Monday, July 2, 2012

News and Notes: Odds and Ends

As I mentioned briefly in a previous post, Giants fans clearly stuffed the All-Star ballot and got Melky Cabrera, Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval elected as starters with Melky being the top vote getter in the OF.  I don't think anyone can put up too strong of an argument that any of those 3 are undeserving.  Buster is clearly one of the top 2  catchers in the NL and very popular to boot.  Melky is leading the league in hits while Matt Kemp who should be the top vote-getter on talent has been injured for much of the first half while Ryan Braun may be still suffering some stigma from his positive drug test last year even though it was thrown out by an arbitrator.  As for Pablo, he has a strong case for being the top 3B in the NL when healthy and he's back apparently healthy and in better shape now.

What has raise some eybrows are the second place showings for Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt.  I actually think you can make a case for Brandon Crawford being one of the top 5 healthy SS's in the NL this year.  Belt, certainly has the potential to be a future All-Star, but is clearly not one right now.  Even more eyebrow raising were high vote totals for Freddy Sanchez and Aubrey Huff.  I don't think I need to explain those two.

People can complain all they want, but the fact is that MLB has to be fully aware of ballot stuffing, even encouraging it.  If other team's fans don't like it, let them organize their own ballot stuffing.  Does that diminish the All-Star game?  Maybe, but I'm not sure how you diminish something that is already totally inconsequential.  I don't vote in these things nor have I watched the game for many years.  That shows you how much I care about it. I mean, the HR derby is close to the lowest common denominator in sports competition and it's way more compelling and watchable than the game itself!

Grant, over at McCovey Chronicles frets about whether Giants fans are becoming a west coast version of Red Sox fans.  Long suffering with a chip on their shoulder, and now that they are winning, seemingly everywhere.  I think he has a point.  The Giants have always had a much bigger underground and diasporic fan base than they've been given credit for.  That national fanbase had already started to emerge long before they won the WS in 2010.  The Giants have been near the top of MLB in merchandise sales for at least as long as they have been in the variously named park at Willie Mays Plaza.  That underground and underrated fanbase exploded after the 2010 World Series win. No matter where the Giants play on the road, there is a sizable contingent of Giants fans in attendance decked out in Orange and Black.  In San Diego, Oakland and Seattle, the Giants fans actually outnumber the home team fans!  Undoubtedly there are more than a few frontrunners in the mix here, but this thing had a pretty big head of steam long before it broke out in 2010.

Still, you gotta think that the longer Giants fans stuff the All-Star ballots and fill up opposing team's ballparks, a backlash is going to happen and it could be fierce.

Giants fans are known, at least among ourselves, for carrying chips on their shoulders.  Years of losing key games to the Dodgers and putting up with dismissive smugness from their fans tends to do that to you. Watching games in a ballpark that had become the laughingstock of baseball had something to do with it too.  I remember watching Ryan Vogelsong pitch a few innings in Candlestick Park.  He has that chip on his shoulder too!  His chip is added onto by years of kicking around the Pirates organization after he was traded for Jason Schmidt.  It has grown through a sojourn in Japan and a fight back up through the minors and winter ball teams.

There is a natural progression of fame that tends to get the best of even the most well-intentioned of people.  That progression is talent, cult following, compelling success, celebrity and self parody.  We saw the entire process play out with Brian Wilson.  Right now, Ryan Vogelsong is sitting smack in the middle of compelling success and starting to edge toward celebrity.  I have no doubts that the intensity/chip-on-shoulder/game face thing is absolutely for real.  On Sunday, it helped spur Vogelsong and the Giants to fight for a victory they badly needed.  Still, there was something about Vogey's reaction to Bronson Arroyo dusting him twice and also his reaction to being left off the All-Star team that left me feeling like the intensity thing may have reached a zenith, and if pushed further might have the possibility of descending into self parody.  I may be all wet on this, but I think it's something to watch out for going forward.

D'Backs and Dodgers both lost tonight so the Giants start their road trip tomorrow with a 1.5 game lead over the Dodgers and 5.5 games over the D'Backs.

3 comments:

  1. I think that the ballot stuffing probably cost the Giants one pitching spot on the AS roster. Had Pablo not made the team, I think either Vogelsong or Bum would have been selected.

    Anon #1

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  3. Watching six-figure Zenga bonus babies and seven-figure Faceplant IPO babies on their smart phones sending each other twitter pics from the game rather than actually watching the baseball game - now that's falling into self-parody. Got to say the latest, Melk Men and Melk Maids, is keeping the fun real and the players seem to dig it. Stay humble Giants fans!

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