Two roster spots were open for the 2009 Major League All-Star Game — one in the American League and one in the National League. After fans had their say, the two final spots will go to Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers and Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Victorino won with 15.6 million votes, while Inge won win 11.8 million votes. Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants finished second in the National League fan vote. Ian Kinsler finished second in the American League fan vote.

Inge, who has been extremely valuable to the Tigers due to his ability to play multiple positions, is hitting .264 with 19 homers and 54 RBIs. The 32-year-old is well on his way to having the best season of his big league career.

Victorino rose to fame last year as he helped the Phillies capture the 2009 World Series championship. This season, the 28-year-old outfielder is hitting .309 with six homers and 42 RBIs.

Voting for the final two spots of the All-Star game took place on MLB.com.

Brandon Inge is now an All-Star (Image: Zuma Press)

After watching today’s New York Mets game, I think Mets fans can point to this game as the reason they acquired Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins before the season. Santana pitched a complete game shutout against the Florida Marlins Saturday afternoon. That win, coupled with a Milwaukee Brewers loss propelled the Mets into a tie at the top of the National League Wild Card race.

Santana allowed just three hits and struck out nine in the win as he picked up his 16th win of the season. After June 28th of this season, Santana had fallen to 7-7 overall. But, the Mets’ ace has reeled off nine consecutive wins in his last 17 starts.

This is the reason New York General Manager Omar Minaya picked up Santana. And should the Mets hold off the Brewers (and let’s be truthful - not blow it), Santana should be looked to as the savior of this organization - again, that is if they make the playoffs. If not, Santana just had one heck of a second half of the season and did all he could to help his team.

Image: Newscom

Last night’s Rockies - Padres game was exactly what October baseball is supposed to be like. I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first. I mean, it was a Rockies - Padres game, after all. Nothing against those teams in particular, but the home team had black sleeveless jerseys while the away team wore sandstone. All of this airing on TBS in between House of Payne reruns just didn’t make me think epic playoff baseball at first. But as the Monday Night Football game became increasingly unbearably boring, the Padres and the Rockies churned out one of those baseball games that causes sleep deprivation. One of those games in which each inning is more tense than the last. One of those games where the crowd energy becomes more palpable with each pitch. One of those games where the mascot goes behind home-plate and turns his giant mascot head around in an attempt to distract the opposing pitcher. (Seriously, I think that triceratops thing that the Rockies have creeping around got to Hoffman. At the minimum it traumatized some kids.)

But really, that was the epitome of October baseball. (Or as Dane Cook says, Auctoober!) Extra innings, rallies, disputed plays at home plate. Fantastic. But really, the National League had been the epitome of September baseball as well. With the Diamondbacks inexplicably having the best record in the National League while simultaneously being outscored by 20 runs this season. From the Rockies’ meteoric climb the Mets’ catastrophic fall, the National League was simply much more exciting than the American League this year. The only thing really different about the American League this year is that the Red Sox and Yankees switched places, but they both still made the playoffs.

I’m an admitted AL guy, but this year I’m looking forward to the National League playoffs a bit more. Even though the AL teams are far superior, the if the NL playoffs are anything like the regular season it will be enough for me to give up sleeping all together.