Don't Underestimate St. Louis

There has been a lot of talk about Chipper Jones vs Bryce Harper for winning the MLB Final Vote spot on the All-Star team.  In all that commotion one thing has been forgotten; that St. Louis fans are obsessed with baseball, and will actually vote for their player, David Freese.  And I am the main culprit of forgetting this.

Halfway into the voting and Chipper Jones leads with David Freese right behind him and Bryce Harper looking in from 3rd place for the NL team.

DC fans are talking about voting for Bryce Harper.  It is all over the radio and TV in the area.  But are people actually voting.  And I don't mean voting 1 time...I mean voting the maximum amount of times.  I mean ballot-stuffing Yao Ming style.  I don't think so.

I know a lot of you are out there button mashing.  You are erasing history deleting your hard drive, or whatever crazy computer stuff you need to do to throw in some illegal votes.  However, notice I said a lot of you, not ALL of you.  In St. Louis, EVERYONE is doing this and EVERYONE in the whole city is voting.

St. Louis as a baseball town makes DC look like a women's soccer town.  That city is one of the craziest baseball cities out there, where people in the neighborhood go out in the cul-de-sac, pop open a few Busch Lights, and listen to the Cards on the radio EVERY NIGHT.

I'm not calling on you to 'waste your time' voting for a "meaningless" game.  St. Louis has a longer baseball tradition that starts way before 2005.  I just want Nationals fans to be prepared in the case that a St. Louis Cardinal wins the Final Vote.  Its going to be almost impossible for DC to top St. Louis...but Harper will get some National help.


Note:  Matt Kemp is already out and Joey Votto may also miss the game, which could open up 2 slots...

Fan Poll: Harper vs Chipper

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Last week's question:  Should Ryan Zimmerman go to the DL?


Majority Answer:  Split:  The results to this topic changed quickly after Zimmerman took a cortisone shot and started killing the ball and driving guys in.  People seemed to be open to Zimmerman hitting the DL if it meant he would come back strong, but the shot changed everything.

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The main topic of this week will be the All-Star game.  People are talking, and specifically are interested in the "Final Vote" thing that MLB is doing.  On the National League side, Bryce Harper looked like he would be a lock to be the fan vote.  However, MLB threw a curveball and put Chipper Jones on the ballot.

While lots of people love Bryce Harper, a lot of people hate him as well.  Plus this is Chipper Jones' final season in the Majors and a lot of people want him on the roster as a "farewell" to baseball.

I think that both guys will end up on the roster, if not voted, then as an injury-replacement.  But who do you think will win the fan vote.  A new "chosen one" with a lot of fans and enemies, or a multiple time all-star in Chipper?

Remember the question is WILL Harper win, not SHOULD he...

Will Bryce Harper Beat Chipper?

Battle of the Beltways: All Star Selection

In this addition of our review of local baseball we are talking allstars.  Without doing any actual research it is safe to say this all star game will have the highest concentration of Orioles and Nationals players ever.  So lets take a look at who made the cut and who got snubbed.

Baltimore:

• Jim Johnson: Closer, 23 saves, 1.30 ERA.
• Adam Jones: Centerfield, .300, 19 HR, 41 RBIs.
• Matt Wieters: Catcher, .249, 11 HR, 38 RBIs, 36% throwing out baserunners.

Washington:

• Gio Gonzalez:  10-3, 2.78 ERA, 108 Ks, 3 HR surrendered.
• Stephen Strasburg: 9-3, 2.81 ERA, 122 Ks.
• Ian Desmond:  .276, 13 HR, 43 RBIs.

No surprisingly there were no Orioles or Nationals voted into the starting lineup in the fan vote.

However, fear not!  There is still a chance to vote in a player from each team in the final fan vote!  Take a look at how they stack up against their biggest competition...