Sosa Snubbed

By Justin Albers
Basketballss132002@yahoo.com
CLEVELAND- When the All-Star teams were announced on Sunday, there was one player left off that left people scratching their heads: Sammy Sosa.
The Texas Rangers are a terrible team and everybody knows it. There is nobody on that team that sticks out as the face of the franchise. When you think about the Red Sox you think about David Ortiz, Derek Jeter with the Yankees, Albert Pujols with the Cardinals. But the Rangers just don’t have “the guy”. Last year it was Michael Young; he made the All-Star team and had the game winning hit in the 9th inning of the All-Star game. But he certainly should not be on the team this season, it should be Sosa.
Sosa is fourth in the American League in RBIs with 63, Michael Young has 48. Sosa is ahead of David Ortiz, Ivan Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, and Paul Konerko, and he doesn’t even play everyday. He is ninth in the American League in home runs with 14, ahead of Ortiz, Ramirez, Jermaine Dye, and Magglio Ordonez.
I understand the fact that his batting average is low at .262, but this guy is putting up the numbers and deserves to be a member of the All-Star team. Michael Young was selected for the simple fact that he was there last year and produced, but he has done absolutely nothing this year that makes him an All-Star.
Now onto the topic that the rest of the nation will be discussing for today and probably the next several days: Barry Bonds. Bonds was selected as an All-Star starter for the National League, a position that was chosen by the fans.
When I heard about this story I was surprised but not shocked. I strongly disagree with the decision, but the fans want to see a guy like this in the big game. If they are going to pay the money to go out and see the All-Star game, there has to be a guy like Bonds playing in it. However, Bonds is putting up pretty big numbers- not All-Star starter numbers, but big numbers. His fielding is atrocious, but he is batting .304 with 16 home runs and 40 RBIs. Is he better than Alfonso Soriano, no, but this selection is not as pathetic as people are making it out to be. Apparently Barry has more fans than we thought.
When the Mid-Summer Classic takes place next week, think of how great it could have been to have Sammy on board; Sosa and Bonds. I guess we will never know.