Mendoza: "I Was Robbed!"

It's official: Andruw Jones has set the batting average bar to staggering new depths. How else can anyone explain the inclusion of Jason Varitek and his .219 BA to the All Star Game? Was Pierzynski too hard to spell? I realize he might cause rage wherever he roams, but AJ knows how to hit a round ball with a round bat.

I'm not the only one befuddled by this oversight. ESPN's Keith Law is also wondering how...

Jason Varitek (was chosen) over various multicellular organisms capable of wearing a catcher's mitt.

Is it more of an insult to the All-Star Game to put someone playing as horribly as Varitek is on the AL roster, or to Varitek himself by drawing even more presumably unwanted attention to his hitting woes?

Varitek has been so bad at the plate this season that he's below replacement level for catchers -- that theoretical player who any team could grab from Triple-A to fill that roster spot. And it's not as if Varitek is a perennial All-Star who fans would expect to see in the game; he hasn't made the squad at all since 2005 (and hasn't deserved to), and only appeared in one other All-Star Game before that, in 2003. (....Besides Pierzynski) the players could also have chosen Ivan Rodriguez, who is having a good enough year in a weak crop of AL catchers, has made 14 All-Star teams and is one of the most recognizable names in the game.