Philly still rockin' the vote, Manny passed

Those fun lovin' fans in Philly are doing a great job rockin' the vote, with Rollins holding off Hanley Ramirez.

Last week, Manny held a slim 1K vote advantage over the Flyin' Hawaiian Shane Victorino. This week, Victorino passes Manny (bummer) to take hold of 5th place. How Soriano remains in 4th despite quite pedestrian numbers is beyond me.

C'mon LA... where's your voting drive? Getting totally outclassed by the East Coasters. Where's your love for your team's players?!?!

Another fan protest

All Star voting: Hypocrisy edition

DISCLAIMER: This is not intended to bash the fans of any particular team, but rather serve as an example of how hypocritical we can all get regarding the voting for the All Star Game.

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When I launched the Vote For Manny site two weeks ago, some of the (publishable) hate mail looked like this:

• f**k Manny vote for Raul Ibanez who is 6th in the voting and actually deserves to be a starter
• if Manny gets voted in then a more deserving player does not get to play in the ASG
• It's funny now; but, what if he would take a spot from another deserving player that works their ass off, and contributes everyday to his teams success?

There's the rub: Many people felt that a vote for Manny would be taking the spot away from a player --like Ibanez-- who otherwise deserved to start (or make the team). Big kudos to the fans in Philly who got out and voted like mad. They launched Ibanez from 6th to 2nd last week, and up to 1st in this week's tally. Totally deserved, too.

So, my Philly friends, how do you reconcile the fact that you also voted for a shortstop who is hitting just 0.222 with and OBP of 0.261, three HR and just ten SB? Doesn't the vote for Rollins fly right in the face of "a more deserving player does not get to play in the ASG"? Isn't that hypocritical, silly, contradictory?

You know what, I'm OK with Rollins being selected as a starter because the selection process allows the fans to dictate who the starters are. I love that we get to vote. I also like that every team has to have a representative. What I DO NOT LIKE is that after that very democratic and fan-friendly selection process, we have a rule that the game counts towards home field advantage in the All Star Game. I've been up on this soapbox for a while, so hopefully you understand my stance by now: These two concepts are in direct conflict. Either the game is an exhibition with the current selection process, or change the selection process to match the game having significance.

Mr. Selig, should you or one of your team in the Commissioner's Office be reading this: Please change something surrounding this game. I'm begging. Keep the fan-friendly selection process and let the game go back to being an exhibition, a nine-inning exhibition with no worries about a tie. The managers will manage in a fan friendly way, trying to work everyone into the game without worry about extra innings, since it would be merely an exhibition.

On other thing, Mr. Selig: You also need to figure out a way to battle the MLBPA to keep those who have tested positive out of their next eligible All Star Game. For integrity's sake. Ya know?

Philly rocks the vote

Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez are now atop the NL voting leaderboard.

Still whining about it being only this year's best players should be selected with Rollins pretty much sucking it up this year? He's batting 0.222 with just 3 HR and 10 SB.

The third 2009 National League balloting update for Major League Baseball's All-Star Game, to be held July 14 in St. Louis, was released Monday and two more Phillies -- shortstop Jimmy Rollins and outfielder Raul Ibanez -- have taken the lead at their respective positions.

Manny, our horse to ride to change the rules of this selection process, remains fifth, though the Philly vote is having an impact:

Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez, suspended for 50 games on May 7 for violating baseball's drug policy, remains a topic of conversation. The slugger remained in the fifth spot but with an edge of fewer than 6,000 votes over the Phillies' Shane Victorino. Two weeks ago, Ramirez was in the fourth spot among outfielders on the ballot.

"Without 'Roids"

Please feel free to sing along, especially if you're old enough to remember/appreciate the Doobie Brothers:

MLB's rule on suspended players

Just in case anyone was still curious about MLB's rule regarding suspended players appearing in the All Star Game:

H. Suspensions
1. For purposes of this Section 8, a "game" shall include all championship season games, the All-Star Game and post-season games in which the Player would have been eligible to play, but shall not include spring training games. For a Player whose contract has been assigned to the Minor Leagues, a "game" shall include all Minor League regular season games for which he would have been eligible to play. A Player shall be deemed to have been eligible to play in the All-Star Game if he was elected or selected to play; the Commissioner’s Office shall not exclude a Player from eligibility for election or selection because he is suspended under the Program.

Am I the only one who thinks this clause/rule/loophole is absurd and insane? For all of you writing hate mail to me, re-read this and tell me it makes sense to YOU.

Bud's at least thinking about Manny, a bit

This is one of the points of the Vote For Manny movement:

Weighing in, Commissioner Bud Selig said he is keeping a close eye on Ramirez's candidacy.

"I'm going to think about that," Selig said. "He doesn't come back till July 3. Normally, I'm sensitive to the wishes of the fans. If the fans choose someone, I'd like to honor that. But we've been testing players for a long time, and it bothers me that someone would [cheat] at this stage in the game. I've got some time to think about this one."

"Some time to think about" it, eh Bud? Is that Bud-speak for "hope like hell that Manny doesn't mount a big rush and get selected as a starter"? Can't MLB at least come out with a strongly worded statement, to the effect of:

"While we recognize the current CBA allows for players who have tested positive for PED's will be eligible for the All Star Game and any seasonal awards, we are requesting a meeting with the leaders of the MLBPA after the season ends. We hope that we can agree to amend the CBA so that the spirit of the game matches the rules of the game."

