FanHouse Evan Longoria

MLB awards season continued on Thursday afternoon as the league announced the winners of the 2009 Silver Sluggers, which go to the players voted the best hitters at their position in each league. The award is voted on by managers and coaches from throughout the league who are allowed to vote for anybody that's not on their team.

While there are some familiar faces on the list in each league, there are also some that aren't so familiar. Find out who's adding some hardware to their trophy case after the jump.

Long considered one of the worst defensive shortstops in baseball by those in sabermetric circles, Derek Jeter won the fourth Gold Glove of his career on Tuesday, proving that no matter what statistically-oriented folks think of Jeter's glovework, he enjoys a good defensive reputation among those within the game.

Joining Jeter on the AL Gold Glove team is Yankees teammate Mark Teixeira, who was recognized for the third time, as well as outfielders Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners) and Torii Hunter (Angels), who both won the award for the ninth time.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Cody Ross blames his mom.

"My dad was a really good athlete (Kenny Ross, who played safety at New Mexico in the late 1960s)," said Ross, the Marlins' right fielder. "My dad was all right[-handed]. My mom's a lefty, so maybe I got that gene from her."

Ross and St. Louis' Ryan Ludwick are the only two active position players who throw left and bat right. Just 14 such players in baseball history have gotten as many as 1,000 at-bats -- and that list now includes a Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson.

"He kind of put us on the map," Ross said.

NEW YORK -- The quote of the day on the Rays' lineup card Tuesday, as picked by manager Joe Maddon, was from 19th century biologist Thomas Huxley:

"The only medicine for suffering, crime and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom."

Huxley was an early proponent of Darwin's theory of evolution, and 150 years later, Tampa Bay can also vouch for survival of the fittest in the AL East.

Since the Rays' playoff chances are virtually extinct.

Less than 51 weeks ago, Tampa Bay clinched its first-ever postseason trip, on the way to a pennant and a trip to the World Series.

Now the Rays are doing little more than playing out the string.

Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

By now we all know of the greatness of San Francisco pitcher Tim Lincecum. He's the best pitcher in baseball this season, with a 2.34 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 233 strikeouts in 200 1/3 innings. But there's another hard-throwing young kid in the Giants organization that, like Lincecum, has a shot to be one of the league's best very quickly. He's a guy you want to burn that No. 1 waiver priority on, in case he sticks in the rotation for the rest of the season. He is Madison Bumgarner.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Many times when fantasy owners wait patiently on a potential star to be promoted to the majors, they have to deal with disappointment initially before the payoff finally comes. Take Adam Lind and Felix Hernandez as a few guys who didn't start to fulfill their potential until this year. Sometimes, though, you get a Ryan Braun, Evan Longoria or Tim Lincecum, who immediately start paying dividends. The latest? Braves' 22-year-old phenom hurler Tommy Hanson.

ST. LOUIS -- Once he didn't win the online vote for the final AL roster spot in the All-Star Game, Chone Figgins figured he had three days off and decided not to answer his phone.

He had no idea that Evan Longoria had an infected finger and might not be able to play.

So when Longoria was scratched and Figgins was picked to replace him on the roster, it became a bit of an issue trying to track down the Angels third baseman.

ST. LOUIS -- Evan Longoria, scratched from the All-Star Game with an infected right ring finger, said he's "95 percent" certain to play Friday when the Rays resume the regular season.

"It would be a disservice to [the AL team] to go out and try to play and win a game when I'm not up to full health," Longoria said.

Longoria said his finger began feeling sore over the weekend, but he didn't speak up until Sunday. He was immediately put on antibiotics.

With the All-Star Game just hours away, there has been some shuffling on the American League squad. Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays, who was elected the AL starter at third base, will be forced to miss the game with an infected right ring finger. The result is a downgrade in power but a gain in speed for the AL. The openings created also likely provide a thrill for two players.

Michael Young, who was already a reserve on the team, will slide into Longoria's starting spot and hit seventh for the AL. As for the hole on the roster, Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels will fill the vacancy.

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

You Oughta Know ...
That talk about maple bats has died down since last year, but the problem is still there. For proof, look at what nearly happened to Red Sox shortstop Nick Green during Wednesday night's game. The Nationals' Elijah Dukes shattered his bat on a swing, with the pieces of the bat and the ball heading simultaneously toward Green.

Green managed to avoid both. The ball got into the outfield for a hit, but the threat to Green was apparent when the shattered barrel of Dukes bat stuck in the ground like a stake near Green.

"It's scary to see a bat go flying that far," pitcher Jon Lester said. "I thought they did some research this offseason to try to figure that stuff out, but obviously we've still got a long ways to go. You've got to take cover. It's a tough play to make when you've got a bat head flying at you looking to take your head off."

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