I forgot to mention in yesterday’s plea to notice that there are Nats playing well, here is where you can actually vote for All Stars:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2009/ballot_reg.html

I just voted myself. Not for myself. That would be disingenuous.

Craig Stammen had a nice start yesterday. Not spectacular in the end, but if he was 21, he would have been taken out after the 6th inning and looked alot better. Of course if he was 21 and did that everyone would have been much more excited. Still, he pitched well, and looks to be a decent spot starter. And once the rotation fills out, isn’t that guy worthy of a shot at the bullpen? I mean, he throws strikes, that’s more than most of them can say.

Congrats to Joel Hanrahan for getting a save yesterday. He probably has the best stuff in the bullpen, he can still be a good pitcher. He may not deserve to be a closer, or the best guy there, but for now, he’s what they have. Hopefully he can pick his season up from here and be one of the brighter spots in that bullpen. Some of those guys aren’t going to get much better.

And finally, back to yesterday’s posting. One person I neglected to mention was Cristian Guzman. May main reason was that I thought he doesn’t really have enough ABs to qualify as an All Star. But I was mistaken – he’s played all of April and some of May. And he has better numbers than all but 1 SS in the NL.

Cristian Guzman – 2 All Star Appearances

.373/.382/.493, 1 HR
50 Hits – Tied for 8th in the NL (despite missing 3 weeks)
.373 AVG  – 1st in the NL

Rankings Among NL Shortstops:
R – 2nd (26)
H – 2nd (50)
3B – tied for 1st (2)
AVG – 1st (.373)

OBP – 3rd (.382)
SLG – 2nd (.493)
OPS – 2nd (.875)

Yes, you read that correctly, Guzman in 2nd in the NL among SS for OPS.

By Charlie