Giancarlo is back! Yes, Giancarlo Stanton has returned, hitting two home runs last night to lead the the Marlins to a 3-2 victory over the Diamondbacks, driving in all of his team’s runs. And so, he is the MVP of Yesterday.
MVP of Yesterday standings after the jump, of course:
In 1957, fans of the Cincinnati Reds stuffed the ballot box, leading to the Reds taking seven of the eight starting positions for that year’s National League All-Star Team. Only Stan Musial was able to survive the Cincinnati wave.
Commissioner Ford Frick would have none of it. He demoted Gus Bell to a reserve and replaced him and Wally Post with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron (Post wouldn’t have played in the All-Star Game anyway, as he was injured). And, to make sure this kind of thing never happened again, he took away the right to vote from the fans of Major League Baseball. They wouldn’t get it back until 1970.
Now, of course, it is a cliche to complain about the All-Star voting. But I’m going to rather talk about one particular battle ground: David Wright vs. Pablo Sandoval. Going by numbers, Wright is the better candidate. But, that’s not why the Mets are trying everything within their power to get him as a starter. Nope, it’s because, well, he’d be the starter in his home ballpark, and they still are angry about the fact a late get-out-the-vote campaign by San Francisco took Wright out of a starting spot last season.
So, they are doing drastic measures: they tried to get cougars to vote for him, there were reports on Twitter of employees literally stuffing the ballots with Wright’s name, and it’s gotten so bad that Wright has even asked them to tone it down a bit. The Giants, no doubt, are trying to do similar things to ensure that the Kung Fu Panda maintains his lead.
But I wonder: as these get-out-the-vote campaigns continue to escalate, are we risking that one day we may have another 1957 moment where the fans so screw up the voting that fan suffrage will be imperiled?
What do you think?
Josh Reddick of the Athletics went 4-5 with a homer and 2 RBIs and a 0.4 WAR yesterday in the A’s win over the Mariners yesterday, and all he got was a flooded clubhouse. Well, that and the MVP of Yesterday.
Standings, as always, below the jump:
Ever wonder what the walk-up music for a certain MLB player is? Well, a site called Designated Hits seems to have the answers.
B.J. Upton had two home runs and three RBIs as the Braves ended up winning late on Freddie Freeman walk-off single, and so I’m naming him the MVP of Yesterday.
Standings, as always, after the jump:
(Note: And I made a grammar error originally on the title originally, using premiere instead of premier. Whoops.)
Eric Stults of the Padres threw a complete game victory over the Diamondbacks yesterday, which is enough for me to name him the MVP.
Standings, as always, under the jump:
(If the picture doesn’t load, hit the link in the tweet)
#prayforcolorado pic.twitter.com/JY0ADpyoIR
— Peter McEvoy (@PeterMcEvoy2) June 12, 2013
Like Kevin Slowey earlier this year, Jesse Chavez gains the MVP of Yesterday due to excellence in extra-innings pitching, going 5.2 for the victory in the Athletics’ win over the Yankees.
MVP standings, as always, under the jump:
Weather permitting, the annual baseball game between the Democrats and Republicans of Congress is going on right now. It’s taken very seriously, to the point where freshman congressmen who would otherwise not be noted in the halls of Washington suddenly become very popular amongst their fellows if they happened to have played college ball. At least, that’s what this article seems to say.
The Baseball Continuum 