Two stories that I just wanted to mention briefly:
From MLB.com:
At first base, (827,247 votes) has a 142,000-vote lead over Gonzalez, who as a San Diego Padre was the NL’s starter in each of the last three Midsummer Classics. Furthermore, Boston’s new first sacker is crowded by Detroit’s , the 2010 starter who is only 7,000 votes behind.
• Second base incumbent , the only other player to have already exceeded 1 million votes, has doubled up Boston’s .
• Shortstop , gunning for his 12th All-Star spot (and his 3,000th career hit, which should come sooner), has drawn 931,410 votes for a comfortable early lead over (672,105), the other half of Cleveland’s all-Cabrera double-play combo and the surprising Indians’ highest-polling player.
• Thirteen-time All-Star is 190,000 votes up on the Rangers’ Adrian Beltre and is seeking his first All-Star start since 2008. The guy who had supplanted A-Rod in the AL’s starting lineup, the Rays’ , may have taken a ballot-box hit due to his month-long absence with an oblique injury but is in the picture.
• At catcher, has regained his cred along with his game. A two-time All-Star with the Dodgers, including the NL’s starter in 2007, Martin (843,459) has a lead of a quarter-million votes over three-time starter , who hasn’t played since mid-April due to weakness in his legs.
• Granderson, a 2009 reserve, is having a breakout season certainly deserving of being in contention for his first All-Star start. He is fewer than 6,000 votes shy of a million but is being chased by Hamilton and Suzuki and a strong field behind them.
Granderson and Martin are solid choices who are likely deserving of their starting spots (although of the Tigers does have an argument for the catching position), while Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira are among the top 3 at their respective positions and are defensible selections. Robinson Cano, who has been inconsistent at the plate and in the field, is well within striking distance of the leaders at his position and could conceivably be a solid selection by the time the game rolls around. The only egregious choice is Derek Jeter, but his selection by the fans is to be expected. Looking at the list of AL shortstops, there is not a single one who has the name recognition needed to steal votes from an aging star like Jeter, and I would be surprised if Jeter was passed in the voting by the likes of Asdrubal Cabrera.
A-Rod Has Not Fed His “Banned” Cousin Into A Woodchipper
In a bit of news that could only fire up someone with the Yankees and A-Rod in his crosshairs, Alex Rodriguez has been hanging around with a shady family member:
The New York Daily New reported that Sucart was seen at the Yankees’ hotel in San Francisco during the team’s recent stay in the Bay Area for a series against the Oakland A’s. MLB told ESPNNewYork.com that a hotel lobby is not an area that the league can police, and therefore no violation of Sucart’s ban occurred.
In admitting he had used performance-enhancing drugs in 2009, Rodriguez said that Sucart was the person who procured the drugs, deemed by Rodriguez as “boli,” from the Dominican Republic and injected the Yankees third baseman.
At the time, Sucart was working as an assistant to Rodriguez. The Yankees, in coordination with MLB, banned Sucart from restricted team areas — non-public areas such as the clubhouse and team charters.
I have never cared much about steroids, so forgive me if I do not get riled up about Alex Rodriguez hanging out with a family member who once provided him with performance enhancers. To me, this is pretty much a non-story used to fill space on an off-day. That said, your mileage may vary, so I wanted to toss the story up here and see how our readers felt about the “issue.”
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I think you’re being a blinder-wearer Pinstripe Pollyanna, you hiney clown.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Ah,you got me.
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Bexy Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Hiney clown.
(It should be said as many times as possible, I think)
Honestly, I basically stan A-Rod, but I do think it was really dumb of A-Rod to hang out with his cousin considering the past. Buuuut I fail to see it as that big a deal, either.
As for the ASG voting, pretty much every Yankee has at least an argument minus Jeter, who’s going more or less no matter what. I’d personally go Martin/Gonzalez/Zobrist/Asdrubal Cabrera/A-Rod/Bautista/Granderson/Joyce. Seriously – how does Sam Fuld have more votes than Matt Joyce?!!!!
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Tom Swift Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 6:50 pm
I don’t like that kind of talk. Why don’t you delete her posts?
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I care about steroids, but this is less than nothing.
P.S. I hate days off.
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[...] here to see the original: Notes: Yankees Dominate All-Star Voting, A-Rod Hasn't Fed His … AKPC_IDS += "19822,"; AKPC_IDS += [...]
@Professor I agree. A day without baseball is like … a day without baseball. Nothing worse.
@Bexy I believe “Hiney Clown” is a term that could be applied to a lot of people seen in SF hotel lobbies. Would’ve been so clever of you if either Moshe or this site had anything to do with the Giants. However, since they don’t, you are simply a tool with a peculiar familiarity with such references.
…Also, you want the reason Sam Fuld has more votes than Matt Joyce? Two words: SuperSam capes.
@Moshe LMAO at the woodchipper reference. Here’s hoping the Red Sox are getting bombed off their behinds on their day off.
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Bexy Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 12:17 pm
It was a joke. A really bad Yankee site referred to A-Rod as a “hiney clown.” No, seriously. Naturally, I gotta use that phrasing as much as possible from now on.
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MJ Recanati Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Ouch. I’m a small part of that “really bad Yankee site.” :-(
I like to think of the site as not so bad because certain voices balance it out.
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nyyankeefanforever Reply:
June 3rd, 2011 at 3:38 pm
@Bexy LOL. Understood. In that case, beg pardon. Was just leaping into the breach in defense of Moshe and the YA site.
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