Tag Archives: Musings

The early voting for the NL All-Stars also aren’t terrible!

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday, I looked at the early voting for the American League All-Stars. Today the NL’s early voting results came out, so, here are my early impressions on them:

Okay, catcher. It’s Posey, then Molina, then everyone else. Seems about right, as the two of them are by far the best catchers in the NL.

First Base has Joey Votto with a big lead, and he deserves it. Paul Goldschmidt, however, is having a much better year than Brandon Belt, who inexplicably is in 2nd place.

Brandon Phillips isn’t a bad leader at second, but there are others, including Marco Scutaro and Cardinals Super-Utility Matt Carpenter, who are doing better than him. I have no idea how Dan Uggla is in the top five with his .175 batting average and league-leading 71 strikeouts.

Troy Tulowitzki is the correct answer at Shortstop.

Third Base is where I have a bit of a nitpick, as Pablo Sandoval holds a small lead over David Wright. Given that this All-Star Game is taking place in Flushing, I feel like it’d be better if Wright was the starting 3B and Kung Fu Panda was the DH (since the DH is now used at all All-Star Games). That’s just my opinion, though.

The outfield, much like the outfield with the AL, is really hard to pick. It’s hard to argue with Justin Upton (although he has cooled off significantly lately), Bryce Harper and Ryan Braun, but Shin-Soo Choo, Carlos Gomez and plenty of others are also having great seasons. So many good choices but only three starting spots!

That said… again, not that bad of a early ballot results, although I feel like the Braves and Giants may be trying to stuff the ballots. Although, admittedly, every team does that- it’s just that the Giants and Braves are doing the best at it this year so far.

Advertisement

The Art (and Question) of the Farewell Tour

Posted on by
Reply

It is a given these days that future Hall of Famers announce their retirements in advance, so that they can receive their applause from the rest of league. It is a good tradition, allowing even every city and fanbase to show their appreciation to a transcendent talent.

It is an old tradition. During his famous “Luckiest Man” speech, for example, Lou Gehrig noted that the New York Giants had sent him a gift, despite the fact he would, he admitted, have been willing to cut his arm off to beat them.

The tradition continues to this day. Take this tidbit about what the Cardinals have given Chipper Jones:

It’s hardly surprising that the Cardinals would giving gifts to Chipper. Heck, a few days ago the Cardinal fans gave him a big round of applause during his first at-bat. Chipper will probably be getting a good reception most everywhere- in Wrigley Field, for example, he was given the Braves pennant that was used to indicate their place in the division standings.

But this leads to a interesting question: what is the proper etiquette for the teams? Do they look bad if they don’t give the retiring HoFer a gift? Like, if the Mets decide that Chipper Jones had inflicted too much pain on them during the 1990s and decide not to honor him, is that breaking one of the unwritten rules?

I think too much about some of this stuff.