Tonight in St. Louis, we get some national affirmation for the Detroit Tigers' first half of the season, with four players wearing the Detroit road greys on the American League All-Star team. We don't know how much either Curtis Granderson, Brandon Inge, Edwin Jackson, or Justin Verlander will play, though I suspect there's a much stronger chance we'll see the Tigers' position players than pitchers, but who can say for sure?
Inge might get a little more playing time at third base tonight, now that Tampa's Evan Longoria will not be playing in the game because of an infected finger. Texas' Michael Young will get the start tonight.
Hey Ian, didn't you give away a prize for All-Star predictions last year?
Yes, yes I did. But that was when the Tigers had only one All-Star, Carlos Guillen, and it was easy to take guesses as to when he'd play, what he'd do, etc. It's a little bit different with four Tigers in this year's contest. We held a meeting this morning at BYB HQ and tried to figure out something fun, but no agreement could ultimately be reached.
The American League has won six straight All-Star Games, and if you factor in the 2002 tie, they've gone 12 straight years without losing.