MLB All-Stars: Too stupid to count, but it does

La Russa said bypassed Greinke because he's pitching the Sunday before, except he's actually going on Saturday.

 

But he's a Sooper Genius!

Terrible omission there. Greinke belongs ahead of Lynn, Gonzalez and Hamels and none of them was their team's only rep.

Lynn's inclusion might look terrible by the end of the season. I know he was dominant for two months, but he has been horrible in his last few starts and his ERA is up to 3.62.

 

Well, I mean, that's the rule. It's probably worth a fight in the big picture, but it's not like LaRussa could do anything about it.

 

Well if they wanted, they could have made Jed Lowrie the Astros' rep, dumped Castro and put Phillips instead of Altuve so that LaHair stayed as the Cub choice.

 

Altuve has a higher batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage than Phillips. Phillips has a big edge in the power numbers, but it is not insane to have Altuve on the All-Star team.

 

You can't tell me this one counts and then tell me the fans get to vote on the starters and there must be a player from every team. That's my big problem with the game, as it is with most people, I'm sure. I don't have a problem with wanting to make the game count for something, but if that's the way it'll be, you can't let the Panda start at third base. That's my beef.

 

And then there's Aaron Hill, who arguably should go ahead of either of them. Definitely ahead of Phillips.

 

Nowhere does the stupid fascination with wins by some come into play more than in the NL.

Lynn has allowed 17 runs in his past three starts and his ERA is quickly approaching 4.00 and makes the team over someone like the Pirates' James McDonald, who is among the league leaders in ERA (2.44), WHIP (0.98) but "only" has seven victories.

On top of that, who decided to pick two players from the craptastic Cubs? Bryan LaHair had an OPS under .700 last month and soon isn't going to have a place to play with Anthony Rizzo at 1B. And also, while he's having a great first half, there is something inherently wrong with Melky Cabera EVER starting an All-Star Game.

Don't have many issues with the AL team, but a large chunk of senior circuit selections (to say nothing of Panda and Furcal starting) are a fucking joke.

 

I've got zero problem with Lance Lynn being on the All-Star team. He carried the Cardinals' staff on his back for about 10 weeks.

 

The Giants launched an all-out marketing push in the past few days to get their players elected. They made constant announcements on the air and in the ballpark. They even installed electronic terminals at AT&T Park so fans could cast the 25 ballots each was allowed.

http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Giants-fans-rock-the-All-Star-voting-3677369.php

Brandon Belt finished second at first base, Brandon Crawford finished fourth at short, and Freddy Sanchez -- who hasn't played this season and whose career very possibly is over -- was fourth at second base.

If MLB thinks the vote manipulation is not good -- and that's a big if, because they seem to enjoy the marketing benefits of it -- they're going to have to do something fast or it's going to go nuts in the next few years and the starting lineups are going to have nothing to do with reality.

 

The only problem is the rest of June counts, too, and overall he has not been as good as some of the guys who were left off.