Here are Hot Stove Philly’s MLB All Star selections:

AL

1B:     Miguel Cabrera, DET (19HR/60RBI/.326AVG)

2B:     Robinson Cano, NYY (14/50/.362)

3B:     Evan Longoria, TB (12/52/.298)

SS:      Derek Jeter, NYY (8/39/.279)

C:        Victor Martinez, BOS (9/37/.297)

OF:     Josh Hamilton, TEX (17/53/.339)

OF:     Carl Crawford, TB (7/38/.307/26SB)

OF:     Alex Rios, CWS (13/38/.313/20)

DH:     Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (15/58/.324)

SP:      Colby Lewis, TEX (7-4, 3.07 ERA, 90K)

NL

1B:     Adrian Gonzalez, SD (16/58/.315)

2B:     Martin Prado, ATL (7/31/.336/21(2B))

3B:     Scott Rolen, CIN (15/46/.303)

SS:     Hanley Ramirez, FLA (11/.43/.292)

C:       Miguel Olivo, COL (10/32/.300)

OF:    Ryan Braun, MIL (10/47/.306

OF:    Chris Young, ARI (12/49/.273)

OF:     Corey Hart, MIL (18/54/.272)

SP:     Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (13-1, 1.60, 95)

Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts died Thursday morning at the age of 83, according to the Philadelphia Phillies. His cause of death was not immediately known.

Roberts spent 15 years with the Phillies, including as a member of the famed 1950 Whiz Kids. He also spent time with the Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs, compiling a 286-245 record with a 3.41 ERA for his career.

He pitched in a time when endurance was the norm. Over the course of 609 career starts, Roberts threw over 300 innings in six straight seasons. He acrued a total of 305 complete games, including a stretch of 28 in a row.

During the 1950 season, Roberts, a 20-game winner, started three of the Phillies’ final five games, including their Pennant clinching victory over the Brooklyen Dodgers. It was the Phillies’ first Pennant in 35 years and the first time a Phillies pitcher had won 20 games in a …

In a surprising move, the Philadelphia Phillies announced Monday that they have signed first baseman Ryan Howard to a five-year extension worth $125 million. The deal reportedly contains a club option for a sixth year, which would increase the contract’s worth to $138 million.

The five-year extension will pay Howard $20 million in each of the 2012 and 2013 seasons and $25 million per year from 2014-16. The club option is worth $23 million with a $10 million buyout. The deal also reportedly contains a limited no-trade clause.

Howard is currently making $19 million a season after he agreed to a contract renegtotiation in 2008. That deal was worth $54 million over the final three years of his contract. At the time, the expectation was that those would be the final three years Howard would be a member of the Phillies.

Here are some amazing statistics, courtesy of David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily …

According to a report by Philadelphia Daily News reporter David Murphy, Philadelphia Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel announced on a Sirius XM satellite radio show Wednesday morning that shortstop Jimmy Rollins suffered what Manuel is calling “between a Grade 2 and 1″ calf injury that will sideline him for the forseeable future. That was confirmed in a press release Wednesday afternoon by general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr.

Rollins underwent an MRI on Tuesday after suffering the injury during pregame warmups before the Phillies’ home opener on Monday. Amaro announced that they were placing Rollins on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 13.

“We believe it to be a mild to moderate strain and we’re hopeful it will be a two-to-four week recovery,” said Amaro. “As in all of our injuries, precautions will be taken so that Jimmy is 100% when he returns to the field.”

The news comes as a blow to the Phillies, who, …

Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins was scratched from Monday’s home opener after he suffered what appeared to be a calf strain during warmups. He was replaced by Juan Castro at short.

According to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com, Rollins suffered was is being called a “a Grade 2 strain of his right calf muscle – an injury that usually requires a trip to the disabled list – while completing a final few wind sprints before the first pitch.”

Rollins was not available for comment after the Phillies’ 7-4 victory over the Washington Nationals, but according to those who saw him the leave the stadium, he was not moving well.

“Personally, from my experience, it’s not fun,” said centerfielder Shane Victorino said. “It’s a frustrating thing, especially for a guy who runs, who needs his legs, who needs his speed. Hopefully, it’s not as bad as mine.”

Rollins could be placed on the disabled list and miss up to 2-4 weeks. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI …

Phillies’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins has once again stirred the pot of controversy, this time by questioning his own front office.

While on Dan Patrick’s Radio Show, Rollins reignited the debate of why the Phillies couldn’t keep Cliff Lee when they traded for Roy Halladay.

“I have no idea. I’m sure we could afford him. We turned nearly 4 million people through the turnstiles last year. I don’t know. You should have (Phillies GM) Ruben (Amaro) on here… When the trade happened, I actually got a text from Jayson Werth and he was like, ‘What are we doing?’ And I was like, ‘Didn’t we get Halladay?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, but we traded Lee.’ And my mouth dropped like, ‘That wasn’t part of the deal.’

