Voting for the All-Star Game ends at midnight tonight. Throwing out the reality of selection process, here are the 32-man American and National League rosters as I’d pick ’em:

American League

Starters:

1B – Kevin Youkilis, BOS
2B – Ian Kinsler, TEX
SS – Michael Young, TEX
3B – Alex Rodriguez, NYY
C – Joe Mauer, MIN
RF – Josh Hamilton, TEX
CF – Grady Sizemore, CLE
LF – J.D. Drew, BOS
DH – Milton Bradley, TEX
SP – Roy Halladay, TOR

I really wanted to give Jason Giambi the nod at first, base, but Youkilis holds a slight lead in VORP and is the far superior defender, so I just couldn’t do it. I also wanted to put Carlos Quentin in left field, as it would have given me an outfield with all three starters playing their regular positions, but with Drew leading Quentin in VORP and all three rate stats, I just couldn’t give Quentin the nod over a guy with a career 130 OPS+ based on three impressive months. Halladay gets the pitching nod over Cliff Lee because Lee strikes me as a fluke.

Bench:

1B – Jason Giambi, NYY
2B – Brian Roberts, BAL
3B – Mike Lowell, BOS
C – Jorge Posada, NYY
OF – Carlos Quentin, CHW
OF – Manny Ramirez, BOS
OF – Jermaine Dye, CHW
OF – Johnny Damon, NYY
UT – Carlos Guillen, DET

You might have noticed Derek Jeter is not on this team. He doesn’t deserve it. Really, there’s not a single AL shortstop who does deserve to play in this game. If I could get away with starting Guillen over Michael Young, I’d do it, but Guillen hasn’t played shorstop all year. Nonetheless, he’s my backup shortstop here, getting the nod due his value as a utility man and because I needed a Detroit Tiger on my squad and Guillen + Johnny Damon > Jeter + Magglio Ordoñez. Either Jhonny Peralta (the hitting pick) or Orlando Cabrera (the defense pick) would get the nod over Jeter if I was forced to pick a true shortstop as my backup. Posada is here despite his DL stint as there’s no other deserving catcher in the league. Practically, you’d like to have a third catcher, but I just couldn’t bear to put another AL backstop on my roster.

Starting Pitchers:

SP – Cliff Lee, CLE
SP – Justin Duchscherer, OAK
SP – Rich Harden, OAK
SP – John Lackey, CAL
SP – Scott Kazmir, TBR
SP – Shawn Marcum, TOR
SP – John Danks, CHW
SP – Felix Hernandez, SEA

King Felix is my lone representative from the Mariners, no one else on that team is even worth considering. Kazmir is my lone Tampa Bay Ray, though B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria also got serious consideration. Wins alone were not enough to get Joe Saunders or Mike Mussina on my team. Kazmir (2.28 ERA, 11 GS), John Lackey (1.44 ERA, 9 GS), and Rich Harden (2.15 ERA, 11 GS) are all tremendously talented pitchers who have dominated since coming off the DL and get the nod over Saunders and Mussina.

Relievers:

RP – Francisco Rodriguez, CAL
RP – Joakim Soria, KCR
RP – Joe Nathan, MIN
RP – Mariano Rivera, NYY
RP – Scott Downs, TOR

Downs is probably the most surprising name on my list. He has a 1.19 ERA as the Blue Jays’ LOOGY this year after posting a 2.17 mark for them last year. Of course, ERA is a poor measure for a LOOGY, but Downs is also seventh in the AL in WXRL, Baseball Prospectus’s win-expectancy stat for relief pitchers. The two men ahead of him on that list over whom I chose Downs are Baltimore’s Jim Johnson and Tampa Bay’s J.P. Howell. So, yeah, Scott Downs. Also, if you haven’t noticed, Francisco Rodriguez already has 32 saves and is on pace to break Bobby Thigpen’s surprisingly durable 18-year-old single-season record.

Yankee fans note that I have the host team leading the pack with five All-Stars, even without pandering to the fanbase by including the undeserving Jeter or the borderline Mike Mussina. The Red Sox and Rangers follow with four All-Stars each, though the Rangers are most visible as all four of their representatives are in my starting lineup.

National League

Starters:

1B – Lance Berkman, HOU
2B – Chase Utley, PHI
SS – Hanley Ramirez, FLA
3B – Chipper Jones, ATL
C – Brian McCann, ATL
OF – Matt Holliday, COL
OF – Jason Bay, PIT
OF – Pat Burrell, PHI
DH – Albert Pujols, STL
SP – Tim Lincecum, SFG

The three best outfielders in the NL this season have all been left fielders. Bay played 30 games in center in 2005. That’s enough for me to put him there in my starting lineup over his teammate Nate McLouth, who needs to prove he’s more than a three-month phenomenon. Utley barely squeaks by Dan Uggla at second base with career performance serving as the tiebreaker. Lance Berkman and Tim Lincecum are the majors’ leading hitter and pitcher in VORP.

Bench:

1B – Adrian Gonzalez, SDP
2B – Dan Uggla, FLA
SS – Jose Reyes, NYM
3B – David Wright, NYM
3B – Aramis Ramirez, CHC
C – Russell Martin, LAD
C – Geovany Soto, CHC
OF – Carlos Beltran, NYN
OF – Nate McLouth, PIT
OF – Brian Giles, SDP

Soto is a deserving third catcher. Gonzalez has been too good to leave off. Wright and Ramirez are too closely matched to take one and not the other. Thus my NL roster is a bit hitter-heavy. The rejuvinated Giles gets the nod as the sixth outfielder over the fluky Ryan Ludwick.

Starting Pitchers:

SP – Ben Sheets, MIL
SP – Edinson Volquez, CIN
SP – Dan Haren, AZD
SP – Brandon Webb, AZD
SP – Cole Hamels, PHI
SP – Johan Santana, NYM
SP – Carlos Zambrano, CHC

Zambrano just squeeks past Jair Jurrjens based on career performance, which is also why Webb’s wins carry weight for me where Aaron Cook’s and Kyle Lohse’s don’t.

Relievers:

RP – Brad Lidge, PHI
RP – Brian Wilson, SFG
RP – Jon Rauch, WAS
RP – Carlos Marmol, CHC
RP – Heath Bell, SDP

Having replaced the injured Chad Cordero as Washington’s closer, Rauch is my lone representative from the Nationals. Marmol comes with orders not to be used, as Lou Piniella is pitching his arm off. He desperately needs the rest, but has also earned his spot with a season and a half of dominance. Heath Bell, who is sixth in the NL in WXRL, gets my final NL spot for a similar stretch of set-up dominance over higher-ranking first-half sensation Taylor Buchholz of the Rockies and veteran mediocrity Salomon Torres, who has been closing for Milwaukee in place of Eric Gagné. Lidge is the WXRLiest reliever in the majors.

The Cubs, Phillies, and Mets each have four men on my NL team. Surprisingly little effort was required to find a deserving member of every team.

So, tell me where I’m wrong . . .