Andrew Johnson Posts

The votes are in and counted and St. Louis is ready to host the 80th Midsummer Classic on Tuesday July 14, so who will be representing the American and National League in the Gateway City?

There will be 33 players on each league's roster, with the eight position-player starters selected by a fan vote, eight pitchers (five starters and three relievers) and one reserve at each position selected by a vote among the players, coaches and managers and the remainder of the roster filled by the managers of each team -- Joe Maddon in the AL and Charlie Manuel in the NL. As has been the case the last few years, fans will also select the final player for each league in a vote to be conducted in the next week.

After the jump see the full rosters for the 2009 All-Star Game.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the milestones keep coming for Albert Pujols. He went into the record book in grand fashion Friday night, belting his 31st home run of the season. The drive was his fourth grand slam of the season and 10th of his career, both Cardinals' franchise records. The latter mark nudges him past Stan Musial on the club list.

"He broke Stan Musial's career record?" manager Tony La Russa asked. "I'll go bow to his feet here in a second. That's a serious point to make."

Pujols is on pace to finish 2009 with 61 home runs. And just in case that's not enough for you, it came in the eighth inning with the Cardinals down 3-0 to the Reds. St. Louis went on to beat Cincinnati 7-4.

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It's a baseball podcast. The math is easy, right? BaseCast. Let's rock.

He's baaaaaaack. Manny Ramirez rejoins the Dodgers Friday night in San Diego after a 50-game suspension for a violation of Major League Baseball's drug prevention program.

FanHouse's own Jeff Fletcher will be at Petco Park to see and report on Manny's return, so in preparation he joined Andrew Johnson (Prez) on the second edition of BaseCast to talk about what the media horde will be like, how, if at all, the slugger will address the media, what impact he'll have on the Dodgers on the field and how the road fans will react to him post-suspension.

And just for good measure, there's also Fletch's exclusive interview with Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson. Listen in after the jump.

Federal authorities have asked seven Major League Baseball players -- Greg Maddux, Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon, J.D. Drew, Andruw Jones, Carlos Pena and Jay Bell -- to return millions of dollars that they received from investor R. Allen Stanford as part of a payout in his alleged Ponzi scheme, according to a report in the Washington Times.

The players -- all clients of Scott Boras -- did not commit any wrongdoing, but, as early investors in the Stanford Financial Group, are believed to have received dividends from Stanford financed by investors that came after.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Sunday was a good day to steal home in the major leagues. With an assist from Carlos Zambrano, who airmailed a pitch to the backstop as Dewayne Wise attempted to suicide squeeze, Chris Getz was credited with a steal of home in the White Sox's 6-0 victory over the crosstown rival Cubs. Zambrano followed by plunking Wise, pushing the oft-heated interleague rivalry close to fisticuffs.

Later in the afternoon, the Angels' Gary Matthews Jr. pulled off a straight steal of home in Los Angeles' 12-8 win over the Diamondbacks.

"I got a good jump and pulled it off," Matthews said. "The key was getting a big lead. They're definitely not expecting it with two strikes. If there was a right-handed hitter up there, I wouldn't have even tried."

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WASHINGTON – In his first full season as Atlanta's closer, 2002, John Smoltz was rocked before he ever recorded a save, surrendering eight runs in 2/3 of an inning against the Mets in his second appearance of the year. It took him two more games to record a save, but he ended up with 55 that year.

When Smoltz returned to starting three years later, he was knocked around again, surrendering seven runs in 1 2/3 innings in his 2005 debut. He finished the season 14-7 with a 3.06 ERA.

Sensing a theme?

The 42-year-old right-hander wasn't horrendous in his 2009 debut against the Nationals Thursday, his first outing for the Red Sox or any other major league team than the Braves for that matter. But he wasn't very good either, allowing five runs and seven hits over five innings in a 9-3 loss to lowly Washington.

WASHINGTON -- "We have too many Johns on this team," cracked a heard, but not seen, Red Sox player as a horde of media crowded around John Smoltz's locker the day before his first major league start of 2009.

There is (Jon) Lester, the once and future ace. There is (Jonathan) Papelbon, one of the best closers in the game. And Thursday evening in the nation's capital, for the first time there will be (John) Smoltz, the future Hall of Famer trying to reinvent himself one more time as he makes his 2009 debut.

"This is not the old, or the new, or the done," Smoltz said of his return to a major league pitching mound. "This is just a new chapter of which when I have a baseball in my hand, I feel like I can make a pitch and ... take the sting out of the bat."

WASHINGTON -- No matter, how you slice it or where you put the starting and ending points, it's been a long road back for David Ortiz. He's overcome knee and wrist injuries, a mystifying slump last April and an even deeper and more bewildering two-month slump this year.

Heck, who's to even say he is all the way back?

Big Papi has had a good couple of weeks this June, but we've got a much larger sample of at-bats that say he's a significantly diminished hitter. (Of course, there's an even larger sample that makes what seemed like a sudden and sharp decline so difficult to comprehend.)

Terry Francona has slid him back up the order in interleague play, hitting him fifth in all but one of the games he has started since June 12, but he's not back in the three-hole yet, the customary spot from which he has terrorized American League pitchers since 2005.

If you've been following the travails of 2006 National League Cy Young winner Brandon Webb this season, the following news won't come as much of a shock. The Diamondbacks are strongly considering surgery as an option for the ace -- sidelined since Opening Day with a right shoulder injury -- after an MRI and a meeting with the team physician Tuesday, according to a report in the Arizona Republic.

Webb has been on the disabled list since April 7 with what the team has called shoulder bursitis, but he's experienced setback after setback in his attempts to return to the mound, most recently canceling a scheduled bullpen session at the end of last week because of pain in the area.

Now the team is hinting that Webb may have a torn labrum -- arguably the most ominous injury any pitcher can have -- while it waits for a second opinion on his shoulder. The injury that would require a surgical procedure and nine months of rehab, according to Nick Piecoro of the Republic.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That on the right night the minor leagues can be awfully interesting, even for someone who doesn't care at all about minor league baseball. Manny Ramirez batted leadoff Tuesday night for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes, playing four innings and going 0-for-2 in his first rehab game since being suspended 50 games for a violation of Major League Baseball's drug policy.

Ramirez faced former Brewers starting pitcher Manny Parra in both at-bats. Parra, now pitching for the Nashville Sounds, is trying to work his way back to the majors as well after a woeful couple of months in the Milwaukee rotation. He went 3-8 with a 7.52 ERA in 13 starts there before getting demoted, but he was the hard-luck loser against Albuquerque, tossing seven innings of one-run ball. The Brewers could use another effective starter, that much is certain.

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