And the pitched-on-Sunday rule claims another victim.
Philadelphia Phillies
starting pitcher
Cole Hamels
was named an All-Star after being almost as good as anyone in the NL, which is to say that he was even as good as the other pitchers in his rotation. But he's scheduled to pitch on Sunday, so he is ineligible for Tuesday's All-Star Game.
Taking his place will be
first-half All Star extraordinaire
Kevin Correia
of the
Pittsburgh Pirates
. Correia has 11 wins, which impresses your dad, but he also has a 4.01 ERA and one of the lowest strikeout rates in the National League. But his 11 wins -- which could possibly be related to the 7.17 runs of support the Pirates' offense has provided him -- and the Pirates' surprising first-half has him in the All-Star Game gets him in his first All-Star Game. Well, what I'm guessing is his first All-Star Game. I'm not even going to bother to check.
Correia will be the fifth pitcher drafted by the
San Francisco Giants
to make the 2011 roster.