Percival Is Left Off All-Star Roster

While the new All-Star voting system deprived Manager Mike Scioscia of the traditional perk of stacking the roster with players on his team, he made one stunning omission. With a spot available for closer Troy Percival, Scioscia left him off the roster in favor of Kansas City closer Mike MacDougal.

After the votes of fans and players were counted, and after adding players to ensure each team would be represented, Scioscia had two pitching spots available. One went to Shigetoshi Hasegawa of the Seattle Mariners, who will join Brendan Donnelly in the middle relief role Scioscia considers critical in a game he is supposed to play to win.

The other went to MacDougal, a rookie, tied for the American League lead with 24 saves. He has five blown saves. Percival has 19 saves and one blown save, although Scioscia noted he had spent two weeks on the disabled list.

Scioscia said Percival and Texas Ranger closer Ugueth Urbina, who also has 24 saves, were considered for the final spot. He said he did not omit Percival, a four-time All-Star, to avoid the appearance of favoring the Angels.

“MacDougal is doing something special in Kansas City, keeping that club in the race,” Scioscia said. “He’s deserving of the honor.”

Percival graciously saluted Donnelly. “Brendan was the guy that deserved to be taken from our bullpen, if you’re only going to take one,” he said.

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Teammates rallied behind catcher Bengie Molina, whom they considered unjustly left off the team. Scioscia did not have the option to add a position player to the roster, but he did include Molina on the list of five finalists competing for the final roster spot in online voting.

AL players voted for Oakland’s Ramon Hernandez to back up the Yankees’ Jorge Posada. Molina is batting .292 with nine home runs and has thrown out 39% of opposing runners; Hernandez is batting .270 with 11 homers and has thrown out 26%.

Angel pitcher Jarrod Washburn said Molina should have been named to the team.

Said Donnelly: “Bengie is an All-Star. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without him, and neither would any of the other pitchers.”

Molina said he did not care about being overlooked, but added, “It would be nice to be in it one of these days.”

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Miguel Tejada went hitless in three at-bats against Washburn on Sunday, and the American League MVP is now batting . 028 against the Angel ace, with one hit in 36 at-bats.