Baseball has the only All-Star game that really matters. Why? The Pro Bowl is anticlimactic, the NBA All-Star game is played sans defense, and hockey...well...
So if the All-Star game counts, then why aren't all the best players going? Kevin Youkilis is one of the top five offensive players in the AL, and he has to bite his nails wondering whether the fan-geeks will vote him on (yeah, I did my part over twenty times).
A-Rod gets named as an extra. Does he get a bonus to go? He should be an All-Star every year at his contract rate. If he didn't get named, would he care (if there's no money involved).
Clay Buchholz had a WAG (wives and girlfriends) top twenty nomination, so maybe he doesn't care if he can't play...
What's your favorite All-Star memory? I've got a bunch, Yaz making a miraculous catch to rob a homer, Bo Jackson homering and stealing a base, and the worst was Johnny Callison taking the Monster deep in 1964, which I think was a 'walkoff' homer before such terminology existed.
As for the state of the Sox, how much complaining can we do when they have the 'win today' mantra and a lot of fungible parts playing their roles well for the most part. Eric Patterson hits two homers in a meaningful game? He probably doesn't even dream about that. The Baird-Epstein targeted platoon (Patterson versus selected RHP, McDonald versus right, Nava versus other righthanders) has worked out. The catching solutions haven't been so great but it is what it is.
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