel and Renteria have higher OBP and SLG.  However we favor Eck’s defense over that of Renteria or Reyes, and we are not easily fooled by Reyes’s sudden surge (.250 in each of the first two months does not an All-Star make).  While we appreciate the fine June he’s having, we have noticed Eckstein’s consistency throughout the year and award him with the backup spot to Vizquel. 

 

Outfield (all statistics through 6/25 - Leaders in Fan Voting Italicized)

 

OF	TM	AVE	OBP	SLG	W/RISP	AB	HR	RBI		E	FLD %	ZR
Bay*	Pit	0.290	0.407	0.562	0.234	276	20	56		1	0.994	0.860
Holliday*	Col	0.353	0.397	0.612	0.325	286	15	54		3	0.977	0.873
Soriano	Was	0.275	0.340	0.553	0.242	313	24	51		7	0.958	0.837
Lee	Mil	0.271	0.337	0.556	0.310	284	23	60		4	0.964	0.839
A. Jones	Atl	0.288	0.352	0.529	0.276	278	18	64		1	0.995	0.855
Beltran*	NYM	0.285	0.395	0.607	0.318	242	20	59		2	0.989	0.930
Hawpe	Col	0.303	0.386	0.545	0.236	244	13	41		3	0.980	0.884
J. Jones	ChC	0.295	0.325	0.510	0.298	241	13	36		5	0.962	0.890
Green	Ari	0.292	0.345	0.436	0.264	264	7	30		2	0.984	0.859
Abreu	Phi	0.290	0.450	0.481	0.361	241	8	51		1	0.993	0.868

 

The NL squad will likely have seven outfielders but we’re going with six.  A team ought to be able to squeeze by with six All-Star outfielders, but nonetheless, we’ve accounted for that and in a pinch, Miguel Cabrera could be used in the OF.  Without a true right fielder among those we have selected, we’ll move Matt Holliday over from left to start the game.  We’re impressed with the year he’s been having and recognize his .353 average is Coors inflated, but his 7 road home runs versus 8 at home in 10 fewer at bats along with a .329 average tells us he’s just a flat out good hitter.  Jason Bay gets the nod in left for impressive power numbers as well his strong defensive play and maybe even a little bit in recognition of his hometown status.  In center field, Carlos Beltran has simply outperformed Andruw Jones and is worthy of the starting assignment.  Jones certainly makes our squad though, as do Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano.