San Diego Padres

The MLB All-Star Lineup has garnered a variety of reactions, ranging from cheers and sighs of relief to whimpers and shrieks of disbelief.

When the 2010 MLB All-Star lineups were released, there were undoubtedly as many elated fans as there were bitter fans.

No matter where the stadium is located, fans maintain an unceasing allegiance to their favorite teams and players.

Being chosen to play in the All-Star game represents the ultimate recognition that fans, coaches, and players alike have observed, reveled in, and appreciated every moment of a player's season thus far.

It's the same conversation, just a different year.

Every season, virtually every Major League roster has players deserving of All-Star selections that get left on their sofas for the weekend.

This year, the Padres pitching staff may be the most distinguished of the All-Star snubs.

The Padres have the best record (49-34) in the National League and boast the best team ERA (3.05) in the NL by a long shot (St. Louis is next at 3.28), yet couldn't command enough respect to land a pitcher on the roster.

With the MLB All-Star break coming up soon, I decided that I would tell my opinion of this year's All-Stars and take a break from my usual NBA talk.

Of course, we all have our opinions of who should be an All-Star and who shouldn't be, and usually we give arguments for players from our favorite teams. For example, my Angels (the host of this season's All-Star events) only have one All-Star this season.

In this slideshow you will see several players who I believe were undeserving of a vote based off of this season's stats.

When a town's citizen receives the call to the Bigs, his hometown usually goes crazy.

He gets a parade, streets are named after him, the whole deal.

But what happens when the local neighborhood kid is playing for the local favorite team? Everyone goes crazy.

The standard for a hometown hero was set long ago, when Lou Gehrig, a young man from the Yorkville neighborhood of New York City, began his career with the New York Yankees.

Through his years in the minor leagues, San Diego Padres officials were excited about young Kyle Blanks.

He was a monster of a young man, could hit the longest home runs, but could do something that a whole lot of people wouldn't expect from someone his size, he was fast.

Coming into his first major league season in 2009, the Padres had high hopes for Blanks and what he brought to the lineup. They were hoping that having someone of his size and talent would provide some form of protection in the lineup for first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

It sounds like they could be some sort of traveling act, and they may be coming to a town near you.

Simply put, Padres pitchers Clayton Richard or Wade LeBlanc could pickoff a ghost runner.

When either of the two lefties allow hitters to reach base, runners go from being in a secondary lead and back to the dugout within seconds.

No need to ask Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan who probably has the best pickoff move in baseball.  Richard picked off Coghlan in the Padres 3-0 win over the Marlins Friday night. 

While the San Diego Padres are locked in a scoreless battle with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night, I figured we'd get an update on the team as they made what I would call a minor move earlier today.

According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, via Twitter , the Padres acquired catcher/infielder Kyle Phillips from the Blue Jays for a player to be named later.

Seattle Mariners’ manager Don Wakamatsu made a very odd decision at the end of the Mariners’ game on Sunday against the San Diego Padres. With two outs in the ninth, and with the Mariners leading 4-2, Wakamatsu removed starting pitcher Felix Hernandez to bring in David Aardsma to record a one-out save.

Despite the move working out, I didn’t understand the move then, and I don’t understand it now.

Gregerson is having an All World year for the Padres.

I was watching the New York Mets-San Diego Padres series last week, and in two games of that series, Padres’ manager Bud Black summoned Luke Gregerson out of the bullpen. In those two appearances, Gregerson faced six Met batters and struck them all out.

He went through them like a hot knife through butter.

I thought to myself, "Wow, Gregerson is having himself a pretty good year."

Wade LeBlanc pitched another beauty for the San Diego Padres, a team that has relied heavily on a brilliant pitching staff to lead the National League West.

Entering this season, I presumed the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and Colorado Rockies would duke it out for the National League West crown. I tossed aside the Arizona Diamondbacks, and, given by their play this year, that choice was a smart one.

But the division’s other team, which I also thought would struggle, has been one of the great surprises so far.