Absolute Locks = AL; American League = AL; Coincidence?

The good old Summer Classic is only hours away and regardless of all the backlash you've heard on talk radio about this game not being what it once was, I am excited. There are few things at 34 years of age that give me the same feeling as watching a MLB All-Star game. I think that is a good thing.

Before we get to the game itself, let's reflect a bit on the HR Derby. I'm always surprised by the amount of joy that I get from watching some of the absolute bombs that get hit in this contest. This is a bit concerning because it can be argued that the love of the monstrous home run might have been the gentle nudge that sent us rolling down the PED (performance enhancing drug) hill. You only have to think back to how enthralled fans were watching Big Mac clear the Green Monster time and time again in the HR Derby several years back to get the warm flow of betrayal in your blood. And who knows just how "clean" any of today's players are but that is a conversation that I am too bored with to address. So call me naive or the great avoider, but I just watched as a fan last night and must say I liked what I saw.

First off, my +800 darkhorse put in a major performance before flaming out in the finals. If only Nelson Cruz could have outlasted Prince Fielder, this space would have been filled with an obnoxious amount of attaboys for myself. Oh well, at least he kept it interesting.

What is always interesting to me about the derby is the big time sluggers that absolutely shit the bed. Seriously? With a total of 10 outs to be made, only three of the leagues best sluggers were able to reach 7 HRs in the first round? That just seems crazy to me. And how does my pick, a guy that hits bombs in the cavernous Petco Park, only put up a measly two dingers? It could have been worse. I could have picked Brandon Inge and his grand total on zero taters. Even home town hero and the undisputed king of baseball Albert Pujols needed a 'Swing Off' to advance out of the first round. It just goes to show that these things are total crap shoots. As such, we happily donate our $10 that backed Adrian Gonzalez and look forward to the return of the real games. With a BAT that has now shrunk to $+22, we will attempt to get some green back on the battle of the All Stars.

I'm not going to put a lot of analysis into this pick. The AL is the better league, by far. The AL has dominated this game for a long, long time. Vegas has a pretty even line on this one so we'll happily take the American League (-113) to prevail in St. Louis. Look for a low scoring game that ends 4-3 in favor of the AL. LOCK IT UP