Carl Crawford

The Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be held tonight in Los Angeles. That means the 162-game season has reached its half.  Let’s review the AL East team performances so far this year.

New York Yankees (56-32)

The MLB All-Star Game is soon. Unfortunately, we don't always get to see the best players selected for it. In this slideshow, we'll take a look at the best position players in the National and American League. The following players SHOULD be the starters for the All-Star game...

Begin Slideshow

It wasn’t B.J. Upton’s fault.

That’s because the young center fielder wasn’t in the starting lineup.

The Tampa Bay Rays are having an identity crisis.

During baseball's first six weeks, no team was hotter. Now during the last six weeks, very few teams have been colder.

As it stands, the Rays have fallen from first to third in the AL East. But thanks to their hot start, only three games separate them from the top.

Still, what happens if this free fall doesn't stop in the next two weeks?

Could the Rays become sellers instead of buyers by the time the July 31st trading deadline rolls around?

Rays general manager Andrew Friedman could be shrewd enough to try to pull it off.

Oh dear Lord, please say it isn't true.

According to the Florida Marlins' official website, the first 15,000 fans that come to Saturday's game versus the Tampa Bay Rays will be the proud owners of miniature Marlins vuvuzelas!

The team is calling them "air horns," but don't be fooled; they're vuvuzelas.

Two All-Star outfielders playing on the top team currently in each league share something else in common. Both the Tampa Bay Rays Carl Crawford and Philadelphia Phillies Jayson Werth are in the final year of their contracts and could be amongst the biggest names in the 2011 free agent market.

Each player is off to a strong start in 2010, seemingly stating his case to other team's around Major League Baseball.

One old baseball adage states, "Speed slows down the game," a quote likely coming from Casey Stengel or Yogi Berra.

On the surface, this statement makes no sense. But when you dig deeper, you gauge that when fast players get on base, the entire game changes. From throwing over to first base, to the pitcher stepping off the rubber, a once ncrisp moving game can get stalled as the pitcher and defense woorries about the speedy runner.

Funny thing is that the runner by himself can't hurt the pitcher, unless he steals second, third and home.

This is an All-Star starting lineup, as would be voted by the fans (if the fans actually knew what they were doing), plus a starting rotation and one relief pitcher.

But this is one fan's opinion: mine. It was an easy exercise. There were several somewhat close calls, but nothing which I had to wring my hands over.

All numbers displayed are from the month of April only, and nothing these players did in the first couple of games in May had any impact.

Teams are no longer counting on the three run home run these days; they are thinking speed, speed, and more speed.