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2012 MLB All-Star Game

by Matt Smith

The 83rd MLB All-Star Game takes place in the early hours of Wednesday morning U.K. time.

This year’s event is being staged at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and Josh Chetwynd is in town for the BBC as they will be broadcasting the game live on 5 Live Sports Extra from 1 a.m. The game can also be viewed on ESPN America and MLB.com for subscribers to those services.

Here are the probable starting line-ups for the 2012 Mid-summer Classic.

American League

1. Derek Jeter, NYY R SS
2. Robinson Cano, NYY L 2B
3. Josh Hamilton, TEX L LF
4. Jose Bautista, TOR R RF
5. Prince Fielder, DET L 1B
6. Adrian Beltre, TEX R 3B
7. David Ortiz, BOS L DH
8. Mike Napoli, TEX R C
9. Curtis Granderson, NYY L CF

‘Bombs away’ should be this team’s slogan. Lead-off hitter Derek Jeter is the only starter who isn’t a major home run threat and even he has 247 career round-trippers. Twenty-eight of those have come when he was leading-off an inning, so Matt Cain will know that he can’t just groove a fastball down the middle against him to settle into the game. Ideally a manager likes to alternate left and right-handed batters in the lineup and the only place that doesn’t happen is in the 2nd and 3rd slots. Seeing as those two same-handed players are Robinson Cano and Josh Hamilton, Ron Washington hasn’t had to make much of a compromise there.

National League

1. Carlos Gonzalez, COL L DH
2. Melky Cabrera, SF S CF
3. Ryan Braun, MIL R LF
4. Joey Votto, CIN L 1B
5. Carlos Beltran, STL S RF
6. Buster Posey, SF R C
7. Pablo Sandoval, SF S 3B
8. Dan Uggla, ATL R 2B
9. Rafael Furcal, STL S SS

The National League’s starting nine doesn’t look quite as imposing as the AL line-up, but there is still plenty of danger to avoid for Justin Verlander and his fellow AL pitchers. ‘Tinkerman’ Tony La Russa has chosen Carlos Gonzalez to bat lead-off as the DH instead of a more prototypical choice like Rafael Furcal; however it’s hard to argue against the idea of getting ‘CarGo’ into the game right from the start. He can launch a bomb over the fence and has a .389 OBP on the season so far compared to Furcal’s .337 OBP. Perhaps these small margins don’t count for much in an All-Star Game, but ultimately Gonzalez is the better hitter so why not make Verlander face him right from the off.

Starting pitchers
Ron Washington has turned to reigning MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander to start on the mound for the ‘home’ team and few could argue with that. La Russa has seemingly caused a minor controversy by selecting Matt Cain over R.A. Dickey, but both are excellent pitchers having great seasons so it’s a coin toss decision as to who you would go with.

La Russa’s idea of bringing in Dickey later in the game when Carlos Ruis takes over from Buster Posey behind the plate does make sense and it’s sure to be fun watching the knuckleballer pitch against the best hitters in the American League whenever he does actually come into the game.

Home field advantage

Home field advantage in this year’s World Series is on the line. The National League won that honour last year and the St. Louis Cardinals made it count by winning the final two games of a thrilling seven-game series at their own Busch Stadium to defeat the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers’ manager, and the American League’s manager tonight, Ron Washington has played down the impact that this had on his team missing out in the Fall Classic, but I’m sure he would love to lead his league to victory tonight regardless. As for Tony La Russa, this is almost certainly going to be the last game in his illustrious managerial career, so he will want to go out on a high too.

Meanwhile, all of the players involved know that the All-Star Game remains one of the marquee events of the sport and one great moment they produce tonight could live long in baseball history.

It should be a great occasion.

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