Dodgers Diaries

Sports Illustrated recently asked 306 big leaguers to rank the 15 toughest catchers to steal on. It's hard to argue with their perception that Yadier Molina is the best in the business. But the fact that AJ Ellis is nowhere on the list shows that opposing baserunners just haven’t been paying attention. Ellis ranks fifth in baseball at throwing out would-be stealers, behind Arizona’s Miguel Montero (with a whopping 50 percent success rate), Cincinnati's Ryan Hanigan, San Francisco's Hector Sanchez (Buster who?) and Philadelphia's Carlos Ruiz.

Joe Mauer, who placed 5th on the SI list, has thrown out just 15 percent of baserunners this year. Mike Napoli, supposedly inept at this task, has a better success rate. Yadier's older brother Jose Molina, ranked 8th, has thrown out just 3 of the 19 men who've tried to steal on him.

I don't know whether this is one of those stats that has more to do with pitchers than catchers. Certainly Ellis has been hurt by catching Ted Lilly, whose inability to hold runners on has allowed seven of nine baserunners to advance, and Kenley Jansen, who has never registered a caught-stealing in his short career (he's 0-for-2 in 2012).

What I do know is that this ranking, like the Gold Glove awards, seems to be based not on facts, but on reputation, much of which is established at the plate, rather than behind it. The funny thing is, Ellis has done just as much to acquit himself with the bat as with the glove. Then again, maybe this disrespect is what has made him so successful. Players think they can run on him, so they try it. But 39 percent of the time, they're wrong.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

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