Barry the All-Star

It's that time of year again, when all the half-hearted baseball fans vote on their favorite baseball players, or for most, the guys they've heard of.

As we prepare ourselves for the annual "Who was Snubbed from the All-Star Game" articles and television specials, I want to call out a disturbing early trend. First, we may be seeing way too much of that evil blue color in San Francisco on the weekend of July 10. Secondly, and more important, it looks like Barry Lamar may be out of luck when the All-Star festivities finally come to his hometown in what is likely the most significant year of his career.

Now, I'm a pretty fair guy. I can accept that a Bum or two can be allowed on the All-Star team. I voted for Bengie Molina because he's on my favorite team and because he has been the only catalyst to runs scored on a team that can't seem to find any. However, Russell Martin (.298/.366/.470) actually has slightly better overall stats than Molina (.309/.336/.466). And yeah, Kent is putting up decent stats for a position that is quite lacking in the NL. I can handle a couple of them.

Bonds' falling to 4th is what disturbs me. You may argue that it's justified by Bonds' recent "slump". I can agree that he has slumped recently, but does it justify a 4th-place ballot? Most definitely not. Here's the stats thus far for the top-4 NL OFs. You can make the call yourself.

Beltran: 9 HR, 36 RBI, .283/.369/.482
Griffey Jr: 15 HR, 36 RBI, .284/.385/.552
Soriano: 10 HR, 22 RBI, .311/.360/.542
Bonds: 13 HR, 30 RBI, .277/.484/.568

2nd most HR, 3rd most RBI, 1st in OBP and SLG all at the age of 42 and they can't even throw him a bone when the game is in his hometown? No way this happens to a Yankee or Red Sox in the same situation. With Jason "I'm Sorry" Giambi even 3rd in voting at AL 1B, it's enough to show you that a big name in a big town can get you places you don't deserve. That is, unless you're Barry Bonds.

It's pretty obvious to me that the reason for all this stems from the media. I can really see Barry's side of the argument when he says the media is out to get him. Yeah, he says some pretty wild things, but since this steroids thing has come up, has he been a jerk or been rude to interviewers? If he has, I haven't seen it, and I'm sure if they had tape of it we would never see the end of it. He has said some things he shouldn't have said, and it looks like he thinks a lot of himself, but really, what has he done to deserve all the hatred that's pointed his way? It hasn't been proven that he did anything illegal in the game of baseball, which is all people really care about since most people don't really care that he cheated on his taxes and supposedly cheated on his wife (if so, where's the hate for Derek Lowe?). The only reason I can see why people hate him so much is because of the way he is portrayed in the media, as we get a constant barrage of reporters implying he took steroids and is some sort of super-villain. Add to this that he is about to pass one of the most hallowed records in all of baseball, and you get a nice steaming pot of unsubstantiated loathing.

So, when voting time comes and the half-hearted fans vote for their NL OFs, they will remember Barry as a despicable person and will vote for an unworthy alternative, without looking at any stats or considering the players' levels of play. Because of this, Bay Area and all other Giants fans will be unable to cheer on the greatest hitter of all time on probably the only date that the All-Star game will come to our hometown in our lifetime.