FYI, the final cuts from the ballot: Mike Mussina, then Chris Young. There's a trivia question -- two actually -- neither of which I know the answer to. (1) Who was the last rookie to start an All-Star Game, maybe Valenzuela? (2) When was the last time the Yankees didn't place a single pitcher on the All-Star roster?

I don't know the answer to (1), but I'm guessing (2) is before Rivera became the closer, so I'll say 1996, even though he was awesome that year.

After looking it up, I am incorrect, though close.

Doc is the legitimate winner here.

The closest competitors are Buehrle and Santana. The former does not strike out enough batters and the latter seems to have contracted acute gopheritis.

Here is my ballot, by the way. This represents what I feel is the best team - including but not limited to this season's performance.

Posada
Ortiz
Roberts
Rodriguez
Tejada
Ramirez
Damon
Guerrero
Hafner

All from the AL East, save for Guerrero and Hafner.

Should be interesting to see how many Yankees make bench spots for the AL this time. Torre usually just takes his starting nine doesn't he? Francona needs to take a serious look at some Chi Sox, Konerko and Podsednik should make that team.

Leigh, Posada over Varitek? Tek is having a great year, Posada continues to decline. For everybody's sake, vote for Tek so that we all don't have to watch mini-Jorge go out when Posada is announced. It was funny in '99, but last year it was just lame.

And the top 10 AL pitchers in VORP:

1. Roy Halladay     44.0 
2. Mark Buehrle     38.1 
3. Kenny Rogers     34.0 
4. Jon Garland      29.0 
5. Bartolo Colon    26.4 
6. Matt Clement     25.6 
7. Carlos Silva     25.6 
8. Jarrod Washburn  25.1  
9. Johan Santana    24.6 
10. Freddy Garcia   23.8  

Does Halladay not start on Sunday before the all-star game? That might have an impact.

May I suggest a poll question of "Okay, Bauxites, we get it...if not Roy Halladay, who should start the All-Star game for the American League?"

Full disclosure: I voted for Doc.

1. Mark Buehrle
2. Colon
3. Rogers

After Halladay of course.

*The closest competitors are Buehrle and Santana. The former does not strike out enough batters and the latter seems to have contracted acute gopheritis.*

The closest competition, and the man who will probably start the game, is Kenny Rogers. After that comes Buehrle, and then everyone else, including Santana and Garland.

Ah, but Rogers has contracted a case of dugoutsmashitis.