Toronto ace Halladay keeps pitching _ and waiting
BEN WALKER,AP Baseball Writer

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Roy Halladay could’ve talked about starting the All-Star game. Or about possibly getting to meet President Barack Obama.

Instead, once again, the Toronto Blue Jays ace was inundated with questions about a potential trade.

“It’s definitely different. I can’t say I anticipated it working out this way,” Halladay said Tuesday, a few hours before the first pitch.

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

The deadline for making trades without waivers is July 31.

“It’s the perfect storm, I guess,” he said.

Halladay said he hasn’t starting taking inventory on where he’d like to play, if the Blue Jays do decide to deal him. Saying he was fortunate to be in good financial shape, he put one factor at the top of his wish list: a chance to win the World Series.

“I know what I’m looking for,” he said.

Halladay got a big ovation from the crowd lining the red-carpet parade route to Busch Stadium. Many fans chanted “We want Roy!” as he sat on the back of a vehicle and waved.

If there is no deal, Halladay said that would be fine.

“I do like Toronto. I’ve been there forever. I know everybody. I know the guys working the elevator,” he said.

The 32-year-old righty is 10-3 with a 2.85 ERA. This was his sixth All-Star game – and first chance to start.

Halladay said he’d prefer not to know the daily details on trade talks. He said he’s always gotten along well with Ricciardi, and figured the GM would brief him when necessary.

“I’ve never been a person who has to be wooed,” he said. “I’d hate to put cart too far in front of the horse.”

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SMOOTH SAILING: There was one thing Zack Greinke was dreading about the All-Star game: that glitzy parade through town, with players propped up in the back of pickup trucks as fans line the closed-off streets.

“That’s the only thing I want to avoid,” the Kansas City pitcher said Monday. “The red carpet sounds like the most miserable time of my life.”

Greinke is still uneasy about being the center of attention. An elite prospect when he arrived in the majors five years ago at age 20, he walked away from baseball for two months in 2006 and was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, which causes an irrational fear of social situations.

Medication eased Greinke’s anxiety and he started to enjoy pitching again. Now, he’s one of the top starters in the game.

“The Royals stuck with me. I’m surprised they did. I probably tried to get traded a couple of times back in the day, but they decided to keep me anyway,” Greinke said, adding that he’s happy about that. “I really like it there.”

Greinke is 10-5 with an AL-best 2.12 ERA. Still, he was passed over by manager Joe Maddon for starting honors Tuesday night in favor of Toronto ace Roy Halladay.

“I would have liked to have started, but it’s not a real big deal,” Greinke said. “I think he made the right decision, just because he’s done it forever and I’ve done it for half a season.”

Turns out, the red-carpet parade on Tuesday wasn’t so bad, either. Greinke rode in a truck with his fiancee and said he actually enjoyed the experience.

“It was definitely way better than I thought,” he said. “I thought it was going to be longer. The weather wasn’t bad. There were a lot of fans yelling, but it was all positive stuff. I had Emily there to talk to, so it wasn’t that bad.”

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MAD HATTER: When pitcher Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox reached into his locker and opened his box of baseball caps, he thought somebody was playing a trick on him.

They were all Minnesota Twins hats, Chicago’s biggest rival in the AL Central.

“I kind of laughed. I wanted to look around and see if someone was messing with me,” Buehrle said.

Moments later, the left-hander called over to Twins catcher Joe Mauer and asked, “Hey, Joe, you hear about this?”

Mauer smiled and chuckled.

Buehrle laughed off the temporary mix-up, too. But he chose not to tempt fate.

“I didn’t put one on,” Buehrle said.

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EASY CHAIR: Tony La Russa anticipated a relaxing All-Star game as a member of the supporting cast in his own stadium. The Cardinals manager was on the coaching staff at the All-Star game, even relinquishing his office to the Phillies’ Charlie Manuel.

La Russa and Dodgers manager Joe Torre had adjacent lockers in the more cramped coaches locker room, swapping stories earlier in the day. La Russa’s plan: Stay in the background as much as possible.

“I guarantee you, the coaches enjoy it more than the manager,” La Russa said. “Charlie’s got a lot to do, a lot of decisions to make.”

La Russa wasn’t even sure where he’d position himself in the dugout. Usually he stands near the dugout steps, as close to home plate as possible, but planned to let Manuel stake out his territory first.

“I’m going to look where Charlie is,” he said.

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HOW ‘BOUT A T-SHIRT?: Perhaps the busiest places at Busch Stadium in the hours leading up to the All-Star game were the portable souvenir stands conveniently set up outside each clubhouse for the AL and NL staffs.

Hats, shirts and other memorabilia – at regular prices – were on sale, and there were plenty of customers.

Yankees closer Mariano Rivera carefully combed through the racks of jerseys and sized up the caps, ordering a half-dozen of some items and a half-dozen of others. White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle excused himself from a couple of interviews so he could raid the stand before it closed.

Kansas City manager Trey Hillman, an AL coach, spent his share of time and money. He particularly was interested in gold commemorative coins.

“I feel it’s my responsibility to take care of my staff,” he said. “It’s part of what it means to be here, to reward people for their hard work.”

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LONG BALLS, LOTS OF EYES: Monday night’s Home Run Derby received a 6.0 cable rating on ESPN, which translate to 5,855,000 households and 8.25 million viewers. It was the network’s No. 3 rating this year, topping only by Game 5 (6.5) and Game 4 (6.9) of the NBA’s Western Conference finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver). It was down slightly from the 6.4 rating (6.2 million) households for last year’s derby at Yankee Stadium. This year’s derby also got a 2.0 rating on ESPN Deportes, its highest for MLB since it began being rated in May 2008.