Abreu has been the most underrated player of the last 3 years.

It's amazing that he is not considered a superstar by the average fan.

As of yesterday, Abreu is the number 6 outfielder for the NL's All-Star team.

He's

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Abreu is behind Beltran, Edmonds, Junior, Larry Walker, and Cabrera.

Pat the Bat is number 10.

In my opinion it should be Abreu, Beltran and Cabrera.  But St. Louie fans love to stuff the box.

Along with Edmonds: Rolen, Pujols are leading their respective positions.

The worst case of ballot stuffing is at Short.  Garciaparra (!) is leading the votes with Eckstein right behind him.  Now, the NL SS battle isn't full of hot numbers but certainly these two are not quite deserving this year.

I'm pretty sure that Garciaparra with his injury won't be starting, but that leaves Eckstein.  I'd like a much better choice would be Furcal or Reyes.

Brett Myers also has a great chance of making the All Star team as well.  I believe he's in the top 5 in K's, IP, and ERA.

btw, I've always been a big country fan.  I've seen both Vassar and Jo Dee Messina perform (under the shadows of the Twin Towers).  Unfortunately, New York which used to have 2 country stations no longer has any!

I think your opinion is right.  They did a bit on Abreu on ESPN tonight, they finally mentioned him as a potential MVP which was nice to see.

Eckstein is actually having a great year and he's a great guy so it'd be nice to see him make it.  Even though Rollins is heating up and is probably the best SS in the NL (unless Nomar gets healthy)

Hopefully Myers will make it, he's been on fire lately.

Eckstein is having a good half...but in that lineup, batting first, i think any decent shortstop would be having a good year.  besides, to me the All-Star pick should also have had a decent 2nd half last year (if they aren't a rookie).  And Eckstein didn't have a good 2nd half.  But on the other half the SS position in the NL is the weakest position on the All Star ballot.  Renteria was the one star and he's with the Sox

i think the phillies should have abreu, myers and possibly burrell.

the mets will have pedro, piazza, and beltran

and this division is such a blast.  still all within 1.5 of each other and the nationals! a half game up. 

this is exciting. 

Don't forget my boy Jimmy Rollins, he's a star.

I can't wait to see what shakes out in the division.   There should be some active trading after the break.

i haven't forgotten Rollins.  The problem with All Star game is that both teams get 30 players, which the AL splits among its 14 teams and the NL has to split with 16 teams.  So that leads to some deserving players on the NL getting cut.  I can see that happening to Rollins/Reyes/Furcal.  Why?  Because someone has to go from Colorado and that might be Barmes since Helton is having such a wacky down year. 

So Barmes' nomination will knock out the extra....how CRAP! I'm watching sports center and I see that Barmes just broke his freaking color bone and is out for 3 months.  Well, holy moly...I guess Rollins has a shot.

damn!

and todays game was awesome!!!!! i still cant believe that the umpires called lieberthal's double a homerun, but hey good thing they did!and nope im not a country fan, i used to like it at one point and then i just lost interest

*kristen

It was a great game!!!!   It's good to see our Phils playing like they are supposed to be playing.

I go in and out of waves with music but I've been loving country lately!

Hey John,

My 10 yr old son and I took in the doubleheader against the D'backs Saturday, and you are right...they're firing on all cylinders now. With the addition of Urbina to the pen- look out. With 11 out of 13 in the W column they're currently the hottest team in baseball.

We both enjoy watching you on the post-game show , as it seems each night we seem to learn a "little something extra" about the game in general. Larry Anderson and even Wheels are good that way too if you employ active rather than passive listening, about things such as pitch selection, lineup changes and defensive alignments etc.

My son is going into 5th grade and just wrapped up the regular season tonight, but will have various all-star tournaments throughout the summer and then fall-ball after the new school year starts. He also plays soccer and basketball in between while somehow managing to pull straight A's every marking period. But baseball is his passion, and he is by far the best catcher in his age group in our South Jersey community. He's naturally left handed but plays ball right handed. When he was younger he batted left handed, and this season he started experimenting with switch hitting in the cages but not in a game yet. He wants to be like Varitek. From what I've read about him, he too is one smart cookie that really does his homework which enables him to bring out the best in his pitchers.

At 10, my kid has everything planned out- be a scholar athlete in high school, get a college scholarship playing ball, then get drafted in to the bigs.  My question to you is this, he says he could play ball everyday all year round...and he probably could if we lived in Arizona or California, but it's Jersey...and our work schedules couldn't manage that anyway. How much is too much? or not enough?  I wan't to help guide him, but I don't want to see him get burned out on it, reach a level where it's not fun anymore...but not too little where he ends up getting bypassed by kids who do live in areas where they play all the time. I read about kids and their overbearing parents who seemingly force these kids into a lifestyle that, to me, doesn't seem like all that much fun for a kid...or for the parents either for that matter. We do have access to a few different indoor facilities in Camden County, which he likes to go to in Jan/Feb for some moderate workouts before spring practices start. We seem to have a pretty nice balance at this point, but I want to do all I can to help him achieve his goals, without going overboard and eventually hindering the process. Any thoughts you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...            

i forgot to send you this link...

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/finding-flaws-nl-east/