Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 10, 2007
Geographical Selection

Jim Leyland gave his reason for making Haren the AL starting pitcher:

Leyland admitted his choice of Haren was dictated in part by geography.

"I would be lying if I said, if I felt that it wasn't a nice extra touch since he pitches right across the Bay here," Leyland said.

"And truthfully, if this game was in Cleveland, it would probably be (C.C.) Sabathia (12-3, 3.58) and if it was in Detroit it would be (Justin) Verlander (10-3, 3.14).

"So there was a little added incentive for me; when I picked Danny, I thought that would really create a nice touch."

Indeed. And with Dan leading the league in ERA, there's no controversy in the choice.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:07 AM | All-Star Game | TrackBack (0)
Comments

He didn't owe an explanation for this choice. Haren is the right pick. I'm an Indians fan and would have liked to see C.C. start the All Star game. Problem is he didn't earn that honor. This has actually been a relatively controversy free AS game. There are always snubs, but none that were incredibly outrageous this year.

Posted by: largebill at July 10, 2007 12:10 PM

Agreed with largebill. The explanation wasn't really needed; Haren was the absolute right choice all along. Much as this Red Sox fan would've loved to see Beckett start the game, Haren's had the better season so far and was more deserving of the honor. Simple as that.

(Any Cardinals fans out there with knots in their stomachs right now?)

And kudos to Leyland for making the right choice. It would've been very easy for him to go with his own guy in Verlander.

Posted by: mouse at July 10, 2007 04:36 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?