GaryMrMets
07-12-2004, 02:20 AM
http://yesnetwork.com/announcers/article.asp?article_id=217
The good and bad of fan balloting
http://yesnetwork.com/images/talent/small/pepe_head_sm.jpgBy Phil Pepe
Special to YES Network Online
July 6 2004
Memo to the 1,784,443 fans who voted for Jason Giambi, the 424,160 who voted for Enrique Wilson, the 1,620,187 who voted for Nomar Garciaparra and the 868,968 who voted for Bill Mueller:
Have you been paying attention?
Are you aware that Giambi and his parasite have missed almost a fourth of his team's games, are batting almost 100 points lower than Ken Harvey of Kansas City, have half as many home runs and less than half as many RBIs as Boston's David Ortiz?
Do you know that Wilson, No. 5 in voting among AL second basemen, isn't even No. 1 on his own team?
Have you noticed that Garciaparra, second in voting among the league's shortstops, has played in only 20 games, and has just two home runs and 10 runs batted in?
Has it occurred to you that Mueller, third in the voting among American League third basemen, has missed more than half of his team's games, is batting a puny .263 and that the only All-Star team he should make is the one representing Mass General?
To a lesser degree, does Derek Jeter (.278, 13-41) deserve to get more votes at shortstop than the Orioles' Miguel Tejada (.315, 15-69) or the Rangers' Michael Young (.331, 11-49)? Should Alex Rodriguez (.273, 19-50) get the nod at third base over Baltimore's Melvin Mora (.347, 12-43) or Texas' Hank Blalock (.314, 22-61)?
And therein lies everything that's bad — and good — about having fans vote for the starting teams in the All-Star Game.
The bad is obvious. Fans make some dubious choices. Players with great name recognition, excellent past resumes, and high visibility from playing in major markets (like New York and Boston), or for teams that draw huge crowds and large television audiences (like the Yankees and Red Sox) attract more attention and, thereby, more votes.
The good is also obvious. Major League Baseball can pridefully point out that almost 15 million fans took part in the voting, a testimony to the game's popularity. The fact is, even if "this time it counts," the All-Star Game is an exhibition, an annual midsummer gift to fans, and if they want to see Giambi, A-Rod and Jeter instead of Ortiz, Blalock and Tejada, for whatever their reason, they should be indulged.
Fortunately, there are checks and balances in the system designed to correct some of the injustices fans may perpetrate. And the two managers, Joe Torre and Jack McKeon, did a good job in righting those wrongs. So Ortiz, Harvey, Tejada and Blalock are on the American League squad. Melvin Mora, the league's second leading hitter, is not (he recently went on the disabled list, but he deserved to have been named and then replaced).
Torre scored points by recognizing baseball's most unheralded, but in today's game, extremely vital, contributors, the set-up men, when he selected his own Tom (Flash) Gordon and Anaheim's Frankie Rodriguez.
McKeon's National League squad was pretty much a no-brainer with fewer injustices than the AL, although some will complain about the omission of the league's leading winner, Philly's Eric Milton (11-2), Milwaukee's Lyle Overbay, who is fifth in batting, third in RBI, L.A.'s Adrian Beltre, ninth in batting, fourth in homers, Cincinnati's Adam Dunn, second in homers, and Colorado's Vinny Castilla, second in RBIs. Somebody always gets the shaft.
McKeon has another kind of dilemma. With a starting team of Albert Pujols, Jeff Kent, Edgar Renteria, Scott Rolen, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Jr., Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza, how does genial Jack make a lineup without offending any of his superstars? Everybody on his starting team, except Renteria, bats third, fourth or fifth for his team. So whom does McKeon bat eighth? All right, Renteria bats eighth, but who bats seventh?
If I were McKeon, I would call my eight starters into a meeting and explain: "Guys, I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, so help me make out the lineup. I'll listen to your suggestions."
For what it's worth, here are my suggestions.
One is to do what Billy Martin once did when the Yankees were slumping in 1977 and pick the lineup out of a hat.
The other is to simply bat his starters in alphabetical order: Bonds, Griffey, Kent, Piazza, Pujols, Renteria, Rolen, Sosa.
If McKeon follows this simple formula, the only complaint any of these players can have would be with their ancestors.
Acclaimed author Phil Pepe is regular contributor to YES Network Online.
2004 ALL-STAR STARTERS
AL NL
Ivan Rodriguez Catcher Mike Piazza
Jason Giambi 1B Albert Pujols
Alfonso Soriano 2B Jeff Kent
Alex Rodriguez 3B Scott Rolen
Derek Jeter SS Edgar Renteria
Manny Ramirez OF Barry Bonds
Vladimir Guerrero OF Ken Griffey, Jr.
Ichiro Suzuki OF Sammy Sosa
Pitchers
Francisco Cordero Armando Benitez
Tom Gordon Roger Clemens
Tim Hudson Eric Gagne
Ted Lilly Tom Glavine
Esteban Loaiza Danny Graves
Mark Mulder Livan Hernandez
Joe Nathan Randy Johnson
Mariano Rivera Dan Kolb
Francisco Rodriguez Carl Pavano
Kenny Rogers Jason Schmidt
C.C. Sabathia Ben Sheets
Curt Schilling Carlos Zambrano
2004 ALL-STAR RESERVES
AL NL
Victor Martinez Catcher Johnny Estrada
Ken Harvey Sean Casey
David Ortiz 1B Jim Thome Todd Helton
Ron Belliard 2B Mark Loretta
Hank Blalock 3B Mike Lowell
Michael Young Barry Larkin
Miguel Tejada Jack Wilson
Carlos Guillen SS
Carlos Beltran Lance Berkman
Carl Crawford Moises Alou
Matt Lawton OF Miguel Cabrera
Gary Sheffield
Hideki Matsui 32nd Man Bobby Abreu
The good and bad of fan balloting
http://yesnetwork.com/images/talent/small/pepe_head_sm.jpgBy Phil Pepe
Special to YES Network Online
July 6 2004
Memo to the 1,784,443 fans who voted for Jason Giambi, the 424,160 who voted for Enrique Wilson, the 1,620,187 who voted for Nomar Garciaparra and the 868,968 who voted for Bill Mueller:
Have you been paying attention?
Are you aware that Giambi and his parasite have missed almost a fourth of his team's games, are batting almost 100 points lower than Ken Harvey of Kansas City, have half as many home runs and less than half as many RBIs as Boston's David Ortiz?
Do you know that Wilson, No. 5 in voting among AL second basemen, isn't even No. 1 on his own team?
Have you noticed that Garciaparra, second in voting among the league's shortstops, has played in only 20 games, and has just two home runs and 10 runs batted in?
Has it occurred to you that Mueller, third in the voting among American League third basemen, has missed more than half of his team's games, is batting a puny .263 and that the only All-Star team he should make is the one representing Mass General?
To a lesser degree, does Derek Jeter (.278, 13-41) deserve to get more votes at shortstop than the Orioles' Miguel Tejada (.315, 15-69) or the Rangers' Michael Young (.331, 11-49)? Should Alex Rodriguez (.273, 19-50) get the nod at third base over Baltimore's Melvin Mora (.347, 12-43) or Texas' Hank Blalock (.314, 22-61)?
And therein lies everything that's bad — and good — about having fans vote for the starting teams in the All-Star Game.
The bad is obvious. Fans make some dubious choices. Players with great name recognition, excellent past resumes, and high visibility from playing in major markets (like New York and Boston), or for teams that draw huge crowds and large television audiences (like the Yankees and Red Sox) attract more attention and, thereby, more votes.
The good is also obvious. Major League Baseball can pridefully point out that almost 15 million fans took part in the voting, a testimony to the game's popularity. The fact is, even if "this time it counts," the All-Star Game is an exhibition, an annual midsummer gift to fans, and if they want to see Giambi, A-Rod and Jeter instead of Ortiz, Blalock and Tejada, for whatever their reason, they should be indulged.
Fortunately, there are checks and balances in the system designed to correct some of the injustices fans may perpetrate. And the two managers, Joe Torre and Jack McKeon, did a good job in righting those wrongs. So Ortiz, Harvey, Tejada and Blalock are on the American League squad. Melvin Mora, the league's second leading hitter, is not (he recently went on the disabled list, but he deserved to have been named and then replaced).
Torre scored points by recognizing baseball's most unheralded, but in today's game, extremely vital, contributors, the set-up men, when he selected his own Tom (Flash) Gordon and Anaheim's Frankie Rodriguez.
McKeon's National League squad was pretty much a no-brainer with fewer injustices than the AL, although some will complain about the omission of the league's leading winner, Philly's Eric Milton (11-2), Milwaukee's Lyle Overbay, who is fifth in batting, third in RBI, L.A.'s Adrian Beltre, ninth in batting, fourth in homers, Cincinnati's Adam Dunn, second in homers, and Colorado's Vinny Castilla, second in RBIs. Somebody always gets the shaft.
McKeon has another kind of dilemma. With a starting team of Albert Pujols, Jeff Kent, Edgar Renteria, Scott Rolen, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Jr., Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza, how does genial Jack make a lineup without offending any of his superstars? Everybody on his starting team, except Renteria, bats third, fourth or fifth for his team. So whom does McKeon bat eighth? All right, Renteria bats eighth, but who bats seventh?
If I were McKeon, I would call my eight starters into a meeting and explain: "Guys, I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, so help me make out the lineup. I'll listen to your suggestions."
For what it's worth, here are my suggestions.
One is to do what Billy Martin once did when the Yankees were slumping in 1977 and pick the lineup out of a hat.
The other is to simply bat his starters in alphabetical order: Bonds, Griffey, Kent, Piazza, Pujols, Renteria, Rolen, Sosa.
If McKeon follows this simple formula, the only complaint any of these players can have would be with their ancestors.
Acclaimed author Phil Pepe is regular contributor to YES Network Online.
2004 ALL-STAR STARTERS
AL NL
Ivan Rodriguez Catcher Mike Piazza
Jason Giambi 1B Albert Pujols
Alfonso Soriano 2B Jeff Kent
Alex Rodriguez 3B Scott Rolen
Derek Jeter SS Edgar Renteria
Manny Ramirez OF Barry Bonds
Vladimir Guerrero OF Ken Griffey, Jr.
Ichiro Suzuki OF Sammy Sosa
Pitchers
Francisco Cordero Armando Benitez
Tom Gordon Roger Clemens
Tim Hudson Eric Gagne
Ted Lilly Tom Glavine
Esteban Loaiza Danny Graves
Mark Mulder Livan Hernandez
Joe Nathan Randy Johnson
Mariano Rivera Dan Kolb
Francisco Rodriguez Carl Pavano
Kenny Rogers Jason Schmidt
C.C. Sabathia Ben Sheets
Curt Schilling Carlos Zambrano
2004 ALL-STAR RESERVES
AL NL
Victor Martinez Catcher Johnny Estrada
Ken Harvey Sean Casey
David Ortiz 1B Jim Thome Todd Helton
Ron Belliard 2B Mark Loretta
Hank Blalock 3B Mike Lowell
Michael Young Barry Larkin
Miguel Tejada Jack Wilson
Carlos Guillen SS
Carlos Beltran Lance Berkman
Carl Crawford Moises Alou
Matt Lawton OF Miguel Cabrera
Gary Sheffield
Hideki Matsui 32nd Man Bobby Abreu