MLB announces A.L. All-Stars

Major League Baseball has just announced the starters, pitchers and reserves for both leagues for the 2013 MLB All-Star Game, which will be played on Tuesday, July 16th.

Here are the American League starters:

• C: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
• 1B: Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles
• 2B: Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
• SS: J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles
• 3B: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
• OF: Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles
• OF: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
• OF: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
• DH: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

Here are the AL pitchers:

• * RHP: Clay Buchholz, Boston Red Sox
• LHP: Brett Cecil, Toronto Blue Jays
• ** RHP: Bartolo Colon, Oakland A's
• * RHP: Jesse Crain, Chicago White Sox
• RHP: Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers
• RHP: Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
• RHP: Hisashi Iwakuma, Seattle Mariners
• RHP: Justin Masterson, Cleveland Indians
• RHP: Joe Nathan, Texas Rangers
• ** LHP: Glen Perkins, Minnesota Twins
• RHP: Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
• LHP: Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox
• RHP: Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers
• RHP: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

* Denotes injured.
** Denotes injury replacement.

Here are the AL reserves:

• C: Jason Castro, Houston Astros
• C: Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals
• 1B: Prince Fielder, Detroit Tigers
• 2B: Jason Kipnis, Cleveland Indians
• 2B: Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
• 2B: Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay Rays
• SS: Jhonny Peralta: Detroit Tigers
• 3B: Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles
• OF: Nelson Cruz, Texas Rangers
• OF: Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals
• OF: Torii Hunter, Detroit Tigers
• DH: Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto Blue Jays

In addition, there will a final vote for additional AL All-Star and here are the candidates:

• Joaquin Benoit, Detroit Tigers
• Steve Delabar, Toronto Blue Jays
• David Robertson, New York Yankees
• Tanner Scheppers, Texas Rangers
• Koji Uehara, Boston Red Sox

Thoughts?  Snubs?

[Here are the N.L. All-Stars.]

Monday Night Links

Phillies closer Brad Lidge says not to worry about allowing four runs in his first Single-A rehab appearance of 2/3 of an inning.

Texas outfielder Julio Borbon was benched after starting the season 1-for-21. Returning to the lineup, Borbon went 0-for-4.

Meanwhile teammate Joaquin Arias has four straight multi-hit games filling in for injured second baseman Ian Kinsler.

The Giants won't pitch Matt Cain against the Dodgers over the weekend.

Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun is being more selective at the plate.

“I just can’t pay any attention to any of this crap going on around me,” Red Sox DH David Ortiz said, per the Boston Herald. “Just play the game. The game is hard enough for people to be talking trash about you and you paying attention to it. You can’t listen to it.”

A's reliever Tyson Ross got his first-ever save last night.

It might be a while before Orioles 'closer' Mike Gonzalez gets another save opportunity.

The Twins beat the Red Sox 5-2 in the first-ever game at Target Field.

Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester said of today's performance: “Today I just stunk. Didn’t make pitches. I don’t really know what else to say.’’

Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz hit his fifth home run of the season.

The Royals had 15 hits against the Tigers today.

Scott Rolen homered twice as the Reds beat the Marlins today.

The Padres scored 17 runs against the Braves today.

Dodgers pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley have added a slider and changeup, respectively, to their pitching repertoires, per Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.

Texas will start Ryan Garko at first base on Thursday.

The Pirates scratched pitcher Ross Ohlendorf for tonight's start against the Giants.

Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts might need more time after he's eligible to return from the DL.

Indians outfielder Grady Sizemore misssed his second straight game.

FYI: Follow us on Twitter @EDSBaseball.

Big Fraud and Manny? Busted...

What do David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez share in common with Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa?

They appear on the list of roughly 100 players that tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, according to Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times.

Ramirez and Ortiz were two key components of Boston's World Series teams (2004 and 2007). Ramirez was named MVP of the 2004 World Series.

In 2003, Major League Baseball performed survey testing, which was supposed to be confidential and not subject to penalties. However, names have been leaked roughly every month or two.

While it would make more sense to release all the names and put this behind us, I can't see the MLB Players Association going for that.

Back in 2003, David "Big Fraud" Ortiz set career highs in home runs (31) and runs batted in (101) and continued to improve on those numbers for four straight years as noted by Schmidt.

Big Fraud's comments earlier in the year make this report that much funnier -- especially as a Yankees fan that's annoyed by the holier-than-thou attitude of Red Sox fans.

"I think you clean up the game by the testing," Ortiz said in February at Red Sox camp in Fort Myers, Fla. "I test you, you test positive, you're going to be out. Period.

"If I test positive by using any kind of banned substance, I'm going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans and everybody," Ortiz said. "And I don't want to be put in that situation. So what I will do, I won't use it. I'm pretty sure everybody is on the same page."

So then, Big Fraud, as you say, you have disrespected your family, the game, the fans and everybody.