Phillies Third Baseman Placido Polanco Voted NL All-Star Game Starter; Halladay, Lee, Hamels Selected

by WholeCamels on Jul 3, 2011 12:53 PM EDT

As expected, Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco was voted by the fans to start the 2011 All-Star Game for the National League. Although he has cooled considerably since his terrific April, Polanco's .280/.335/.354 line and terrific defense vaulted him into the lineup.

Unsurprisingly NL All-Star Manager Bruce Bochy also selected Phillies' starters Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Cole Hamels, along with four members of his own pitching staff -- Brian Wilson, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Ryan Vogelsong. However, with Hamels likely starting on Sunday, July 10th, Bochy will likely be compelled to select a new pitcher to take Hamels' official roster spot.

Notable "snubs" from the Phillies roster include Shane Victorino (.299/.371/.515, 13-for-14 in stolen bases, 3.0 WAR), Ryan Madson (2.03 ERA, 34 strikeouts and 11 walks in 31 innings) and Antonio Bastardo (0.90 ERA, 34 strikeouts in 30 innings).

For the second time, Shane Victorino will be one of the National League's five Final Vote candidates, along with Michael Morse, Andre Ethier, Todd Helton, and Ian Kennedy. Unfortunately for Shane, he doesn't have Chan Ho Park to help him campaign this year.

Still, it's pretty awesome to have three starting pitchers in the All-Star Game, and for all of them to be clearly deserving.

As a side note, where is Andrew McCutchen? Wowwwww...

Tweet Comment 33 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I was just thinking the same thing about McCutchen.

by VanceinmyPants on Jul 3, 2011 12:57 PM EDT reply actions

Nice that Bochy selected former Iron Pig, Vogelsong

Times change, like the climate I change. Check the forecast. I reign.

by secondroundpick on Jul 3, 2011 12:58 PM EDT reply actions

Nice, yes… but do you think he deserved it? I was a little surprised that Jair Jurrjens did not get selected (I also bet they are screaming about this over at Talking Chop).

Offense, offense, where are you?

by dannijd on Jul 3, 2011 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions

I thought he did.

by VanceinmyPants on Jul 3, 2011 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions

jurrjens did get selected

by Aaron King on Jul 3, 2011 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions

ffs

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 3, 2011 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions

i love your reactions

by phillies0100 on Jul 3, 2011 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions

hasn’t pitched in the bigs for a while, i thought he was the most deserving amongst the 3 Giants starters

Times change, like the climate I change. Check the forecast. I reign.

by secondroundpick on Jul 3, 2011 1:14 PM EDT up reply actions

I think Vic, Madson, Bastardo and Howard all would have been worthy picks, but can’t get too cheesed off about any of them not making it given the four guys who did make it and the relative dearth of indefensible selections.

Similarly, I don’t think we can be too unhappy with Bochy’s homerism given some of Charlie’s picks in ’09 and ’10.

by dajafi on Jul 3, 2011 1:13 PM EDT reply actions

Absolutely. To the victor…

The McCutchen snub is really bad, though.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 3, 2011 1:37 PM EDT reply actions

For what it’s worth…does Polly deserve the spot? Offensively he has been pretty brutal save for an incredible April. In the field he has been nothing short of fantastic, I was just wondering how he looked compared to other NL 3B’s. I thought Ramirez from the Cubs was a more deserving starter, but that’s just me.

"You can commit no mistake and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." - Jean-Luc Picard

by EREX21 on Jul 3, 2011 1:44 PM EDT reply actions

3B is a pretty weak position in the NL right now, especially considering that David Wright’s hurt.

by ThinMountainAir on Jul 3, 2011 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions

fourth among NL 3B in WAR

1. Ryan Roberts (2.1)
2. Pablo Sandoval (2.0)
3. Chase Headley (2.0)
4. Placido Polanco (1.8)

It’s not a terrible choice. I’d kind of prefer that he get rest though.

by taco pal on Jul 4, 2011 12:35 AM EDT up reply actions

I was kinda hoping with

Posey out for the season that Da Bouche would go with three catchers and give Ruiz his shot. alas, yadier and McCann shall be the only two on the team unless someone gets hurt…

And no offense, but victorino got the shaft as much as mccutchen, IMO.

But the mets should be very happy Beltran got picked.

