The AL All Stars have been announced. The Yankees who made the team were A-Rod, Mo and Sheff. A-Rod will start at 3B.

Matsui and Jeter are nominated, along with Carl Crawford, Scott Podsednik and Torii Hunter, for the final man vote on MLB.com. Go over and vote. Having two Yankees on the ballot has terrible political ramifications... the Yankee vote is split!

Anyway, I really think one of them should have made it. For instance. You don't need 3 first basemen on the team. Sweeney is the only Royal, so he has to be there. But, Konerko, I don't think so. In the outfield, while Ichiro Suzuki has to be on the team as a Mariner - Garret Anderson doesn't. As for the DH reserve, must you pick a reserve DH? I mean, really? If so, I don't agree with it, but anyway... Shea Hillenbrand's numbers just aren't there. Also, keep in mind that the team has 1 backup C, 2 backup 1B, 2 backup middle infielders, 1 backup 3B and 3 backup OF. You have 1 backup for every position except for 1B. It's not like it was a strong 1B year, either. Tino was leading most of the time. I really think they should have gone with 1 less 1B and 1 more middle infielder (Jeter), at least.

Let's take a look at the numbers.

47 R, 19 HRs, 53 RBI, .244 BA .347 OBP, .481 SLG (1B Konerko)
43 R, 10 HRs, 60 RBI, .309 BA .331 OBP, .472 SLG (OF Anderson)
52 R, 8 HRs, 37 RBI, .304 BA .364 OBP, .447 SLG (DH Hillenbrand)
61 R, 10 HRs, 35 RBI, .302 BA .392 OBP, .447 SLG (SS Jeter)
50 R, 11 HRs, 60 RBI, .307 BA .374 OBP, .500 SLG (OF Matsui)

I think Matsui should have made it instead of Anderson and Jeter should have made it instead of Konerko (assuming there has to be a "DH reserve"). For all the chatter that goes around about the fans not being able to pick a good team, it looks like the fans picked the most deserving players at each position (or close). Meanwhile, the players noticably botched a couple in my eyes. One of Matsui or Jeter should have made the team. At least.