How Did Our All Star Picks Pan Out?

Before we get down into it, let's discuss last week's poll results. It's clear based on our results that someone didn't follow directions. The poll for starting pitchers for the AL earned 6 votes and were split between CC Sabathia (who didn't even make it!) and Roy Halladay. The NL poll scored 5 votes, with Johan Santana leading the charge with 3. Tim Lincecum tied with Barry Zito with 1 vote. Seriously...who voted for Barry Zito? Serena wouldn't have even voted for Barry Zito. That option was a joke, people! Since two polls are too much for you to handle, we are back to one poll and Barry Zito is still an option.

The rosters for the All Star teams have been released. The starting lineups are as follows:

NL Starting Lineup
Yadier Molina (St. Louis) C
Albert Pujols (St. Louis) 1B
Chase Utley (Philadelphia) 2B
Hanley Ramirez (Florida) SS
David Wright (NYM) 3B
Ryan Braun (Milwaukee) OF
Carlos Beltran (NYM) OF
Raul Ibanez (Philadelphia) OF

AL Starting Lineup
Joe Mauer (Minnesota) C
Mark Teixeira (NYY) 1B
Dustin Pedroia (Boston) 2B
Derek Jeter (NYY) SS
Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay) 3B
Jason Bay (Boston) OF
Josh Hamilton (Texas) OF
Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle) OF

Both Beltran and Ibanez are injured. Neither have confirmed whether or not they'll be able to play. Lisa picked 2 (David Wright and Hanley Ramirez) of the starting 9, however her picks for Adrien Gonzalez and Brian McCann earned spots on the reserve list. Serena also got 2 right (Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter) on the starting 9 for the AL and her picks for Justin Morneau and Carl Crawford made the reserve list. She had considered Evan Longoria briefly, but at the time, his bat had been cold. She's glad to see that he's turned things around.

The confirmed pitching rotations are as follows:

NL Pitchers
RHP Heath Bell (San Diego)
RHP Chad Billingsley (LAD)
RHP Jonathan Broxton (LAD)
RHP Matt Cain (San Francisco)
RHP Francisco Cordero (Cincinnati)
RHP Ryan Franklin (St. Louis)
RHP Dan Haren (Arizona)
RHP Josh Johnson (Florida)
LHP Ted Lily (Chicago Cubs)
RHP Tim Lincecum (San Francisco)
RHP Jason Marquis (Colorado)
RHP Francisco Rodriguez (NYM)
LHP Johan Santana (NYM)

AL Pitchers
RHP Andrew Bailey (Oakland)
RHP Josh Beckett (Boston)
LHP Mark Buehrle (Chicago White Sox)
RHP Zack Greinke (Kansas City)
LHP Brian Fuentes (LAA)
RHP Roy Halladay (Toronto)
RHP Felix Hernandez (Seattle)
RHP Edwin Jackson (Detroit)
RHP Joe Nathan (Minnesota)
RHP Jonathan Papelbon (Boston)
RHP Mariano Rivera (NYY)
RHP Justin Verlander (Detroit)
RHP Tim Wakefield (Boston)

How did we do here? Lisa chose Johan Santana to pitch the entire game. Well, he'll at least pitch part of the game Tuesday night. Serena had a plethora of choices, including NL and AL options. She chose Johan Santana (what? he can pitch for both teams), Tim Lincecum, and Mariano Rivera. All three qualified this year. Barry Zito was her token water boy. He can still be the water boy if he wants. Lisa agrees to allow him to be a cheerleader as well as lead the teams in meditative breathing exercises.

At blog time, the American League has not announced its Home Run Derby participants. However, representing the National League are Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez, Ryan Howard, and Albert Pujols. Even though we do not the AL participants yet, we do know that neither Justin Morneau (2008 defending champ) or Josh Hamilton (who set the first round record last year with 28 home runs) will be joining. Both stated that they'd like to rest and enjoy watching the event. Serena will miss them both terribly.

Today's baseball notes: the Mets continue to lose, the Yankees head out to Anaheim to lose to the Angels like they always do, and it's Day 40 on Lisa's suicide watch. The only thing getting her through these troubled times in Flushing is Mr. Met. In lighter news, Barry Zito won his 5th game on Sunday, July 7th against the Marlins. He pitched just over 8 innings, striking out 6, and allowing 0 runs. Simply amazing. Just last week, he lasted a mere 4 innings and got his rear handed to him. His next start Sunday, July 12th against the Padres.

The Home Run Derby will air on Monday, July 13th at 8 pm and the All Star Game will begin on Tuesday, the 14th at 8 pm.

"Hey now, you're an all star, get your game on, get played!"