Want to venture what that number symbolizes?
The amount of Giants fans who think Vogelsong was snubbed for an All Star spot? Maybe... but I'll get to that later.
No, that number is the difference between Buster Posey's All Star vote total and the previous record for NL All Star votes for Ryan Braun who by the by, was last year's NL MVP.
Buster will be joined by first time All Star Melky Cabrera and first time All Star Starter Pablo Sandoval. What's most incredible is that leading into the last day of voting, Pablo and Melky were both 2nd and 4th in voting for 3rd baseman and outfielder.
Giants fans came out in droves to vote for the Giants and I have never been more proud of Giants fans for making it happen for these guys.
I say that the most incredible thing was the comeback by both Melky and Pablo in the vote totals, but a very impressive byproduct of those comebacks were how close the other Giants players got thanks to Giants fans. Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford were second place for 1st baseman and shortstop. SECOND PLACE. Giants fans almost got Brandon Crawford who is hitting .232 with 1 home run to the All Star Game.
In other words, Giants fans almost got Major League Baseball to re-think fan voting for players...
***
The negative spin some have put on this, is that starting pitchers Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong were more deserving of an All Star selection, but were probably left off because fans voted in Pablo Sandoval who by the numbers probably should not be an All Star this year.
I'm not one of those people. As much as I want Vogelsong or Bum in the All Star game. Although both pitchers did well enough to earn a selection, there's no guarantee that they would be selected by NL Manager Tony LaRussa even if Pablo wasn't voted in as an All Star. It could've been even possible that LaRussa would choose Sandoval as a backup and still neglect Vogelsong and Bumgarner. Matt Cain was a no-brainer as he is among the league leaders in ERA, BAA and WHIP as well as a perfect game. With 4 players total, the Giants tied for the most All Star selections.
3 position players in the hand better than 3 pitchers in the bush?
Laws of the Day
Catchers Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies and Yadier Molina both sporting better season numbers than Posey were also named to the All Star Team avoiding All Star controversy.
Carlos Ruiz - .358 Avg 11 HR 43 RBI
Yadier Molina - .312 Avg 13 HR 45 RBI
Buster Posey - .296 Avg 10 HR 40 RBI - 2012 leading NL vote getter and NL All Star Starter
No comments:
Post a Comment