Starting Five: Marco Scutaro... All-Star?

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That journeyman Marco Scutaro is quietly making a bid for the All-Star Game. The Blue Jays shortstop had three more hits in a 9-3 victory over the Royals on Friday. It was Scutaro's eighth multi-hit game in his last 11 games, during which he's hitting .417.

For the season, Scutaro is hitting .302 with a league-leading 45 runs. Discounting Tampa Bay's Jason Bartlett, who is injured, Scutaro is second only to Derek Jeter among AL shortstops in average, homers (five) and RBI (26). Scutaro, 33, is on pace for career highs in all three categories.

He has no chance of outpolling Jeter in fan balloting for the starting spot, so he ought to be campaigning with his fellow players. Players vote for most of the backups, with a few final spots on the teams filled out by the managers, and fans voting for the last spot.

More Coverage: Scoreboard | Standings | Statistics

From The Trainers' Room...
There was quite a stir when Red Sox DH David Ortiz said he was going to get his eyes checked, but on Friday manager Terry Francona downplayed the significance, saying that Ortiz really just had dry eyes.

He had dry eyes on this last trip and he was blinking on a couple of at-bats," Francona said. "So he went to the trainers. Rather than give a guy a thing of eyedrops, we have really good ophthalmologists. He had some dry eyes, which I think we all do [at times]. We're just going to have him checked on Monday. If they end up dilating [his eyes], we'll do it on Monday. That's all that it is. His eyes are pretty good."

By The Numbers...
Cubs right-hander Carlos Zambrano hit his 18th career homer, tops among active pitchers. Mike Hampton is second with 15, and no one else has more than nine. Wes Ferrell is the all-time leader among pitchers, with 38, but no pitcher has more than Zambrano since 1970.

In Their Own Words...
"When I have a text message on my phone it sounds like a slot machine when somebody wins. I turned on my phone and it went 'ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.' The finally tally was 50 text messages and 39 voicemails." -- Giants left-hander Randy Johnson, on the outpouring of calls he got after winning his 300th game. Johnson might have to wait a little longer to try for No. 301. His left shoulder was so sore from falling to the ground trying to pick up a comebacker that his next turn in the rotation might be skipped.

Advance Scouting...
Angels righty Kelvim Escobar is set to start against the Tigers (7:05 PM ET). It will be Escobar's first appearance in the majors since Sept. 29, 2007. With the return of Escobar, the Angels now have all of the pitchers projected to be their top three starters. The Tigers will send surprising Edwin Jackson to the mound. Jackson is second in the league with a 2.30 ERA.