Whoever you vote for, whatever the reason, at least go vote. I'm still lobbying for Manny to keep the dialogue going about the lack of a "Shawne Merriman rule" and the conflicts with the selection process and a game that counts.

But go make your voice heard!

Ibanez makes the leap to #2; Philly rocks the vote!

Congrats to Raul Ibañez for making the leap to #2 in NL All Star OF voting. Totally deserving, too. MLB is breathing a wee bit easier with Manny falling a spot as a result of the Ibañez crush.

Ibañez has jumped from sixth place among N.L. outfielders last week to the second spot this week with 817,849 votes. Now in his 14th Major League season and his first in the N.L., Ibañez (.332, 17 HR, 46 RBI, N.L.-bests with .684 SLG, 128 TB) is seeking his first career invitation to the Midsummer Classic. The only N.L. outfielder with more votes than Ibañez is Ryan Braun (.316, 9 HR, 32 RBI, .428 OBP) of the Milwaukee Brewers with 908,745. Rounding out the National League outfield is seven-time All-Star Alfonso Soriano (.246, 12 HR, 25 RBI) of the Chicago Cubs with 775,319 votes, while Carlos Beltran (N.L.-best .352, 6 HR, 31 RBI) of the New York Mets ranks fourth with 741,875. Beltran placed third in the first N.L. update.

Many of you still think I actually believe Manny should be a starter due to some fan-crush, pro-steroids, pro-Dodgers thing... which is the furthest from the truth. If you haven't yet read my rationale for all of this, just have a read.

Thanks.

And get voting!

On 670 The Score in Chicago today

From this morning with Mully and Hanley (link to mp3)

Torre: Manny shouldn't be '09 All-Star

Says Torre:

Dodgers manager Joe Torre said he doesn't think suspended outfielder Manny Ramirez should be an All-Star this year, even though fans have him fourth in voting at the position.

"No, I don't, and if you ask Manny, he'd give you the same answer," said Torre. "I understand a lot of it is a popularity contest and you want to give the manager the best players, but to me, the significance of the All-Star Game is to reward players who had a good first half."

I agree; Manny hasn't done enough on the field. However, because of the stupid "this one counts" rule, Manny could (by some) still be considered a Top 3 NL OF. To channel my inner Herm Edwards: "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!" because this game counts...for some lame reason.

The reason for this whole "Vote for Manny" thing is that the rules of the game are in conflict with each other. The fan vote (and while not relevant here, the mandatory representation rule) is made for an exhibition, but instead, the game counts. This is dumb. Profoundly so. If you want the game to count, fine, pick the Top 32 players via some other voting mechanism (fans/players/managers each having a 1/3 vote, perhaps?). But if the fans will continue to pick the starters, then it will remain, as it always has, a popularity contest. Smaller market guys or guys having an incredible first half will always be overlooked by the bigger market guys or established stars. And I haven't even yet touched the fact that a player suspended for PEDs is protected by the CBA and allowed to appear in the ASG. Talk about rules in conflict.

Notice, too, that Torre said that Manny shouldn't be an All Star, not due to his suspension, but the lack of production, implied as a result of the suspension.

"From the baseball aspect". Not "because he tested positive and was suspended for PEDs" folks. Then again, teams under Torre's stewardship don't exactly have a sparkling record, PED-wise, do they? So the PED suspension has no bearing on Torre's opinion. NONE. So why should WE let it bother us, too? WHY? Not saying it's right to conveniently ignore that little fact, but the eventual HOF manager Torre doesn't care much about it either.

THE ENTIRE POSTING CAN BE FOUND HERE.

A bit more on "Vote For Manny"

If you think my "Vote For Manny" is actually about wanting Manny to be selected as a starter in the All Star Game, please read on.

If you think my "Vote For Manny" is actually about wanting to embrace the pro-steroids stance, please read on.

If you think my "Vote For Manny" is actually about preventing the most worthy of players, like Raul Ibanez, from getting selected to the All Star Game, please read on.

If you understood that the "Vote For Manny" is one part satire, one part sarcasm, one part fun, one part grandiose hopes the the rules of the game will somehow change to make sense.... feel free to read on even though you already get it.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE POSTING

Welcome to VOTE FOR MANNY

The purpose of this blog is to get Manny Ramirez elected as a STARTER to the 2009 All Star Game in St. Louis?
WHY?

To highlight the silliness that are the MLB rules towards PED users as well as their "head in the sand" approach to this situation. Rather than confront it head-on, MLB is choosing to do nothing and simply hope there are three higher vote getters in the NL OF.

Click here to VOTE FOR MANNY!

As of 5/26/09, Manny's totals:

1. Ryan Braun Brewers 663,164
2. Alfonso Soriano Cubs 545,354
3. Carlos Beltran Mets 476,843
4. Manny Ramirez Dodgers 442,763 (-34,080)
5. Mike Cameron Brewers 432,034
6. Raul Ibanez Phillies 399,969

Remember, vote early and often!