25.8/106 CURRENTLY HOT!!!

by Joecatz on Jul 3, 2011 2:15 PM EDT reply actions

who are you guys voting for in the al with vicky

I went Zobrist for my first few votes but I’m not sure…

We should make an alliance with another blog, they vote for our guy and we vote for theirs. maybe the one with the most traffic :)

by ColeStevens on Jul 3, 2011 3:17 PM EDT reply actions

We did this last time—BranTorino was the campaign name, I think. Brandon Inge/Victorino—with the Detroit Blog.

What kind of plane is it? Oh, it's a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows and wheels and it looks like a big ol' Tylenol.

by doubleh on Jul 3, 2011 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Damn quick thumbs....

The official alliance is with the tigers, according to the 14 different emails and tweets I’ve gotten today, for Martinez.

They are calling it Victor/Victorino.

25.8/106 CURRENTLY HOT!!!

by Joecatz on Jul 4, 2011 2:38 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Catchy name. Julie Andrews would approve.

by phillyinportland on Jul 5, 2011 4:44 AM EDT up reply actions

The official o

25.8/106 CURRENTLY HOT!!!

by Joecatz on Jul 4, 2011 2:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I would argue

Victorino is a bigger snub than McCutchen. He has better numbers, plays for a better team (which he is the best hitter on), and is more recognizable/famous

by egogineni on Jul 3, 2011 5:27 PM EDT reply actions

No McCutchen is better than Victorino in pretty much every meaningful way.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 3, 2011 9:38 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I bet Victorino can talk faster.

by Phrozen on Jul 3, 2011 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions

And he’s probably a better authority on customized F-250 pickups from Winter Ford in Cherry Hill.

by Phrozen on Jul 3, 2011 11:44 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t know if I agree with that exactly. For one thing, they’re pretty close in WAR: McCutchen 4.6, Victorino 4.2 – and Shane’s played 14 fewer games this year because of his DL stint. If you projected Shane’s WAR out to 81 games, he’d be around 5.0, clearly ahead of McCutchen and every other outfielder in the National League. So basically it all depends on: how much do you give Shane a mulligan for his injury vs. how much extra credit do you give McCutchen for being more durable in the first half?

McCutchen is clearly better than Victorino in the sense that McCutchen’s more talented and will be much better than Shane if you compare their respective peaks. But for 2011 ASG purposes, the green McCutchen and the peak Victorino are pretty comparable players.

by taco pal on Jul 4, 2011 12:43 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Definitely think McCutchen has a better future and more talent. I guess now that I’m looking at the stats again, they are a lot closer than I first realized. I would think that a player’s endurance in the first half should count for something and they should be judged on their numbers over the complete first half over projections in order to be fair to everyone

by egogineni on Jul 4, 2011 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

This

IMO they both deserve it more than Beltran Nd pence, but that’s just me. However, mccutchen def should have gotten in on the fan vote, which probably makes it a bigger Ll around snub.

25.8/106 CURRENTLY HOT!!!

by Joecatz on Jul 4, 2011 11:22 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Pence and Beltran aren’t even the worst All-Star outfielders. come on down, Jay Bruce.

by perfectdepth on Jul 4, 2011 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Honestly it’d been awhile since I looked at both of their overall numbers, and it’s closer than it was the last time I checked.

McCutchen also derives a great deal of his value from defense, which is more persnickety and harder to measure.

So it’s probably fair to say that McCutchen has contributed more to the Pirates in 2011, while Victorino has been better while actually on the field.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Jul 4, 2011 12:26 PM EDT up reply actions

LOL at your criteria

Kickham where it hurts

by say hey nation on Jul 3, 2011 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions

well that’s often what gets players into the ASG, not saying it’s fair

by egogineni on Jul 4, 2011 10:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Any way Victorino gets the Final Vote? He won’t be getting any love from fans of other NL East teams, nor I gather from Dodgers or Giants fans.

by phatj on Jul 4, 2011 8:17 PM EDT reply actions

Hope for lots of votes from fans of the AL teams. He’s got the coolest nickname of the five contenders.

by phillyinportland on Jul 5, 2011 4:49 AM EDT up reply actions

He did it once before despite all those things being equally true then. The most important factor by far is how many home votes you get, not how road votes you don’t get.

by taco pal on Jul 5, 2011 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions