It's officially the halfway point of summer this week, as the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is tomorrow at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The week will feature a number of musical guests, including a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" care of Sheryl Crow and a performance by David Cook at tonight's Home Run Derby.

While the actual All-Star Game is perpetually a snoozer even for hardcore fans, the Home Run Derby is always a reason to tune in to ESPN. This year's contestants are an eclectic mix of old saws and newcomers, and since it's regularly impossible to project just who is going to win (past victors include not-quite-legends like Garret Anderson and Wally Joyner), the only real way to judge who will come out on top is to judge each contestant by his entrance music.

Yes, just like the WWE, just about every player in baseball has a song that plays over stadium PAs when they come to the plate. Some choices are inspired, some inexplicable. So here's how the field will likely shake out, based solely on each individual's taste in tunes.

8. Brandon Inge (Detroit Tigers; Korn, "Coming Undone"): Inge would have picked up some points by having the only rock song on this list, but he loses everything he might have gained by attaching his name to one of the least badass tunes in the Korn catalogue. Why wouldn't he go with "Right Now" or "Got the Life"?

7. Ryan Howard (Philadelphia Phillies; Ludacris, "Last of a Dying Breed"): Howard is one of the most feared hitters in baseball, and the intro to "Last of a Dying Breed" is fittingly epic, but the track is full of over-blustery boasts like "Soldiers couldn't cause more disasters on D-Day" and "Luda's got more records than a DJ."
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Dear Fat Joe,

I know you said my endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain made you "sick" to your stomach and made you feel like you wanted to "vomit." And I heard you callin' me a sellout and whatnot, saying I was just doing it for publicity.

Well, I'm ready to pour some "Gasolina" on the fire now. Guess what? I moderated a debate Thursday night among the candidates for governor of Puerto Rico. Maybe you could take a message from the name of the debate, "Vota o quedate calla'o" ( "Vote or keep your mouth shut").

So what if PR paper Primera Hora said I lost my "flow" and poked fun at me for reading every line from the teleprompter, even my greetings to the candidates? Technical difficulties! I did kind of startle them with my closing plea "from the heart" to rid the barrios of drugs.

And yeah, some kids burned my records outside the convention center hosting the debate. So?

Sincerely,

Daddy Yankee (OK, not really.)

For months now — really, it feels like years — we’ve been bringing you story after story of celebrities endorsing Barack Obama, whether it's Jay-Z; Soulja Boy Tell'em; Big Boi, Mary J. Blige and John Legend; or just about everybody else.

Finally, we have some good news for John McCain: Reggaeton king Daddy Yankee is a fan! On Monday (the first day of the Democratic National Convention, BTW) he endorsed the Republican candidate for president, and the unlikely duo appeared together at Phoenix Central High School. The teenage girls standing behind him seemed sort of nonplussed until McCain dropped the name of Daddy's 2004 hit "Gasolina."

"I know why you are sitting here," McCain said in his speech, according to a press release from his campaign, "and that is not to listen to me so much, but I brought a special friend along with me today, a great American success story. As you know, he's from Puerto Rico. He's been married for 15 years. He has children aged 14, 12 and 10. One of his most famous songs, I know you're very familiar with, 'Gasolina.' Well, here he is, Daddy Yankee."

Daddy Yankee followed by saying:

"It is a very special honor to be here this beautiful morning with everybody right here. This is very special school. … It is a big pleasure that you guys invited me, and thanks to Senator McCain. And I am here endorsing Senator McCain because I believe in his ideals and his proposals to lead this nation. And like I said before, he has been a fighter for the Hispanic community, and I know that for me personally, I chose him as the best candidate because he has been a fighter for the immigration issue. So for me he is the best guy to lead this nation. And once again, I want to say thank you to everybody for the support it has given me in my entire career. This is a great honor sharing this beautiful morning with everybody. I am a man of few words but with a lot of action, like I always said."

Neither the artist nor the senator took questions — and what both failed to mention is that Daddy Yankee can’t vote for McCain in November! Puerto Rico is a United States territory, not a state, and its residents cannot vote in presidential elections — but hey, they don’t have to pay federal income taxes, either ...