Phillies a Mere Several Million Votes Away from All-Star Game

It’s July, and you know what that means.  It’s not longer absurd to talk about the All-Star Game like it was back in May.

Yes, this much further into the season, we can be sure of things like “we are not going to the playoffs,” whereas back when the ASG ballots first appeared, we still had the time in the schedule to hope for a series of flukes, or perhaps a complex series of puppetry that could… that could hoist injured Phillies in place at their positions, and sort of, like, play like that.

Anyways, July.  All-Star Game time.  Let’s check the old vote tallies.

OUTFIELD

• Carlos Beltran, Cardinals 5,013,806
• Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies 2,928,606
• Justin Upton, Braves 2,917,659
• Bryce Harper, Nationals 2,902,393
• Matt Holliday, Cardinals 2,697,608
• Andrew McCutchen, Pirates 2,510,614
• Hunter Pence, Giants 2,379,606
• Ryan Braun, Brewers 2,331,774
• Angel Pagan, Giants 2,016,370
• Shin-Soo Choo, Reds 1,960,385
• Jon Jay, Cardinals 1,825,513
• Carlos Gomez, Brewers 1,746,318
• Gregor Blanco, Giants 1,717,194
• Jay Bruce, Reds 1,454,721
• Domonic Brown, Phillies 1,427,696

SECOND BASE

• Brandon Phillips, Reds 3,411,839
• Matt Carpenter, Cardinals 3,186,423
• Marco Scutaro, Giants 3,142,783
• Daniel Murphy, Mets 1,598,297
• Chase Utley, Phillies 1,355,750

And that’s it, that’s all the Phillies.

**impressed whistle**

August 12, 2012; Philadelphia, PA USA; Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley (26) is congratulated by teammate Domonic Brown (9) after scoring in the first inning of the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

And when you consider Cliff Lee possibly getting a spot in the bullpen, and maybe Jonathan Papelbon but probably not anymore because of all those saves he blew in a row, that’s like, a bunch of guys on the ballot.  Pretty good, I’d say.

Well, Dom’s hot streak hasn’t completely cooled, but he wasn’t absurd enough to be have his breakout year universally accepted.  Meanwhile, Chase is getting pity/nostalgia votes, because he’s already missed enough significant time to disqualify a normal person as an All-Star.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s getting legit votes for being really good, too; but I feel like #5 among NL second baseman is probably the pinnacle he can reach these days with the popular vote.

I mean he’s definitely better than Daniel Murphy.

And Marco Scutaro can shut up.

And look at Hunter Pence all the way up there.  Ha, ha, ha.  Good for him.

And I’m not sure the league is taking “belovedness” into account here enough; if people just understood that we’re talking about never seeing Chase Utley play second base at CBP as a Phillie ever again, maybe they would, like… draw from that pool of sympathy and respect everyone has for Phillies fans, and… and…