Well, the first early results of the All-Star voting are in. The AL looks pretty much as it should. The NL, however…..what a mess!
1B: Berkman, Pujols, Lee – That looks about right. All three are having great seasons, but Berkman is just far and away the better first baseman this season.
2B: OK, Chase Utley is the obvious choice and he is running away with the vote, but how in the Hell are Kaz “my anus hurts” Matsui and Mark DeRosa ahead of Dan Uggla? Look, I love DeRo. He’s on my team, but there’s no way he, let alone Matsui, deserves to be ahead of Uggla.
3B: Larry, Wright, and ARam – Pretty much how it should be. Chipper is having a monster season, with Triple Crown implications, and deserves every vote he gets.
SS – The only problem I have with the voting here is Theriot over Jimmy Rollins. Again, Theriot is on my team, so I would normally support him, but Rollins missed an entire month of the season and still has Theriot beat in most statistics. No way should Theriot even be considered for the All-Star team.
C – I loves me some Geovany Soto (but not in the same way Solly loves Mike Piazza). I think he’s, far and away, your NL Rookie of the Year. With his current age, I hope he keeps it up and becomes a perennial All-Star for the Cubs in the same way that guys like Banks, Santo, and Sandberg were.
OF – This is where the huge clusterfuck comes in. Soriano had a horrible April, which doesn’t scream All-Star to me. Sure, historically, he heats up and has a decent remainder of the season, but an All-Star needs to put up good to great numbers from Day One. Fukudome, while having a great OBP and Avg. at home, really hasn’t done squat on the road. Again, an All-Star needs to be able to produce both home and away. (This is where the Japanese voting skews the totals, but that’s another rant altogether.) Griffey – he’s getting in on name alone. Guys like Braun, Frenchy, Mclouth – and how in the world is Chris Young not in the top 15? – all need to be considered over the top guys getting votes now.
The NL All-Star voting is a prime example of the reason the fans should not decide on the teams.
