American League

The votes are coming fast and furious.

It’s the annual debate of who should be an starter in the All Game versus those who are being voted by you, the fans.

Yes, it’s that time where Major Leaguers who shouldn’t be selected by the fans, are.

People like Manny Ramirez, who was a leading candidate in the outfield for the National League after being suspended 50 games for PED's. Then once the outrage began, he mysteriously fell to sixth.

Or the injured Josh Hamilton.

Today we will take a look at the American League voting.

Do the fans have it right? Let’s take a look:

This is a question that Mariners fans have been asking themselves and each other all season. So far, there really hasn't been a clear cut answer, but it's starting to look more and more like a yes.

As of now, the Seattle Mariners are sitting at 35-34, two-and-a-half games behind Texas and two behind LA.  On top of that, this upcoming series with San Diego presents an opportunity to gain even more ground, as our division rivals are facing much more challenging opponents.

Even as King Felix dominated Sunday's game, the Mariners offense slumbered. It took a crucial mistake from the opposing first baseman to seal a 3-2 Seattle win.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the game tied at two, Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Tony Clark flat-out dropped the throw from third baseman Mark Reynolds on a Franklin Gutierrez groundout.

It wasn't the ideal way to win a game, but I guess it sorta makes up for the one of the Brandon Morrow meltdowns in Texas.

Since its inception the American League has dominated in season inter-league play.  Up through the 2008 season the American league had a record of 1536 wins and 1420 losses.

The American League has also dominated the All-Star game having not lost since 1996.  However, this isn't a fair measure of which league is better because a league can easily have the best group of 25-35 stars but still be the weaker league. 

I don't need to tell anyone that the economy is in ruins right now. Teams all over professional sports are seeing their season ticket renewal numbers sliding south and their merchandise sales stagnant at best.

In baseball, the rumor mills are full of hot items about teams in small and middle markets looking to unload any contract of length or substance as early as the beginning of June (Jake Peavy) for the sake of saving their bottom line.

Fans just aren't spending the money this year.

When Jack Zduriencik signed the veteran Russell Branyan this off season, he and the rest of the organization were probably expecting a solid defensive first baseman who could put up some decent power numbers in the middle of the order. It appears that what they got was a lot more.

Everyone already knew that Branyan had a great power upside, but he has performed well above expectations over the first two months of the season. Not only is he doing a bang-up job at first base, but he's near the top of the league in homers with a batting average above .300.

Before the season started, most analysts were calling for David Price, Elvis Andrus, Matt Wieters, or Travis Snider to win the AL Rookie of the Year award.

Orioles' outfielder Nolan Reimold would probably be only the third Oriole considered, after super-prospect Wieters and Japanese import Koji Uehara. But after being called up to the majors on May 14, Reimold has quickly shown he is very capable of placing himself in the discussion.

The general consensus is that the American League West is the weakest division in baseball. I would have to agree with this. 

Not only does the division have just four teams, but it is also lacking a powerhouse team that most other divisions possess.

In a lot of ways, this is a good thing. Namely, it gives average teams like the Mariners a chance to compete. It's rare for anyone to walk away with the division in dominating fashion, with the exception of the 2008 Angels.

It's quite clear that Brandon Morrow isn't doing well. This much has been obvious since he came off of the DL a little over a week ago.

The burning question is: What needs to be done about him?

Everyone has an opinion as to what the answer of this question is, and one very popular one seems to be: "Make him a starter."