Asdrubal's all-star appearance

The Indians' Asdrubal Cabrera will be the second batter in tonight's All-Star Game in Phoenix, and will start the game at shortstop. It's a well-deserved honor for Cabrera, who is hitting .293 with 14 home runs and 51 RBIs, which are pretty gaudy first-half numbers for a shortstop even in today's day and age. And he turns in an eye-popping defensive play about every two or three games.

Cabrera replaces the Yankees' Derek Jeter, who was elected to start despite having a clearly inferior first half to Cabrera's (.270, 3, 24), but has bowed out of the game, citing fatigue. I'm not sure quite what to make of that, but Jeter is 37 and recently came off the disabled list, and the Yankees clearly need him more than the American League does. (The American League basically doesn't need him at all. They've got Asdrubal.)

Without looking it up, can you guess how long it's been since an Indian started the All-Star Game? Oh, it used to happen all the time, back when the Indians were selling out every single home game and all those fans were punching all-star ballots at the park. But it's now been 10 years since Juan Gonzalez was the last Tribesman voted to start the game. And Cabrera's the first Indian to start at shortstop since Lou Boudreau back in 1954.

None of this amounts to much, in the grand scheme of things, but as you're watching tonight's game, just remember that the winner gets home field in the World Series, and for the first time in four years, there's a chance the Indians will be the AL's representative.