There's No Crying In Baseball... Unless You're A Red Sox Fan

The NBA and NHL seasons have finally come to an end, and the NFL has yet to kick off. That leaves us with the MLB. As the All-Star game approaches, my attention has been drawn to the game once again. Now I'll be the first to admit, I have not been paying close attention so far this year. However, I have done a small amount of research, all on company time, and I feel like I am almost a reputable source. Here's what's happening in baseball:

Division Leaders Coming out of Nowhere
If anyone is walking around saying that they picked the Reds and Padres to win the NL Central and NL West, they are big fat liars. Nobody saw this coming. The Reds are 12 games over .500 in a surprisingly bad division, and the Padres are 16 games over .500 in a surprising competitive division. The Padres have been doing it with pitching, posting the lowest team ERA in the majors this year and allowing 33 less runs than any other team. The Reds have been on fire offensively, putting up the 3rd most runs in the bigs behind the bat of NL MVP candidate Joey Votto. Which brings me to my next point,

The All-Star Game Never Gets The Rosters Right
I mean seriously, no Joey Votto? In the NL, he is 3rd in batting average (.013 better than starter Albert Pujols), 1st in home runs (1 better than Pujols), and 5th in RBIs (1 behind Pujols). He has had a better season than the guy that's starting. They not only should get him on the team with the last roster spot, but he should take the field in the first inning, and hit in the home run derby. This guy has been a stud this year, give him what he deserves. Speaking of snubs, Mat Latos of the Padres is also missing from the NL roster. He has posted a 2.62 ERA, 9 wins, and has a WHIP of 0.96. He's the best pitcher on the team who has pitched the best this year. Being the best of the best is the definition of an All-Star. As for an AL snub, how about Jered Weaver? His team is hosting the game, and he didn't make the roster with 8 wins, a 2.82 ERA, a WHIP of 1.06, and 124 strikeouts in 108.2 innings. Those are definitely All-Star caliber numbers.

Injury Bug Bites Red Sox
So I was flipping through the paper the other day when I was shocked to see that the Pawtucket Red Sox were 2 games back of New York in the AL East. With Clay Buchholz injured, he now joins Dustin Pedroia, Manny Delcarmen, Victor Martinez, Jason Varitek, Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeremy Hermida, and Mike Lowell on the Disabled List. With so many key players going down, it will be a miracle if this pre-season favorite to make the playoffs manages to get through the next month without slipping too far behind the Yankees and Rays to recover.