And it don't stop...

One Man Band takes a break from studying for the bar exam to kick out his AL and NL All-Star Roster predictions. Scroll down to the 7/3 and 7/4 posts and see how he did. Damn well, I think -- he certainly got into a Joe Torre mindset by nailing all the Yankees and fingering all the (at that point) probable exclusions. I admire this, because I'm terrible at these kinds of predictions; I'm pretty psyched to read his take on the All-Star game. Pretty soon, his word will be legal, you know.

ESPN Classic is offering a nice warm-up for the upcoming festivities with this list of All-Star contests from 1933-2003. I know I'm not being fair towards expansion and all that, but it strikes me that things have become very bloated with the mid-season classic in the modern era. The rosters have practically doubled since the game's inception. Teams of 18 squared off in 1933, while teams of 34 duked it out last year. Even with the surplus of players, everyone didn't make it into the game in 2002, the year of the infamous overtime tie in Miller Park.

For more comprehensive coverage, definitely check out what's cookin' on mlb.com. Rosters are there, as well as box scores for every contest, mini-recaps, detailed information on injury replacements, and all manner of assorted esoterica-- like this list of all the All-Star rookie starters, as well as the answer to the following question: how many countries have been represented in the All-Star game? Hint: it's more than you'd think (answer posted in comments section).

I have two requests for this year's game. First, please please please let the NL All-Stars win. Yet another AL victory does nothing to promote the world outside of the Yankess and Red Sox, and the NL has the pitching this year to do it. Next, please consider a return to using pitching more judiciously. No more 2 inning starts followed by seven tense innings of sloppy relief. Both sides got through with three pitchers pitching 3 innings each way back in '33. All the NL needs is Clemens, Schmidt and Johnson to throw heat. I'm not holding my breath for either; Christmas (i.e. how everyone else spells "Hanukkah") doesn't come in July.