Pablo Sandoval made a late charge to surpass David Wright as the starting third baseman for the 2012 National League All-Stars.
Giants fans went vote-crazy in the final week, as Kung-Fu Panda made up a 450,000-vote gap on Wright and Melky Cabrera snuck in ahead of Ryan Braun. Also starting for the NL club will be Buster Posey, Joey Votto, Dan Uggla, Rafael Furcal, Matt Kemp and Carlos Beltran. Kemp (hamstring) won't play in the game, clearing the way for Braun to likely get the start. Starlin Castro, Bryan LaHair, Jay Bruce, Carlos Gonzalez, Jose Altuve, Giancarlo Stanton, Wright, Carlos Ruiz, Andrew McCutchen, Yadier Molina and Ian Desmond were selected as reserves. The fans will decide between Michael Bourn, David Freese, Bryce Harper, Aaron Hill and Chipper Jones for the Final Vote.

Josh Hamilton led the way for the 2012 American League All-Stars with a record 11,073,744 votes.
Hamilton faded in June, but his numbers this season are still remarkable. He'll be joined by teammates Mike Napoli and Adrian Beltre in the starting lineup, with Prince Fielder, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and David Ortiz also getting voted in by the fans. Reserves for the AL squad include Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Adam Dunn, Paul Konerko, Asdrubal Cabrera, Miguel Cabrera, Billy Butler, Mike Trout, Mark Trumbo, Joe Mauer, Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler. The Final Vote will come down to Jonathan Broxton, Yu Darvish, Ernesto Frieri, Jason Hammel and Jake Peavy.

Lance Lynn was a surprise selection among the pitchers for the 2012 National League All-Star team.
Lynn was voted in by the players 10 days ago, which helps explain the pick a little more, as he held a 2.80 ERA at that time. Still, it's certainly a surprise that he made it over Johnny Cueto, James McDonald and Zack Greinke, among others. Lynn is joined on the NL squad by Clayton Kershaw, Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, Cole Hamels, Wade Miley, R.A. Dickey, Matt Cain, Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman, Jonathan Papelbon, Joel Hanrahan and Huston Street.

Ryan Cook was among the 2012 All-Star selections for the American League.
Cook has had a terrific year, but he certainly didn't deserve to go ahead of starters like Yu Darvish and Jake Peavy, who will have a shot to get in via the Final Vote. Also on the AL squad alongside Cook will be Matt Harrison, Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, CC Sabathia, C.J. Wilson, Jered Weaver, Chris Sale, David Price, Joe Nathan, Jim Johnson, Chris Perez and Fernando Rodney.

Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports that Phillies have been making calls to gauge trade interest in Cole Hamels.
The trade of Jim Thome Saturday might be the first of many moves for the floundering Phils. Heyman says there has been no progress in extension talks between Hamels and the Phillies, so it makes sense for them to deal him for a package of prospects. The Dodgers are seen as the favorite to sign Hamels over the offseason when he hits free agency, and they figure to pursue him heavily as a trade target, as well.

Watching the Yankees Old Timers Day Celebration Right Now. Great to see the Yankees pay tribute to their legacy with a nice ceremony without going overboard (even as a Yankees fan I must admit they have a habbit of doing that). Seeing Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra in their Uni's is still such a great sight! Do other teams still celebrate old timers day or has this really become a thing of the past?

Terry Francona tweets the the Red Sox are close to acquiring Hamels and the Braves are close to getting Grienke. It's July, let the shit fly!

It doesn't surprise me that Melky and Panda got in via the fan vote. The Giants were really hammering the vote on all of their broadcasts, especially lately. Great/funny win for them today too, btw.

As of this weekend, I've lapped everyone in the $50 H2H fantasy league. Hopefully that lead will hold the next couple of months. I see Stefan changed the way the playoffs are run this year, so that the top two seeds don't get a bye week and eight teams get in. Definitely don't like that as the #1 guy (right now). I can attribute my success to Encarnacion and David Ortiz's bounce back season, but really key was picking up A.J. Pierzynsky. Who knew he would have his career season at age 35? Really unbelievable, I've got him as my catcher in both my leagues and I'm first in this one and second in the other. Getting that kind of production out of your catcher is a huge bonus. It's also benefited the White Sox undoubtedly.

Yes, I was suspicious, but I heard it from a big Boston fan, so I figured it might be for real. I was had!

I wonder if Texas is feeling a twinge of buyer's remorse with Oswalt yet.

One really ugly game.

Good old Youk. And of course Josh Reddick. As soon as former Red Sox put on a new uniform, they go on a tear.

I'm buying baseball cards again. I left a "mini '87" throwback Dustin Ackley card on my friend's coffee table, since the guy has Ackley on his fantasy team and his average is something like .211. If I find Ollie Perez he'll be getting that one too, because Ollie Perez is a hex like no other. I'm going to give this guy all my Mariners cards. It will drive him crazy...not just as an A's fan, but as a lover of quality baseball.

Perez? I don't know. I saw him load the bases in the eighth on Friday night, but he got out of it by the grace of god. The stuff from his Mets days was unbearable, maybe I'm letting the past speak too loudly. People can change. But probably not.

Perez? I don't know. I saw him load the bases in the eighth on Friday night, but he got out of it by the grace of god. The stuff from his Mets days was unbearable, maybe I'm letting the past speak too loudly. People can change. But probably not.

I'll take Braden Looper over Perez, if we're talking Mets disasters of the 2000s.