Lincecum, Halladay picked All-Star starting pitchers

 ST. LOUIS – Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay were selected Monday as the starting pitchers for the All-Star game.

Lincecum, last year’s NL Cy Young Award winner, is 10-2 with a 2.33 ERA for the San Francisco Giants. He will get the ball Tuesday at Busch Stadium, NL manager Charlie Manuel announced.

Lincecum made the All-Star team for last season’s game at Yankee Stadium but was unable to pitch because he was ill.

“This is a great accomplishment for me,” Lincecum said, his long, shaggy hair protruding from under a black knit cap. “I think tomorrow the big thing is going to be just getting to the field. And after that, just getting on the field.”

Halladay, 10-3 with a 2.85 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays, was chosen by AL manager Joe Maddon.

This is Halladay’s sixth All-Star appearance, but his first chance to start – and it could be his final trip in a Toronto uniform.

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said last week he’ll listen to trade offers for the 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner, who is signed through 2010 and would have to agree to a deal.

At a news conference Monday, broadcaster Bob Costas called Halladay a member of the Blue Jays “at least for the moment,” which drew a round of uneasy chuckles.

“It’s tough. Obviously, I’m somewhere that I enjoy being and have spent my entire career. There’s a lot, I think, that goes into it,” Halladay said. “I think as a player, there’s that will to win, that will to do it in October and basically that’s what all of this has been about. I would like that chance. I’m not saying it won’t be Toronto. You’d like to be three games up in first place and not have to deal with it.” (AP)