Baseball Fans Excited For All-Star Matchup Betwn Best Available Non-Injured Players Willing To Play

Baseball Fans Excited For All-Star Matchup Between Best Available Non-Injured Players Willing To Play In Game

PHOENIX—Baseball fans across the country have registered their excitement for Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star game, saying they can’t wait to watch the league’s annual showcase of its best players who aren’t injured, aren’t afraid of potentially getting injured, aren’t too tired, are free the night of July 12, didn’t pitch recently, aren’t scheduled to pitch next week, don’t mind making the trip to Arizona, and are actually willing to play two and a half innings of baseball. “I love the All-Star game—seeing all those guys who sort of want to be there, don't really deserve to be, and haven't reached a point in their careers where they are confident enough to flat-out reject what fans want, all together on the same diamond,” said local Diamondbacks fan Neil Shernoff, adding that he was most thrilled to see whoever was replacing Placido Polanco. “Sure, Jose Reyes, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Shane Victorino, Ryan Braun, Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, Jon Lester, CC Sabathia, David Price, Mariano Rivera, Cole Hamels, and Matt Cain may not take the field, but there are some other guys here, and they’re going to play a game of baseball.” Both managers said they’d be utilizing their entire rosters once they learned who their players are and what positions they play.

http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/baseball-fans-excited-for-allstar-matchup-between,20923/

New wave of talent ascends to Midsummer Classic

PHOENIX -- If the 82nd Major League All-Star Game were to have a slogan, it might be "Prior experience not required."

A whopping 34 of the 68 players for Tuesday night's game at Chase Field are participating in the All-Star festivities for the first time, bringing a freshness and energy to the event, which begins at 8 ET on FOX.

Familiar names that have dotted All-Star rosters for years -- like Derek Jeter, Ichiro Suzuki and Mariano Rivera on the American League side and National Leaguers Albert Pujols, Chipper Jones and David Wright -- are not playing in this year's game, opening the door for a new wave of baseball talent.

Exciting young players like Rickie Weeks, Jay Bruce, Matt Kemp and Andrew McCutchen will be making their first appearances for the NL, while Michael Pineda, Asdrubal Cabrera and Matt Wieters are among those debuting for the AL....

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_07_12_aasmlb_nasmlb_1&mode=preview&c_id=mlb

Pujols, Reyes, Jeter, A-Rod -- they're either injured or coming off injuries.

Way to spit in the face of the fans.

Stay classy, Derek!

Jeter is a joke. MLB needs to fine/suspend players that are elected that don't show up.