Justice was served today, thanks to MLB fans. After the NL’s leading MVP candidate was left off of the all-star team, fans from around the globe stepped up to include Joey Votto on the team through the Final Vote.
First of all, the fact that he wasn’t originally included was disgracefully. You can point straight at the NL’s manager, Charlie Manuel, for this huge mistake. Manuel clearly put his heart first instead of his head and selected his Phillies first baseman, Ryan Howard, over Votto. Just take a look at these stat lines and tell me which player you would rather have.
Votto: .314 BA, 58 runs scored, 60 RBIs, 22 HRs and seven SB.
Howard: .293 BA, 53 runs scored, 62 RBI, 16 HRs and no steals.
Throw in the fact that Votto is widely being considered the NL MVP of the first half of the season and this call should have been a no brainer. Nobody ever said that the all-star selection process was perfect, or even good for that matter, but usually it’s the fans that screw things up, not the men in charge.