Dodgers Diaries

I tend not to get too worked up about All-Star snubs. For one, the game is only slightly less meaningless than all other sports’ all-star games. Sure, baseball contends “This one counts,” and even assigns home-field advantage to the league that wins. But the players still aren’t going to get hurt in a game that only benefits the ultimate winner of their league. Hence the rule forbidding use of pitchers who threw Sunday.

For another, just about anybody who’s deserving of an All-Star spot gets one in the end. There’s fan voting for the final spot, even if it is Yankee-dominated. There are players replaced because of injuries. And because Sunday starters are allowed to attend even if they don’t play, the final roster includes close to 40 players on each side.

That’s true of this year’s game, where Rafael Furcal and Hong-Chih Kuo deservedly joined the NL squad and Anaheim’s Jered Weaver got the last-minute nod to the AL team even though everyone knew he was pitching Sunday. Paul Konerko finally got picked when Joe Mauer begged off with injuries. Joey Votto won the fan vote, righting the wrong by NL Manager Charlie Manuel, who chose his own Ryan Howard over Votto even though Votto’s stats were far superior to Howard’s.

Any time 40 guys get chosen, it’s hard to say somebody got snubbed. You might say Omar Infante doesn’t deserve to be there, but there isn’t anybody who was overlooked at this point.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL