Is it too late to make an all star push for Carlos Ruiz? Getty Images.

Carlos Ruiz leads all catchers in baseball with a .368 batting average, a .600 slugging percentage, 1.029 OPS. He also is tied for the National League lead with 32 RBI and has played some very solid defense this season. As Todd Zolecki points out, Ruiz is just short of enough plate appearances to qualify to be the major league leader in hitting in all of baseball.

Clearly, he is no better than fourth best at his posiiton in the National League.

Um, what?

Ruiz enters this week currently in fourth place among National League catchers in All-star voting, trailing St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, and Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann. Ruiz has just a little over half as many votes as Molina, who is the first catcher to over one million votes among the National League contenders.

1. Yadier Molina, Cardinals - 1,000,048
2. Buster Posey, Giants - 707,508
3. Brian McCann, Braves - 707,508
4. Carlos Ruiz, Phillies - 562,021

One of these players is an all star catcher, one will be snubbed. Getty Images

All this tells me is that fan voting continues to be nothing more than a popularity contest, and once a catcher breaks through to the all star game it is nearly impossible for anyone else to crack the roster until someone is injured, on a decline in their career or traded to the American League.

Keep in mind one other thing. Each Major League Baseball team is represented in the all-star game every year, so somebody from the Phillies has to go. Right now, who would be sent to Kansas City? You figure Cole Hamels has a decent chance to be added to the pitching staff, and a strong case can be made for closer Jonathan Papelbon. This actually makes it more difficult for Ruiz to reach the all-star game in Kansas City this year because how many catchers can a team have on the roster, and how can a manager turn down Hamels and Papelbon, who have been all stars before?

It is not fair, but a dim reality. Ruiz is the victim of a numbers game.

With this latest all star news, Phillies fans will rally to get Ruiz voted in to the game by any means necessary. But if the Phillies want to take charge here they will need to take more action than flashing a message on Phanavision, placing a banner on their website, and having Dan Baker make an announcement prior to the first pitch each home game. The Phillies have the potential to add up to 40,000 votes for Ruiz at every home game, but they no longer employ the practice of handing out ballots to each row in the stadium early in the game, and collecting them a couple of innings later.

I can remember many years at Veterans Stadium punching out holes in the ballots for myself, my dad and grandparents. Like many, I filled out ballots with all Phillies players. Today the ballots sit idle in a number of spots around the ballpark, close to trashcans leaving it up to you to pick up a balot and return it to a drop box before you leave.

Big mistake.

OK, so the Phillies realistically will not add 40-45,000 votes for Ruiz (and other Phillies) per home game, but they could add an extra few thousand here and a few thousand there with a little effort. While I have not asked any of them about it, I would be surprised to learn the ushers would oppose doing this f it meant getting a guy who truly deserves a spot on the all star team could get a boost.

Follow Macho Row on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

Hype this up on BalHyped.

The Philadelphia Phillies continued to struggle against National LEague East opponents this weekend, dropping two of three to the Miami Marlins. After clinging to a lead and needing a five-out save from Jonathan Papelbon Friday night for a 6-4 win, Cole Hamels failed to hold a lead on Saturday and the bats had nothing to offer against Carlos Zambrano on Sunday. Things certainly will be no easier Monday night with the Los Angeles Dodgers coming to town to start a four game series, with Clayton Kershaw taking the mound tonight for the visitors. Kershaw is the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League, and off to another fine start this season with a misleading 4-3 record but a 2.42 ERA.

Philadelphia's own Cy Young Award winner, from 2010, Roy Halladay is on the shelf for up to six or eigth weeks with a Grade 1/2 strain in the right latissimus dorsi (a back and shoulder inury). Having a pitcher of Halladay's elite stature is costly enough for the Phillies, who are struggling to stay in the mix in the division. Through two months of the season, and the first weekend of June, the Phillies have lost a series to a division opponent five times. Still, the Phillies have managed to have a winning record and are just 3.5 games out of first place (five games back in the loss column). It is far from devastating considering they have been without Chase Utley and Ryan Howard the entire season, and have received so-so production from Halladay and Cliff Lee does not have a win yet.

Halladay's injury will hurt the Phillies in the meantime, and it could also end up hurting Halladay's savings account a little (not that he has too much to be worried about, nor is it a top concern for him). Kristi Dosh, ESPN's much more enjoyable answer to CNBC's Darren Rovell, makes note of something discussed today by The Philadelphia Inquirer's Matt Gelb...

