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.

How about that LeBron?

Our King James nearly got a triple-double in the All-Star Game last night, with 27 points, nine rebounds and eight assists to win his second All-Star MVP award in three years. How many people still do not believe that LeBron is the best player in all the land? Color commentator Doug Collins believed Ray Allen should have won the MVP, and to be sure, Allen was a key to the East's 136-128 victory. But 27-9-8? In an All-Star Game?

LeBron insists that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA; and to be fair to Kobe, he played only three minutes last night due to a finger injury, and he did win last year's All-Star MVP. But our man is better right now. You won't convince me otherwise. And LeBron is still just 23 (Bryant is 29).

It was a good weekend for Cavaliers; as noted before in this space, Boobie Gibson won the rookie game MVP, and he finished second in the 3-point shootout, behind former Cavalier Jason Kapono. And I've always liked Kapono, but I'll take Boobie any time.

Today in sports history

On this date five years ago, Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas played in his first NBA All-Star Game. Z played just four minutes, despite the fact that the game went into double-overtime. He didn't score, but had one assist and one steal.

The Cavaliers were one of the NBA's worst teams in '02-03, finishing 17-65, which tied for the worst record in the NBA. But it wasn't Z's fault; he had a fine season, average 17.2 points and 7.5 rebounds. And help was on the way; that awful record got them more ping-pong balls in the upcoming NBA lottery, which got them the first pick in the 2003 draft. They used that pick on a 6-foot-8 high school phenom from Northeast Ohio, and I won't tell you his name, but he's currently the NBA's scoring leader.