Daily Archives: June 29, 2006

The All-Star voting closes tonight at 11:59pm, so with the Yankees enjoying a day of rest after Alex Rodriguez’s big bang I thought I’d share my ballots.

American League

1B

With no designated hitter spot on the ballot due to the fact that the game is taking place in an NL park, this spot is mighty crowded. In fact, with Jason Giambi now a full-time DH due to the long awaited arrival of Andy Phillips, Paul Konerko is the only full-time first baseman worth looking at here (though I do have to give a shout to Kevin Youkilis, the Red Sox’ Andy Phillips).

Here are the key stats on Konerko, Giambi and the three top designated hitters, all of whom shift to first base in NL parks, along with the number of games they’ve played at first thus far this year (all stats prior to yesterday’s games).

Travis Hafner’s career line is .296/.399/.568. Last year he hit .305/.408/.595 with 42 doubles, 33 homers, 108 RBIs and a .345 EQA and finished fifth in the MVP voting. The year before he hit .311/.410/.583 with 41 doubles, 28 homers, 109 RBIs and a .335 EQA. Travis Hafner has never been selected to an All-Star team, even as a reserve. This has to end this year. David Ortiz is the vote leader, but he’s the least worthy of the five candidates above. What’s more, Hafner is David Ortiz. He’s a hulking, late-blooming lefty 1B-turned-DH who was tossed aside by his previous team. The primary differences between the two are that Ortiz has had the media exposure and postseason opportunities Hafner hasn’t and Hafner is a year younger than Ortiz and is thus Ortiz, in a rather startling parallel, has made Hafner’s improvements in production a year ahead of his Cleveland counterpart. At any rate, given the defensive shortcomings of his rivals and the relative insignificance of first base defense, Travis Hafner is my pick hands down.

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“Alex has gone from town to town, and there’s been just resentment all over the league for him because of how much money he makes,” Manager Joe Torre said before the game. “And nobody ever feels that anybody’s worth this money. Like, you know, he went in there and held somebody hostage to get the money. Somebody made a choice to give it to him. And it’s just something that he has to live with.”
(N.Y. Times)

Yesterday started off so badly and well, just look how it ended. My girlfriend Emily would have some new-age Wayne Dyer words of wisdom for me, that’s for sure. I take that malarky with a grain of salf, but often, the essence of what a guy like Dyer is saying makes a good deal of sense, the power of intentions and all that.

I had to fight up all the positive vibes I had in me when I awoke at 5:30 in the morning to the pattering sounds of raindrops against our bedroom air conditioner. The weatherman has called for rain and thunderstorms for much of the last week. When they got Monday and Tuesday’s games in without a hitch, I figured Wednesday was the day that it’ll all fall apart. I had taken a vacation day to go to the Stadium with a high school friend and his wife. My pal had an extra seat so I invited my cousin Eric along. But early in the morning it was pouring outside my window in the Bronx and the skies were dark. I sulked like a little boy.

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