Maybe Mike Downey gave Carlos Quentin some bulletin board material
when he wrote this:
2. P.S.: Do the first-place Sox have an All-Star?
I guess somebody from the Sox has to be on Terry Francona's team for the July 15 game at Yankee Stadium, but which one? It won't be Orlando Cabrera (.225), Nick Swisher (.213), Paul Konerko (.212), Jim Thome (.203) or Juan Uribe (.198), that's for sure.
A.J. Pierzynski is having a good year. But it won't be easy for him because Ivan Rodriguez and Jason Varitek will get the fan votes and Joe Mauer and Victor Martinez are with him among the American League's top 10 hitters.
I wish Carlos Quentin could make it, but with all those big-name AL outfielders to choose from, good luck.
Quentin doesn't need luck, of course. Luck is for humans, and right now Quentin 75 to 80 percent hitting machine. He hit his American League-leading 13th-homer off C.C. Sabathia and helped hand him his first loss to the Sox
since July 15, 2005.
By my count, he also took his fourth base of the year, going from first to third on Grady Sizemore. The other occurrences:
- April 27: Goes from second to home on an errant throw home -- on a grounder to short.
- May 6: Went from first to third, then home when the ball got away from Mike Lamb.
- May 8: Stole second on a 3-1 check swing.
OK, he actually was lucky on the last one. But the point still stands that Quentin,
who came in with underwhelming baserunning numbers, is making plays with his legs as well as his bat.
The only reason why Quentin won't start in the All-Star game is because he's not on the ballot. They're made up in the spring, during which Quentin was pegged to go to Triple-A until Jerry Owens got hurt. He'll need some grass roots support to make a dent in the totals.
So ... here's
the link to the online All-Star ballot. Get writin' in.
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Minor league roundup:- Frederick 8, Winston-Salem 3
- Brandon Allen went 2-for-3 with a triple and a solo homer.
- Matt Long gave up five runs over five innings.
- Kannapolis 3, Delmarva 1
- Gregory Infante pitched four scoreless innings in his first start.
- Hector Santiago and Henry Mabee each tossed two scoreless innings, with Santiago striking out five.
- Christian Marrero went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI, and Danny Jordan had two hits as well.
- Charlotte vs. Durham PPD
- Birmingham OFF