2008 American League All-Stars: Some New, Some Familiar, and Some Unknown Faces

The 2008 MLB season has been the stuff of baseball lore.

We had the meteoric rise and subsequent collapse of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the emergence of the surging, take-no-prisoners Tampa Bay Rays.

We woke up in late June to find the Yankees in last place and the Rays in first place.

We  witnessed the late arrival of a bona fide superstar (Josh Hamilton), and the early arrival of another one (Evan Longoria), as well as a plethora of over hyped rookie pitchers (Max Scherzer, Johnny Cueto, Clayton Kershaw, Jeff Niemann).

We've seen relatively unknown players morph into stars (Nate McLouth, Carlos Quentin, Ryan Ludwick, Edinson Volquez, Justin Duchscherer), the rise of the two bagger (Chase Utley, Ian Kinsler, Dan Uggla, Brandon Phillips, B.J. Upton, Brian Roberts, Dustin Pedroia) and the fall of the shortstop (cricket chirp).

We've watched Lance Berkman and Utley positively tear the cover off the ball and enjoyed Chipper Jones' pursuit of history as he attempts to become the first player to hit .400 since Ted Williams almost seventy years ago. 

At the turn, here are my picks for the AL 2008 All-Stars. I stuck to the premise that every team should have a representative and the bench must be able to field a player at each position.

Starters

C – Joe Mauer, MIN:  A bit over hyped, but as consistent as they come at the plate

1B – Kevin Youkilis, BOS: “The Youk” having his best offensive season to go along with his already stellar defense

2B – Ian Kinsler, TEX: Surprise, surprise! Kinsler looks to be for real. He's on pace for 120 R, 25 HR, 100 RBI, 50 SB, and a .330 average

3B – Alex Rodriguez, NYY: Will be tough for anyone but Madonna to move him from this spot

SS – Michael Young, TEX: A prime example of the position’s anorexia

LF – Carlos Quentin, CHW: Castoff no more, Quentin, who was traded by Arizona for a bag of sweaty jockstraps in the offseason, is the offensive leader of the first place Sox.

CF – Josh Hamilton, TEX: Hamilton’s story will make a great movie one day. I’m rooting for him.

RF – Ichiro Suzuki, SEA: The incumbent.

DH - Jermaine Dye, CHW: Still got some thing left in the tank. 100 R, 40 HR, 100 RBI pace.

Bench

C – Kurt Suzuki, OAK

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