Check That: Liriano makes All-Star Game after all

July 10th, 2006 | Posted by PostmanR

As commenter Jason pointed out, we never talked about Francisco Liriano’s All-Star snub. And really, we haven’t talked much about the All-Star selection process at all, because well, there seems to be a lot of blown smoke over the whole ‘who made it and who didn’t’ debate that all seems pretty unnecessary.

There’s undeserving guys who make it over deserving guys every year. O well. It’s the nature of the beast and far be it from us to get all worked up about it. And for those that have questioned Ozzie Guillen’s picks, it’s the same kind of routine Joe Torre used to do back when the Yankees dominated in the late-90s and early-Oughts. They both picked some of their own guys to fill out the remaining roster spots that had deserving numbers. It’s how it works. No need to go more in-depth than that, really. (And besides Buehrle, we can’t find anyone Guillen picked that was out of line from the Sox.)

And hell, unless you’re a rookie like Liriano, most players dread the All-Star game anyhow. Instead of heading home for a couple day break with the wifey and kids, you have to trudge out to Pittsburgh of all places and risk injury. (We don’t like that Major Leaguers think like this, but unfortunately we’re pretty sure they do.)

But, Liriano’s 10-1 record and 1.83 ERA are headed to Pittsburgh after all. Guillen has placed him on the roster in lieu of White Sox starting pitcher Jose Contreras who pitched yesterday. Guillen indicated he wouldn’t use Contreras unless he absolutely needed to tomorrow night. He’ll also be careful with Johan Santana and Roy Halladay who both started Sunday as well.

So there, a guy who deserved it (over A.J. Pierzynski in the final fan vote, we might add) made it after all. Awesomeness.