“I really don’t know. I thought we had enough to keep him. I thought we could have done enough to keep him. I guess that’s just a move the Yankees do… That’s just the truth. …

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It was one year ago today that Harry Kalas, The Voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, collapsed in the broadcasting booth of Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., and died at the age of 73. Kalas will be forever be remembered for his majestic voice and historic calls, as well as a man who never forgot how lucky he was. Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer has a stirring article in today’s paper of Kalas’ final moments.

There will no doubt be many tributes and remembrances written about HK today, so rather than doing the same, I have posted a couple stories I wrote last year.

We miss you Harry.


Harry Kalas, the Hall of Fame voice of the Phillies, dead at age 73

By Jonathan Atwood on April 13th, 2009 1:22 PM

Harry Kalas, the Hall of Fame voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, has died. He was …

I still find the current sports culture in Philadelphia surreal. I still find it hard to believe that the two of the biggest sports stories yesterday, including the biggest story (the news that the Eagles had traded Chris Gocong, Sheldon Brown and some other guy), included Philly sports teams.

I still can’t believe that not only did the Phillies win the World Series in 2008, but they got back there in 2009, and are a favorite to make it back for a third straight time in 2010.

I still have trouble believing that not only do the best players in baseball, including the best pitcher of the past decade, want to play for the Phillies and that they now have the luxury of casting off recent Cy-Young award winners like so much yesterday’s news.

Before yesterday, the Phillies have won their season opener just three times since 2000. They have had a winning record in their first ten games of the season just once since 2000, when they …

After meeting with Phillies’ team physician Michael Ciccotti, it was determined that starting pitcher Joe Blanton will be placed on the 15-day disabled list to the start the season. Blanton suffered a mild oblique strain during a bullpen session on Wednesday that will need between three to six weeks to heal, Ciccotti said.

This will be the first time in his six-year career Blanton will need to go on the disabled list.

The news comes on the heels of a report on Wednesday that closer Brad Lidge received a cortisone shot in his right elbow on Tuesday, further setting back his recovery from two off-season surgeries. Lidge is also expected to start the season on the DL.

The injury to Blanton means that Kyle Kendrick will start the season in the rotation. Kendrick spent the Spring battling Jamie Moyer for the fifth spot in the starting rotation, and despite pitching some of the best baseball of his career (he allowed just four earned runs in 21.2 …

Wednesday was a bad day for the Phillies’ pitching staff.

First, we learned that closer Brad Lidge received a cortisone shot for inflammation and soreness in his right elbow. The Phillies’ claim it is only a minor setback in his recovery from two off-season surgeries, one of which was on the inner part of his right elbow. The soreness is on the outer part of the elbow and is something Lidge normally has in spring training.

“Coming into spring training, every year Brad has some lateral — or outer — elbow soreness,” said Phillies’ team physician Michael Ciccotti. “It’s just part of his reconditioning routine. Because he started a little bit later this year with his throwing because of those two surgeries, that soreness has lingered a little bit longer. Normally it resolves by the second or third week in March.”

The soreness, however, has lasted longer than normal, which could explain why Lidge’s velocity remains in the high 80′s. …

There is a lot of speculation amongst Phillies fans and media types that right fielder Jayson Werth is not going to be playing in Philadelphia come April of 2011. The 30 year old outfielder is in the last year of his contract and with uber-prospect Domonic Brown waiting in the wings, many expect that Werth will not fit into the team’s future plans.

Of course, this is all pure conjecture. Ruben Amaro, Jr., the always evasive Phillies’ GM, is likely to keep his cards very close to his chest right up until August 1st. And Werth has had little to say on the matter other than denying that he’s focused on his future beyond 2010, or that a recent lunch with former Yankees great Reggie Jackson was anything more than just lunch between old friends (Jackson is friends with both Werth’s mother and steph-father and the two have known each other since Werth was in elementary school).

Chances are that the lunch was simply …

Last night I participated in the inaugural Battle of the Blogs fantasy baseball league draft. It’s a league comprised of 20 baseball bloggers from all across the country, all of whom are part of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.

I somehow managed the second worst draft position possible with the 11th pick, bested only by fellow Phillies’ blogger Fire Eric Bruntlett who was dead center at 10th. Lucky for me and my draft strategy, no one before me had taken a pitcher, so I was able to nab Roy Halladay (homer pick, I know). I ended up with a decent enough draft for a 20 team league, with Halladay and Josh Beckett at the top of my rotation and Adam Dunn, Manny Ramirez and Ichiro in the heart of my lineup. I’m weaker in the bullpen then I normally prefer, with Rockies’ closer Huston Street as my best arm, but there’s no runaway favorite in a league this big. And while I like my team …