Looks like Rocket Roger is getting to go to the All-Star game after all. This whole thing sounds fishy.

Quote:Roger Clemens replaced Barry Zito on the American League All-Star roster Monday, with the commissioner's office saying the Oakland left-hander was unable to pitch.

That was news to Zito, who said he found out he was off the roster while sitting with his All-Star teammates in a hotel ballroom, giving interviews.

"If I had some black-and-white explanation, it would make more sense,'' Zito said.

During the A's 1-0 win at Baltimore on Sunday, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner threw 106 pitches, getting a no-decision, allowing four hits in eight innings.

Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office, said Oakland manager Ken Macha and pitching coach Rick Peterson made the decision, and that A's general manager Billy Beane also was involved.

"Barry was informed of that opinion, and acquiesced,''
Alderson said. "That was information relayed to us, and we acted on that information.''

Zito had been in an AL meeting before the session with reporters and said nothing was mentioned to him.

"It has nothing to do with me or my physical situation,'' he said. "I don't know if they didn't feel comfortable with me pitching on one days' rest.''

Zito thought he could have pitched an inning during Tuesday night's game. In last year's All-Star game, Zito replaced Mark Buehrle to start the sixth, retired Shawn Green on a groundout, then was replaced by Eddie Guardado.

"I could have given them more than the one batter I had last year,'' Zito said.

<a href='http://espn.go.com/mlb/allstar03/s/2003/0714/1580480.html' target='_blank'>http://espn.go.com/mlb/allstar03/s/2003/07...14/1580480.html</a>

JoltinJacket Wrote:Looks like Rocket Roger is getting to go to the All-Star game after all. This whole thing sounds fishy.

Quote:Roger Clemens replaced Barry Zito on the American League All-Star roster Monday, with the commissioner's office saying the Oakland left-hander was unable to pitch.

That was news to Zito, who said he found out he was off the roster while sitting with his All-Star teammates in a hotel ballroom, giving interviews.

"If I had some black-and-white explanation, it would make more sense,'' Zito said.

During the A's 1-0 win at Baltimore on Sunday, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner threw 106 pitches, getting a no-decision, allowing four hits in eight innings.

Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office, said Oakland manager Ken Macha and pitching coach Rick Peterson made the decision, and that A's general manager Billy Beane also was involved.

"Barry was informed of that opinion, and acquiesced,''
Alderson said. "That was information relayed to us, and we acted on that information.''

Zito had been in an AL meeting before the session with reporters and said nothing was mentioned to him.

"It has nothing to do with me or my physical situation,'' he said. "I don't know if they didn't feel comfortable with me pitching on one days' rest.''

Zito thought he could have pitched an inning during Tuesday night's game. In last year's All-Star game, Zito replaced Mark Buehrle to start the sixth, retired Shawn Green on a groundout, then was replaced by Eddie Guardado.

"I could have given them more than the one batter I had last year,'' Zito said.

<a href='http://espn.go.com/mlb/allstar03/s/2003/0714/1580480.html' target='_blank'>http://espn.go.com/mlb/allstar03/s/2003/07...14/1580480.html</a>

Hmm, I wonder if there was another party involved that hasn't been mentioned yet. I can only think of two possible culprits for this, assuming Billy Beane wasn't acting alone on this one. First would be the American League, who knows that this year's all-stars game determines home field advantage. Believe me, it is a big deal for either league champ!! The second culprit would be the Oakland A's ownership, believe it or not. With ballpark talks breaking down once again, and an A's favorite forced out of office (Bobb), I can't help but wonder if this isn't a power play the A's ownership is using against the city of Oakland. (A's ownership "Ok, no new ballpark, no popular A's player to the All-Star game.")

Does sound a lil' strange.

Didn't something like this happen to Zito last year as well? Seems like him and Torre had some kind of beef going. Anyone know?

It seems like I do remember something happening between Zito and Torre either last year or the year before...but anyways Zito didnt really deserve to be an allstar anyways shoulda been Ponson. Even though Im not a big Clemens fan the rocket should be there being his last season in the league and all. All that said this was DEFINITLEY the wrong way of going about things.

Herd Fan 4-Life Wrote:Didn't something like this happen to Zito last year as well? Seems like him and Torre had some kind of beef going. Anyone know?

Yeah, I think it was either him, Hudson or Mulder. Seems like it was basically the same thing - one of them started the Sunday before the break, and Torre said he wasn't gonna be responsible for tearing up a guy's arm so he wouldn't pitch him even if he got selected.

I feel bad for Zito, but I agree with Terpy that he shouldn't have been an All-Star in the first place.