That the Orioles did not land anyone in the American League All Star starting lineup, announced last night, should not have surprised anybody.
Adam Jones had a monster April, but his average dropped at least 100 points in May, and even though he was around .300 for a while, he’s at .283 today. He only has three steals and 10 home runs, the last homer coming June 11.
SoDo Mojo
This owes somewhat to nagging ankle, foot and shoulder injuries along the way, which ultimately kept him out of the Orioles lineup for a few games.
It tends to rub Baltimore fans the wrong way to hear this, but from an unbiased, national perspective, Mike Trout and Lorenzo Cain are better players – Trout by far – than any outfielder the Orioles have to offer.
Alex Gordon, who finished third in the voting, may be debatable, but the fans who did the voting didn’t think so. Having off during the Break should give Jones’ shoulder, not to mention his other ailments, time to rest up.
Manny Machado had a monster June after a slow start, but two other third basemen outvoted him.
Toronto’s Josh Donaldson is third in RBIs with 56, and fourth in WAR (4.3) among all AL players, while playing for a Blue Jays team that leads the league in runs scored, doubles, total bases, RBIs, slugging and OPS. Donaldson set a new, all-time single-season record with over 14 million total votes cast. Hard to argue with credentials like that.
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Reserves and pitchers will be announced tonight. We shall see if the credentials of Darren O’Day, Brad Brach and Zach Britton, or any Oriole starting pitcher, impressed the voters any more.