First round of All Star voting announced. Braun and Hardy lead at their positions

[PrinceFielder28]

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/46111792.html

[JoeHova]

Jason Kendall is 2nd among catchers? I have to think that that is a big sign that only the Cards and Brewers have started their "Vote for our guys" push so far.

[SeriesFinale]

JJ, eh?

 

Jenks and Hart confirmed it: do not underestimate Brewers' fans ability to stuff a ballot box.

[Legacy25GT]

yesterday after the game, I saw 4 people leaving the stadium with heavy boxes with 1500 all-star ballots each. I even saw one boy (12 or 13 years old I'd guess) lugging 2 boxes which are probably 40 lbs a piece.

[Invader3K]

I say, good for us Brewers fans. Let's get as many of our guys on the team as possible. We had enough years where we would get Dan Plesac or someone as our lone representative, and maybe get lucky to see them play one inning. It's our turn to get the NL team loaded with a bunch of our players.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I'm not voting for any of our guys this year. After JJ & Corey had swoons after their appearances in the game, I'd rather have them get some rest and get ready for the second half of the season. We've got bigger fish to fry this year. I say we send Julio as the All-Star mop up guy.

[cwolf2012]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090526&content_id=4960488&vkey=allstar2009&fext=.jsp#nlvote_0526

 

Take note of the 7th paragraph. Anyone see something wrong with the last sentence?

[3Putt]

It is quite impressive to see a small market excel so much at getting out the vote. As much as fan interaction is nice it sure doesn't yield an accurate outcome. Ramirez deserves the SS spot hands down but nobody in Florida cares about baseball.

[beno78]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090526&content_id=4960488&vkey=allstar2009&fext=.jsp#nlvote_0526

 

Take note of the 7th paragraph. Anyone see something wrong with the last sentence?

Nice catch. Maybe MLB doesn't know the difference.

[pretendastronaut]

I've been voting for Hanley myself, sorry JJ.

[jjfanec]

I wont vote for a Milwaukee guy unless I think he deserves it or is border-line getting in. Even though I love JJ, I cannot vote for him. Right now Braun is the only one I will vote for.

[PlayerHader]

I admit that I voted mostly for Brewers on the two ballots I filled out at the May 2 game I was at. I think the only two Brewers I didn't vote for were JJ and Kendall. They were both pretty atrocious at the time.

[pebadger]

Vote for the Brewers early and often. Who cares if they 'deserve' it? In a lot of years only about 25% of the guys who the fans vote in 'deserve' it. If the All-Star game really is "about the fans" then Brewer fans should publicly demonstrate that depth of passion can outweigh sheer demographics. And when JJ is voted in, someone from Brewerfan.net can go on ESPN and say " Most of us think probably deserves it, but Brewer fans have always been unappreciated, and WE deserve it. If the 5 million people in the state of Wisconsin and some thousands of fans scattered around the country can make this happen for a poster child of small-market baseball, I don't want to hear a peep from the big markets and big media. You had your chance. You lost, we won. Deal with it."

[Invader3K]

I agree with pebadger's sentiment.

[jjfanec]

I cannot vote for a guy who does not deserve because I complain vehemently when a guy like Soriano or Fukudome or Varitek is there starting taking a spot of someone who does deserve. I am all for other people voting for all Brewers but it saddens me to see Bill Hall up there in votes. That said if a Brewer gets into the last player in vote I will vote for them no matter what. I guess I am a little bit of a hypocrite

[cantball]

Cmon guys...we had to watch the Cubs field almost the entire NL team last year...let's return the favor and possibly get an All Star Game untucking

[Mr QL]

wow

 

I haven't even started voting 2000 times a day yet

[fondybrewfan]

Right now the only guys I would vote for are Braun & Fielder (He is at the top of the league in RBI's) and Hoffman if we were allowed to vote for pitchers. Cameron maybe is worthy as well but that is very borderline.

[logan82]

Can't argue with Braun deserving to be in the AS game this year and I was one of the people dead set against him deserving to be an AS last year. Hardy on the other hand...

[crewcrazy]

Considering that the team is in playoff contention again and the homefield advantage stipulation is tied to the All-Star game, I'd much rather have the best players possible starting for the National League. I'll feel happy for any player that makes it, but in my mind there are only a few players I'd say deserve it at this point considering the stakes -- Braun, Hoffman, and Gallardo -- and we can only vote for one of them.

[brewdude15]

I would think Braun, Gallardo, Hoffman, and Fielder all deserve bids right now. Possibly Cameron if he heats up a bit.

[BrewCrewForever]

Here is who I have voted for in the NL:

 

C: B. Molina

1B: Pujols

2B: Hudson

SS: Ramirez

3B: Zimmerman

OF: Braun

OF: Beltran

OF: Ibanez

 

Braun is the only guy I think deserves to start from the Brewers. I think Hoffman and Gallardo should go as pitchers and Fielder as a reserve.

 

And the AL:

 

C: Martinez

1B: Cabrera

2B: Kinsler

SS: Bartlett

3B: Longoria

OF: Bay

OF: Hunter

OF: Crawford

[bani1717]

wow

 

I haven't even started voting 2000 times a day yet

This is exactly why I don't even bother voting. I used to fill out random ballots at games when they were available, but now I've stopped doing that because my vote means nothing compared to people who vote for their favorite players hundreds or thousands of times.

 

And nothing against you personally at all, because it's fans like you that help get Brewers into the all star game. I just don't want to spend tons of time to vote for guys just to make my vote actually mean anything at all.

 

That said, last year I did vote for Hart a couple hundred times in the final vote because the text message voting was way too convenient to pass up. Other than that, I don't vote for all stars.

[jeffy]

Hardy on the other hand...

 

My wife says it's the "chick" vote that accounts for that...

The last couple years I did not vote until later in the process, when it appeared that some Brewers had a chance. I did not bother punching out the paper ballots at the park, since if I want to vote it is much easier to do so online. If MLB dropped the online voting and just gave out one ballot per ticket to those attending the games I'd fill it out (I think that would be a better system).

 

It used to be the Brewers (under the previous regine) did not even hand out paper ballots, they just told fans where to go to get them. Now they do hand them out, but it is almost meaningless, with the online voting.

 

 

[3Putt]

If the voting is based on this season alone even Counsell deserves to go ahead of JJ. Of course he's a utility infielder so he's left without a defined position.