A.L. All-Star Roster
Ok, I am biased because I am a Yankees fan and because I dislike Ozzie Guillen. However, Guillen went too far in selecting his players from his own roster and bypassing players from others in selecting the pitchers and bench for the All-Star game. He especially snubbed too many Yankees. Missing from the roster are Mike Mussina, Johnny Damon, and Jason Giambi, all of whom have had an outstanding first half. In their stead, he selected six players from his own team, most understandable - he does have to live with these guys every day - but at least a couple questionable. He took Mark Buehrle over both Mussina and Nelson Francisco Liriano, both of whom have pitched better than the White Sox lefthander, and he took both his first baseman over Jason Giambi. The latter was a close call, but Giambi is having an outstanding season and deserves to be on the team. Rather than pander to his players, Guillen in all fairness should have left Konerko off and selected Giambi. Then, Guillen takes Sarge Jr. (Garry Matthews) over Damon. Not to take away anything from Matthews, but aside from batting average, Damon is having the superior season. He has more homeruns, one less RBI, 18 more runs scored, and 11 more stolen bases than Matthews. Yet another questionable pick is Kenny Rogers, who is having a fine season, but hasn't been better than Mussina or Liriano. No question, Guillen is guilty of favortism and did a poor job in selecting the roster, showing a clear anti-Yankee bias.