Roy Halladay's injury could cost him $20m. He needs to throw at least 415 innings total in 2012 and 2013 for his 2014 option to vest.

— Kristi Dosh (@SportsBizMiss) June 4, 2012

Gelb notes that Halladay signed his contract with the Phillies before 2010 with a $20 million vesting option for 2014. The conditions are automatically met if Halladay throws 225 innings n 2013, is not on the disabled list at the end of next season, and he throws a combined 415 innings this year and next. Missing eight weeks of baseball certainly makes that more difficult. Gelb breaks it down a little more for you.

While many had switched over to watch Johan Santana attempt to complete the first no-hitter in New York Mets history last night, Phillies reliever Jose Contreras injured himself while pitching in relief. According to CSNPhilly.com's John Salisbury, the injury is not good...

Contreras has torn the Tommy John ligament. Tough break. Good man worked hard to get back.

— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) June 2, 2012

That sure sounds like a career ending injury to me, although I am no medical expert. Salisbury is right though, in saying that Contreras worked hard to get back on to the mound this season. His 2012 season comes to an end almost as soon as it got started.

To fill the roster spot, Michael Schwimer has been called back up to fill a spot in the bullpen.

All the best to Contreras, who fought hard to make good things happen in Philadelphia. If Jamie Moyer can come back and pitch in the majors, then we should not count out Contreras, right? We'll see what happens.

Follow Macho Row on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

While the Phillies were playing through some late innings of a rain-delayed game against the Miami Marlins, history was made just north in Queens, New York.

New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana threw his first career no-hitter Friday night in Citi Field against the St. Louis Cardinals, who came in to the night as the best hitting team in the National League. Santana, who labored through the late innings with a loss of control and rising pitch count, recorded the first no-hitter in New York Mets franchise history.

Just think about that for a second. Think of all of the great pitchers that have played for the Mets through the years. Tom Seaver. Nolan Ryan. Tom Glavine. Pedro Martinez.

Nobody had done it in the 8,000+ games in franchise history. It goes without saying that despite this being the Mets, it is a great baseball moment, especially considering the recent arm injuries Santana has worked through. A hat tip to Santana and the Mets for a wonderful night of baseball and franchise history. For many Mets fans watching their pitcher throw a no-hitter is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For their sake, I would guess it will not be another 50 years until it happens again but who knows for sure.

But the question remains, was it really a no-hitter? This ball, lined down the third base line in the sixth inning by (former Met) Carlos Beltran, says otherwise...

"Foul" ball.

The news could have been worse, but losing Roy Halladay six to eight weeks is certainly nothing to smile about this afternoon for Phillies fans.

Following a trip to the doctor Tuesday afternoon to check out shoulder soreness, the Philadelphia Phillies placed Roy Halladay on the disabled list. He is expected to be out for six to eight weeks with a Grade 1/2 strain in the right latissimus dorsi. This is the same sort of injury that placed Cleveland Indians pitcher Rafael Perez on the disabled list last month.

What is the injury?

According to the sources from Wikipedia, tight latissimus dorsi pain is a form of shoulder or chronic back pain. Because it connects to the spine, tightness in the muscle can link to the shoulder joint and lead to chronic pain or tendinitis.

In English, your back hurts and that makes it difficult to throw. For any baseball player that is a big concern, let alone for a starting pitcher.

If Halladay is out for eight weeks, his return would not come until late July, when the Phillies are home against the Milwaukee Brewers. That means no Halladay for the month of June, which includes home contests against the Los Angeles Dodgers and a long home stand against the Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates, and the long road trip against AL East competition form Baltimore and Toronto in addition to the Minnesota Twins. Halladay will also miss a road trip to Los Angeles and Colorado under the eight week time span.

Can the Phillies survive that stretch on the mound? Of course they can, as long as nobody else takes a hit. Cliff Lee has already served time on the disabled list, and Vance Worley hopes to return sometime soon. In the meantime Cole Hamels continues to be the ace of the staff and Kyle Kendrick will remain in the rotation along with Joe Blanton.

Yesterday Midwest Sports Fans released a list of the top five sports cities in America. Philadelphia is ranked fourth and was on the receiving ends of some stale criticisms that we have all heard before.

Before we move on, keep in mind the intention of this post is not to point out any potential bias (Chicago ranked number one by the mid-western sports centric site, written by someone who says Philly blood is in him with his entire family from the area). This website actually puts out some good stuff ona  consistent basis, but when it comes to knocking the Philadelphia sports fan, there is nothing new done here and it is completely one-sided in its analysis.

