Lance Berkman surges forth in All-Star balloting. He's got over a million votes now and it looks like he's going to be the starter in the All Star game. We all know he deserves it, so I'm not going to talk about. I will point you to this interesting article about Lance, Chipper Jones and switch hitting, however. :) If that's not enough Berkman & Chipper talk, you can find a comparison of their switch hitting specific stats here .

Meanwhile, Miguel Tejada takes the lead in All-Star balloting for the NL Shortstop position. He was only about 8,000 votes behind the Marlin's Hanley Ramirez a week ago, but now he's out in front by about 24,000 votes. That's not *very* surprising considering what a big name Tejada is, but Ramirez does deserve the starting nod, based on the numbers so far.

Anyway, based on the latest numbers, stats and the schedule so far... I'd say Carlos Lee (4th in voting) has a good shot at joining the team as a reserve. (He's about 200,000 behind Ken Griffey Jr, though, so I don't think he'll be able to overtake the starting spot.)  Jose Valverde could get selected to the team being a good closer and all... Hunter Pence is 8th in voting for outfielders. I don't think he'll get selected as a reserve, but I suppose it's *possible.* Looks like the Astros could have 4-5 All Stars this year. At least 3, at worst.

In other news, don't know if anyone saw this, but Wandy was a nominee for the latest NL Player of the Week award. Chipper Jones won it, but that's pretty nice to see Wandy come this far over the years. Here's the story if you want to check it out.

Adam Wainright was put on the Disabled List yesterday . That's a good thing for everyone else in the NL Central. It's only 15 days, so I guess Tony only yanked his finger around the other day and didn't break it. On the other hand, Rick Ankiel is back. :(