Low & Outside: AL Notes

The Kansas City Royals have confirmed that baseball commissioner Bud Selig will be in town Wednesday to, perhaps, formally award the 2012 All-Star Game to Kansas City. The Associated Press and other news outlets have reported that Kansas City will get the 2012 game as a reward for Jackson County residents' passing of a sales tax to pay for a $275 million renovation of Kauffman Stadium.

A Royals spokesman said Friday that the commissioner would have a "major" announcement at the stadium, but declined to elaborate. Selig's office wasn't talking, either.

Remember when Los Angeles Angels first baseman Kendry Morales' busted his leg celebrating a game-winning grand slam? Well, the price for that bit of exuberance has been set: Morales will miss the rest of the season.

The Angels said that the long-term prognosis for Morales, who underwent surgery this week, looks good. Morales was leading the team with 11 homers, 39 RBIs and a .290 average prior on May 29, when he did so spectacularly well against the Seattle Mariners, and so spectacularly . . . you know the rest.

The Indians are ready for pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals visit this weekend for an interleague series. Cleveland has called up its phenom.

Switch-hitting catcher Carlos Santana, who had been toiling in the Indians' triple-A team in Columbus, will be in the lineup for Sunday's game against Strasburg, who will make his first major-league road start. As most of the world knows by now, the 21-year-old Strasburg went seven innings and struck out 14 in his debut against Pittsburgh. Oh, and he won, 5-2, and a large percentage of the world's media was there.

Santana, a 24-year-old regarded as one of the best prospects in the majors, was batting .316 with 13 homers and 51 RBIs in 57 games for the Clippers before being called up.

Considering that Cleveland is last in the AL Central and Washington could sink to last place in the NL East at any moment, maybe touting a battle of the phenoms makes sense.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez has been diagnosed with tendinitis in his right hip flexor, and did not play the opener of a weekend series against the Houston Astros. He left Thursday night's game against Baltimore after one inning, hampered by groin tightness for the second time in a couple days. In March 2009, Rodriguez had surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right hip and missed the first month of the season. He still finished with 30 homers and 100 RBIs in 124 games.