Let's dissect it...

If you’re wondering whether or not Philadelphia’s fan base is as harsh and brutal as advertised, the truth is that they are not.

They are even worse.

OK, here we go...

On this day two years ago, the Philadelphia Flyers were riding their magical postseason run to the Stanley Cup Finals, their first appearance in the final round since being swept by the Detroit Red Wings in 1997. The Flyers were hot, taking out the second seeded New Jersey Devils in round one, followed by the comeback of all comebacks against the Boston Bruins, and a quick series against the Montreal Canadiens to advance to meet the Chicago Blackhawks.

Philadelphia vs. Chicago. It was a stage set for a fantastic Stanley Cup Finals match-up, with game one scheduled for May 29 in Chicago. With Flyer mania running wild throughout the Delaware Valley, everybody was going to be tuning in for Game One with hopes of getting out to a quick start to the first Stanley Cup victory since 1975.

But, oddly enough, not even the hard core Flyers fans could help but flip the channel or glance at the score of a regular season baseball game in Miami that night. It was not just because Roy Halladay was pitching.

It was because Halladay was pitching a gem like no other.

There may be a new team competing for the services of free-agent pitcher Roy Oswalt. After his asking price may have cooled off some serious heat from the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be entering the mix for the veteran pitcher for the remainder of the season.

According to Ken Rosenthal's report yesterday, Oswalt's asking price is a pro-rated $7.5 million. The Dodgers have shown interest, but may also be thinking that is too much to spend for Oswalt's short-term services.

In addition to the Phillies, Red Sox and Dodgers, the Texas Rangers are also considered to be in the running. Oswalt'spreference may be the Rangers according to multiple reports, and it would make sense. Oswalt would want to be on a team that has a good shot at winning the World Series, and the Rangers are certainly that kind of team after two consecutive trips to the World Series. The Rangers are currently 31-18 and cruising in the AL West, and Oswalt is comfortable in the state of Texas after nearly his entire career with the Houston Astros.

One of the most bizarre decisions in professional sports was approved by the owners of Major League Baseball today. The lower seeded teams in the League Division Series in both leagues will get to host games one and two this October, with the higher seeded teams getting to host the final three games if needed.

As the report from ESPN.com confirms, the approved change is designed to eliminate a travel day for the wild card team that emerges from the new one-game playoff format used starting this fall.

It should also be noted that this change is only effective for this fall and does not necessarily mean this will be the new format. With the one-game wild card game being added after Major League Baseball had set up their initial postseason schedule, some powers that be felt that they needed to curtail to the possible inconvenience of having to rearrange travel dates and potential hotel dates five months in advance.

Because getting multi-million dollar organizations to move around a couple of travel days would be such an inconvenience, right?

One thing is for sure, Jonathan Papelbon is never lacking in the self-confidence department. Yes, he has the closer mentality we speak about all the time.

With the upcoming weekend series coming up bringing the Boston Red Sox to town you might expect that Papelbon will be one of the focal points in the media. That got started Monday on Boston radio station WEEI, and with a featured article on their website.

"It won't be weird. It might be a little weird for Pap, but it won't be weird for Cinco," Papelbon explained. "Cinco is like a Great White, when he smells blood he attacks."

When asked whether he was surprised that Boston did not attempt to match the contract offer from the Phillies this off-season, Papelbon played it as if it were nothing.

"No, man. I wasn't surprised," he said. "Let me tell you something: Cinco don't know how he do, he just do. Cinco knows a lot more than you think Cinco knows, at times. Put it that way."

All I know is that Cinco do saves for the Phillies. Papelbon has been a lock in the closer role, converting all ten of his save appearances in to wins for his new team. He may shrug it aside, but you know he will want the ball at some point this weekend against his old team, especially after the way last season ended.

Papelbon was on the mound for the Red Sox collapse in Baltimore on the final day of the regular season. As Papelbon blew the save and took the loss, the Tampa Bay Rays squeaked in to the playoffs as the American League Wild Card. Papelbon took the blunt of the criticism, but the whole team was a bit of a mess. Papelbon went on to not be offered a contract by Boston.

Does Papelbon feel bad about the way things ended in Boston?

"I don't feel bad. No. Cinco is gutless man. I don’t feel bad for people."

Listen to his full interview with WEEI.

HT: Sports Radio Interviews

Photo source: Getty Images

Follow Macho Row on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest!