At 42, many thought Tim Wakefield’s days of being a capable starting pitcher were over at the beginning of the season. Think again. Not only is Wakefield pitching well, he’s pitching well enough to be named to the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

On Wednesday, Wakefield showed exactly why he’s an All-Star. In six innings of work, Wakefield struck out eight batters and gave up three earned runs to win for the 11th time this season. The knuckleballer has an ERA of 4.14 and a WHIP of 1.38.

Wakefield has a chance to set a career-high in wins. In 1998 and 2007, he had 17 wins. Last season, he had a record of 10-11.

His 11th win of the season came over the Oakland A’s. With their 5-4 victory, the Red Sox improved their record to 51-33. Oakland dropped to 35-48 with the loss.

The next time you see Wakefield on the mound will be win he’s pitching for the American League.

Getting the last four outs against the New York Mets, Mariano Rivera got the 500th save of his Hall of Fame career. His save capped a 4-2 win by the New York Yankees and improved the team’s record to 43-32.

Rivera is currently second on the all-time saves record list. Only Trevor Hoffman has more. Hoffman, who is currently with the Milwaukee Brewers, has 571 saves.

On the season, Rivera has a 2.93 ERA and has 18 saves in 19 save opportunities. In 30.2 innings, he has 39 strikeouts and only three walks. Even at 39, Rivera appears to be near the top of his game.

Rivera had another milestone on Sunday night. In the top of the ninth inning, Rivera drew a bases loaded walk to pick up the first RBI of his big league career.

Picking up the win for the Yankees was Chien-Ming Wang. In 5.1 innings, he gave up only two earned runs. The native of Taiwan has struggled mightily this season. The win improved his record to 1-6 and lowered his ERA to 10.06.

For the Mets, this is their third straight loss and they now stand at 37-37 on the season.

Ryan Howard has played in 342 straight games. That number represents the current best consecutive games streak in baseball. But on Saturday, that streak appears to be coming to an end.

Howard went to the hospital on Friday night after complaining of flu-like symptoms. He reportedly was suffering from a fever of 104 degrees. In the early morning hours, he was released from the hospital.

On Saturday night, the Philadelphia Phillies go up against the Baltimore Orioles. Unless there is a miracle, Howard is set to miss the game.

Last year, Howard played all 162 games as the Phillies went on to win the 2008 World Series championship. He hasn’t missed a game since May of 2007.

On the season, Howard is hitting .254 with 19 homers, 51 RBIs and 42 runs. He also has 16 doubles and an on-base percentage of .330.

If Howard can’t play, Greg Dobbs will get the start at first base in place of Howard.

Ryan Howard - Philadelphia Phillies (Image: Zuma Press)

Ivan Rodriguez, the future Hall of Fame catcher who is now with the Houston Astros, set the all-time record for most games caught in a career. Fittingly, he set the record on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers — the team he played on for the fist dozen seasons of his career.

With his outing on Wednesday, Rodriguez has now caught 2,227 games. The former record holder was Carlton Fisk. Bob Boone is third on the list with 2,225 games, while Gary Carter is fourth with 2,056 games.

The now 37-year-old native of Puerto Rico originally broke into Major League Baseball when he was 19. Nicknamed Pudge, Rodriguez has numerous accolades to his name including 14 All-Star game selections, 13 Gold Glove Awards, seven Silver Slugger Awards, an AL MVP award in 1999 and a World Series championship while with the Florida Marlins in 2003.

This season, Rodriguez is hitting .246 with six homers and 27 RBI. Whenever he decides to end his days behind the plate, he’ll have a place in Cooperstown.

Cliff Lee, the 2008 American League Cy Young Award winner, almost threw a no-hitter on Sunday. After pitching seven hitless innings, Lee finally gave up a hit to lead off the eighth inning. Although he lost the no-hitter, he was able to shutout the St. Louis Cardinals to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 3-0 victory.

Cliff Lee Near No-Hitter (Image: Zuma Press)

Lee finished with nine innings pitched and six strikeouts while allowing three hits and two walks. On the season, he’s 4-6 with a 2.88 ERA. Last season, Lee was 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA.

At the plate, the Indians got their runs via the long ball. Mark DeRosa hit a two-run blast in the first innings and Kelly Shoppach followed that up with a solo shot in the fifth.

With the win, the Indians are 29-36. The Cardinals dropped to 34-30.

Torii Hunter, the 33-year-old outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels who has 12 years of of big league experience, did something on Saturday that he’s never done before. With home runs in the third, fifth and seventh innings, Hunter hit three homers in the same game for this first time.

Thanks to Hunter’s blasts, the Angeles were able to topple the San Diego Padres by a final count of 9-1. With the win in interleague play, the Angels were able to improve to 31-29. The Padres (28-33) have now lost seven of their last ten outings.

On the mound, Joe Saunders was very good for the Angels. He pitched 8.1 innings and scattered eight hits and one walk while giving up one earned run and striking out five. The win improved his record to 7-4 and his ERA was lowered to 3.66.

Kendry Morales and Jeff Mathis also hit homers for L.A. The two teams play the final game of their series on Sunday afternoon.

Torii Hunter - Los Angeles Angels (Image: Zuma Press)

Coming into this season, many baseball experts expected Miguel Tejada to continue his slide from stardom. However, the 35-year-old is making his skeptics look foolish.

On Tuesday, he added another chapter. With the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies tied at 2 in the bottom of the 11th inning, Tejada hit a solo homer to give the Astros a 3-2 victory.

And that wasn’t Tejada’s only big hit of the night. The native of the Dominican Republic tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a single.

Tejada finished the game 4-6 and is now hitting .362 on the season, which leads the National League. To go along with his impressive batting average, Tejada has six homers, 32 RBIs and 29 runs.

With the win, the Astros improved to 22-28 on the season. A recent three-game winning streak has started to give Houstonians hope that this might not be a lost season. As it stands, the Astros are seven games behind the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers.

Here is the video of Miguel Tejada’s walk-off home run:

On July 14th, the 2009 MLB All-Star Game will take place in St. Louis. In the American League, there is a lot of competition for the starting All-Star spots at virtually every position. Here’s a look at the AL returns for the 2009 version of the Major League All-Star Game.

First Basemen
1) Kevin Youkilis - 600,175
2) Mark Teixeira - 506,339
3) Justin Morneau - 483,226
4) Miguel Cabrera - 444,492
5) Chris Davis - 320,912

Second Basemen
1) Ian Kinsler - 787,619
2) Dustin Pedroia - 641,281
3) Robinson Cano - 413,605
4) Aaron Hill - 388,457
5) Placido Polanco - 277,033

Third Basemen
1) Evan Longoria - 1,036,071
2) Michael Young - 441,912
3) Alex Rodriguez - 428,690
4) Mike Lowell - 315,686
5) Scott Rolen - 284,723

Shortstops
1) Derek Jeter - 1,017,560
2) Jason Bartlett - 435,456
3) Elvis Andrus - 393,906
4) Marco Scutaro - 349,922
5) Cesar Izturis - 178,701

Catchers
1) Joe Mauer - 769,320
2) Jason Varitek - 406,788
3) Jarrod Saltalamacchia - 401,375
4) Victor Martinez - 396,708
5) Jorge Posada - 393,431

Outfielders
1) Jason Bay - 729,590
2) Josh Hamilton - 685,463
3) Ichiro Suzuki - 481,263
4) Ken Griffey Jr - 452,849
5) Carl Crawford - 439,870
6) Torii Hunter - 422,220
7) Nick Markakis - 412,824
8) Johnny Damon - 397,963
9) Nelson Cruz - 390,903
10) Adam Jones - 384,774
11) Jacoby Ellsbury - 374,662
12) Grady Sizemore - 348,660
13) J.D. Drew - 297,174
14) Curtis Granderson - 279,687
15) Bobby Abreu - 265,211

Jason Bay - Leading the AL All-Star Voting (Image: Zuma Press)

A new website was launched that is asking baseball fans to “Vote for Manny” for the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The website, which is available at VoteForManny.blogspot.com, is referencing Manny Ramirez, the suspended outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Despite the name of the website, Jason Rosenberg (the site’s founder), is adamant that he doesn’t want Manny Ramirez to actually play in the All-Star game. Instead, he started the website to “illustrate the joke that the voting, World Series home field advantage rule, the mandatory representation, the still-soft PED rules…has become”.

Currently, Ramirez is the fourth leading vote-getter in the National League for outfielders. The top three outfielders start the All-Star game. If Ramirez finishes in the top three, there is no current rule against him playing in the contest.

Prior to being suspended due to testing positive for a banned substance, Ramirez was well on his way to making the All-Star team. He was batting .348 with six homers and 20 RBIs in only 27 games.

It’ll be interesting to see if this “Vote for Manny” campaign is successful. And if it is, will commissioner Bud Selig let him play?

Vote for Manny? Manny Ramirez could be an All-Star again (Image: Zuma Press)

At some points during the offseason, it appeared as if Pudge Rodriguez’s career could be over. He was coming off of a disappointing season and few teams showed interest. However, after playing well in the World Baseball Classic, the Houston Astros came calling.

Rodriguez has played well as the starting catcher for the Astros. On Sunday, Rodriguez hit the 300th home run of his career to help the Astros beat the Chicago Cubs by a final count of 6-5.

The 300th blast for Rodriguez came in the top of the fourth inning. His two-run shot was off of Rich Harden and gave the Astros a 4-2 lead they would never relinquish.

The 37-year-old catcher is hitting .286 on the season with five homers and 19 RBI. In his career, Rodriguez has a .301 batting average to go with 1,236 RBI, 1,268 runs and 2,637 hits.

When the book is closed on Pudge Rodriguez’s career, expect him to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.