Trevor Hoffman added to NL Squad, Why Yovani Gallardo was passed over

The Brewers will send one more to St. Louis for the mid summer classic as Trevor Hoffman will join the National League squad to replace injured Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton.  It will be Hoffman’s seventh All-Star appearance of his career. Hoffman is 20-for-22 in save chances with a 2.05 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP this season.

Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain will miss the All Star Game as well after getting struck in the right elbow with a line drive on Saturday.  Pirates starter Zach Duke has been named to the team to replace the Giants starter.  Duke has an 8-8 record, a 3.29 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP, and his 126 innings pitched are bettered by only All-Stars Tim Lincecum and Dan Haren.

Entering play on Sunday, Yovani Gallardo is 8-6 with a 2.95 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, 120 strikeouts, and the opponents’ batting average is .199.  The numbers are comparable, but I feel Gallardo has had the better season.  However, the main reason for the selection is that Duke pitched Friday and Gallardo pitches Sunday.  Here are the last appearances for the rest of the starting pitchers on the National League squad.  

Tim Lincecum Thursday

Chad Billingsley Friday

Dan Haren Friday

Johan Santana Saturday

Ted Lilly Saturday

Jason Marquis Saturday

Josh Johnson Sunday

You can’t use these pitchers for too long anyway and to add another Sunday pitcher would have made things too difficult for Manager Charlie Manuel.  If I’m Marlins Manager Fredi Gonzalez, I’d want Johnson to appear in the game, only as a last resort.  Gallardo is worthy of selection for the all star game, but because each team needs to have a representative and he pitched just before the break, he’s the odd man out.  Every year players get left off for these same reasons unfortunately, it happened to Gallardo.  

Tags: All Star Game, Brewers, Trevor Hoffman, Yovani Gallardo