The Pepsi Refresh Project

Last week, I mentioned how we love MLB players doing good deeds for their communities, and now we thought we should mention another project that we think is wonderful. The Pepsi Refresh project is currently underway, and we think you should be voting your little hearts out for your favorite project. You may have seen the commercials or seen snippets about it online, but we thought you should have all of the information, so you can cast your vote with confidence.

Pepsi is giving away millions of dollars to fund ideas that are refreshing communities across America. They are giving grants to people/groups to realize their dreams of bettering the world. The ideas range from helping the homeless, education programs, supporting our vets, recycling programs, and the list goes on and on. We, being obsessed with baseball, had to bring to your attention the fact that some of the MLB teams are getting involved as well. They're competing for a $200,000 grant for some very worthy causes and ideas.

The All-Star Roster Has Been Decided

The All-Star final fan votes are in. It was no surprise that ass-kicking Joey Votto made it for the National League team. The only surprise was that he didn't make the roster prior to the fan voting. He promptly thanked his voters this afternoon by hitting bomb number 22 on the season. He's the first ever Cincinnati Reds player to make it into the game based on the final fan vote. Way to go, Joey!

In a much tighter race, Nick Swisher managed to eek past Kevin Face-muff Youklis to claim the final spot for the American League. There were five very deserving players up for the final spot, and based on their numbers, some might say that Michael Young, Delmon Young, or Paul Konerko have been having better seasons than Swisher or Youklis. But the Youngs and Konerko just couldn't compete with Swisher's Twitter campaign, the celebrity and/or senate endorsements for Swish and Youk, or the sheer number of voters the larger market teams have.

The Final All-Star Votes Have Been Rocked

The fans have spoken. On-line voters -- a record 68.6 million -- have chosen to send Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino and Detroit Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge (not Miguel Cabrera...ahem) to the 80th annual All-Star game in St. Louis.

Victorino beat out Pablo Sandoval, Mark Reynolds, Matt Kemp and Cristian Guzman to earn a spot on the National League roster. Meanwhile, Inge overcame fans of Ian Kinsler, Chone Figgins, Carlos Pena and Adam Lind to become the final American League All-Star.

Only Hours Left to Vote for Your All-Stars!

If you're into sports betting, like I know most of you are, then you'll appreciate the chances that Joe Mauer has of being the starting catcher for the 2009 American League All-Star team... especially since he's nearly 1.5 million votes ahead of the next guy, Boston Red Sox backstop, Jason Varitek.

Rock the Vote: It's Your Duty

As a lover of America's pastime, please use your civil liberty of freedom to choose our country's next President today.

Any questions? Go here.

And you can stop laughing at the word "duty" now.

Rock the All-Star Vote

All-Star voting ends tonight at midnight, and a lot can change in the wee hours that remain. There are some tight races at this point, so it wouldn't be a shocker to see a few players make the starting lineups thanks to a last-second push from online voters.

That means you, readers!

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