You Probably Let Down Phillies in All-Star Voting
By Justin Klugh
Well, look at that All-Star team. All full of Giants and Braves and Yasiel Puig, probably, or what have you.
Oct 2, 2011; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley (26) celebrates scoring with right fielder Dominic Brown (9) during the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals during game two of the 2011 NLDS at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Remember back when? Remember when that dugout was full of Phillies? Sure, a lot of them were Charlie Manuel and his coaching staff. But Shane was there. Jayson, I think. Chase and Ryan. Roy and Cliff. Hell, we almost got Pat in once.
Even this year. “Papelbon, Cliff, Chase, Dom,” we’d rattle off. “Kendrick,” we’d add. Then we’d laugh at how accurate it maybe was.
In recent weeks, these names have all fallen by the wayside, one by one. Except Cliff. And Chase. And Dom. But as far as votes go, we really let these guys down. Except for Cliff, whom we can’t vote for, and have to pray Bruce Bochy maintains the common sense to select.
What went wrong? Well, we didn’t register enough email addresses to vote more than the maximum number of times and get who many would consider “less deserving” players into the All-Star Game. Dom should probably be there. Maybe not as a starter, but come on. Hunter Pence? I’m not even going to look at his numbers. And I prefer numbers. He’s Hunter Pence.
Basically, we need to take a long hard look at what went wrong. Voting is one of the few things that lets us decide where players will be at exact times. We reach out and touch their lives. And we blew it. Chase and Dom could be god knows where. Which is fine. We’re not stalkers. Ha ha ha ha.
And maybe part of this is clinging to the recent past – it definitely is – but man, it should would be nice to have somebody to root for. Even last year we got Paps and Chooch to close it out.
But last year, things were a lot better.
Wait.
No they weren’t.
Good lord.