For those of us who believe in the inherent superiority of National League baseball, these are trying days. The American League — the league of half-time players, artificial turf, and the Chicago Black Sox — is, by far, the better league. Last year, it won the summer’s interleague contests 154–98; going into play yesterday, they held a less embarrassing but still sizable 121–104 advantage in this year’s games. Teams like the Yankees, Twins, and Athletics, who face long odds of playing in October, would clearly be near or at the top of the NL’s Eastern and Central divisions. AL partisans gloat, strut, and taunt the sensible half of the country, and no one can do a thing about it.

Maybe the worst of it will come during the All-Star break, when the senior circuit’s shame will be laid before the world. The NL has preposterous depth at the corner infield positions — you could, for instance, make a plausible case that the Mets’ David Wright is the fourth-best third baseman in his own division — and not much else. If you fill out your All-Star ballot based just on how well players have done this year, you could well end up voting for the likes of Hunter Pence, Corey Hart, and Bengie Molina; if you take tenure and intangible star quality into account, you could end up boosting gimpy relics like Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey, Jr. There just aren’t that many great NL players in their primes right now. The day of vengeance will one day come; while we wait, here’s the ballot I made out when I voted earlier this week.

1B — DERREK LEE, CUBS

Among National League first basemen are the league leader in home runs, the defending MVP, and a guy with a legitimate chance of becoming the greatest hitter in league history; a player of Todd Helton’s quality is reduced to just another guy on the list. So how do I justify voting for Derrek Lee, hitter of only six home runs, above everyone else? It’s partly due to how well he’s played; along with the six home runs come 25 doubles, a .354 batting average, and superb defensive play. He’s been the equal of any first baseman save Prince Fielder at the plate this year, and Lee makes up a fair amount of the gap in the field and on the bases. I’ll admit Lee gets style points, though. Any righthanded hitter the size of a small forward size who can swing so effortlessly and stroke so many balls through the holes in the infield and into the gaps is special.

2B — CHASE UTLEY, PHILLIES

Chase Utley is an excellent player who does everything you can do on a baseball field well, but it’s still shocking how thin the league is at this position. Past Utley you have Orlando Hudson, a decent hitter and excellent gloveman, and Dan Uggla, a 27-year-old who played last year as a Rule 5 pick. Past them, ancient Jeff Kent and, of all, people, Kaz Matsui rank among the league’s better players at this position. Other than Utley, no one even comes close to having the aura of a true All-Star, and no one likely to have it in the near future is now playing. This isn’t unusual; positional strength is cyclical. It is, though, one among the many reasons why the NL is weak now.

3B — DAVID WRIGHT, METS

He isn’t a surpassingly brilliant defender like Ryan Zimmerman, he isn’t a pure hitter of Miguel Cabrera’s caliber, and he doesn’t have the seniority of Chipper Jones, but David Wright is, I think, better than all of them. He’s not the best at any one thing, but he’s a much better hitter than Zimmerman and, especially with what appear to be some real improvements in his positioning and consistency this year, a much, much better defender than Cabrera or Jones. After a slow start this year, he’s ended up hitting exactly as well as he always does, and his 16 steals in 16 attempts this year are a nice bonus. The frightening thing about Wright is, of course, that he’s still just 24. He probably has a great leap forward, or maybe even two, left in him.

SS — JOSE REYES, METS

Reyes is, in my opinion, the best player in the National League, and should remain so for several years. You still have to give some thought to his rival Hanley Ramirez, who enjoys a 50-point edge in slugging percentage, which offsets Reyes’s 20-point edge in on base average. Leaving Reyes’s extraordinary energy and charisma aside, what separates them? Baserunning and defense. Reyes’s 38 steals in 47 attempts outweigh Ramirez’s 22 in 27, especially as Reyes has a real knack for stealing in tight situations. Reyes has also developed into an excellent defender, while Ramirez has not. Ramirez deserves a lot more attention than he gets, and there’s not nearly as much difference between them as Reyes’s hype would have it; this being so, Reyes is still the better player, not just the more hyped one.

C — RUSSELL MARTIN, DODGERS

Here’s another dire position. Brian McCann, who looked like a prodigy, is having a pretty bad season; Michael Barrett, one of the better catchers in the league over the last few years, was dumped by the Cubs after getting into fights with pitchers; Paul Lo Duca isn’t what he was. Martin gets the nod by default. Right now he looks a bit like David Wright in a catcher’s mask in various ways, but the same could have been said of McCann last year; it will take a while to see if either of them can be great in the long run, something that’s more difficult behind the plate than anywhere else.

LF — BARRY BONDS, GIANTS

He puts me to sleep, but he’s still the best hitter in baseball, the game is in San Francisco, and he’s on course to set a reasonably important record this year. Not voting for him would just be churlish.

CF — CARLOS BELTRAN, METS

There are several players having much better seasons, but Beltran is the established star at the position, and this year he was playing exactly as well as he did last year, when he probably deserved the MVP award, up until he got hurt. Anyone who has anything bad to say about the way he’s played with serious leg injuries, by the way, is more than invited to whack their knee with a hammer a few times and then go play baseball. He’s in a no-win position; if he takes time off to heal his injuries, he’ll be called soft; if he doesn’t, he’ll be called soft for not being able to play up to his own standards while in pain. I say taking the field when your team needs you is admirable, no matter how you perform.

RF — KEN GRIFFEY JR., REDS

For many, many years, Ken Griffey has had about as much business in center field as Manny Ramirez or Jim Thome, something acknowledged by every single person not drawing a Reds paycheck. After finally moving to right field, Griffey has, unsurprisingly, both stayed healthy and hit as well as has for years when he’s been healthy. There are some solid young players at the position, like Brad Hawpe, but Griffey, even if not the second coming of Willie Mays, is an all-time great, and certainly deserves to take the field in San Francisco, representing what’s best about the game. Don’t count on it, but he might have a run at the career home run record left in him. I certainly hope he does.

tmarchman@nysun.com