Stuffed Panda

On Tuesday, Major League Baseball revealed its next-to-last voting results for the 2012 All-Star Game.  At the time, David Wright had amassed 2,687,818 votes from fans to be the starting third baseman for the National League.  His closest competition for the honor was the San Francisco Giants' Pablo Sandoval, who had received 2,223,269 votes.  Sandoval was 464,549 votes behind Wright with less than 72 hours of voting time remaining.  It should have been a shoo-in for Wright.  Instead, Giants fans are giving the rest of the baseball world some stuffed panda.

In what has become a shock to Mets fans and the baseball world, the man playfully known as Kung Fu Panda passed the Wright to become the National League's starting third baseman on Tuesday in Kansas City.  But he didn't just pass him by a couple thousand votes.  Rather, he blew by Wright faster than the fog blows into the San Francisco Bay.

Pablo Sandoval finished with 5,743,542 votes, compared to David Wright's final total of 4,133,380 votes, beating the Mets' third baseman by a whopping 1,619,162 votes.  In the final days of voting, Sandoval received over 2,000,000 more votes than Wright.  Over 3.5 million votes were cast for Sandoval in that time period, as opposed to less than 1.5 million cast for Wright.

Let's compare what Wright and Sandoval have done on the field in 2012 to see if Sandoval deserved to be voted in (stats through Saturday night's games):

• David Wright: .355/.449/.564, 26 doubles, 2 triples, 9 HR, 50 RBI, 52 runs scored, 8 SB
• Pablo Sandoval: .307/.366/.482, 11 doubles, 0 triples, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 26 runs scored, 0 SB

Now let's look at what David Wright's numbers were after June 5, which was approximately one month ago:

• David Wright: .362/.465/.585, 19 doubles, 1 triple, 7 HR, 33 RBI, 37 runs scored, 5 SB

Notice anything interesting about those numbers?  David Wright could have missed every game after June 5 and still would have led Pablo Sandoval in every major offensive category.

But it's not just Sandoval supplanting Wright as the National League's starting third baseman by 1.5 million votes that gets to me.  It's also what Sandoval's teammate in San Francisco did.

Buster Posey is a very good player.  Is he an All-Star?  Yes.  But should he be the National League's starting catcher in the All-Star Game?  Don't make me laugh!  Here are Buster Posey's numbers (through Saturday, June 30) compared to the numbers put up by the Cardinals' Yadier Molina and the Phillies' Carlos Ruiz:

• Buster Posey: .296/.363/.472, 14 doubles, 10 HR, 40 RBI, 31 runs scored, 3 SB
• Yadier Molina: .311/.362/.510, 15 doubles, 12 HR, 44 RBI, 33 runs scored, 7 SB
• Carlos Ruiz: .358/.423/.585, 19 doubles, 11 HR, 43 RBI, 38 runs scored, 3 SB

Posey leads Molina in on-base percentage by one one-thousandth of a point.  I guess that's good enough for the voters because Posey doesn't lead Molina or Ruiz in any other major offensive category.

And here's what really gets me.  Not only is Posey starting the All-Star Game over Molina and Ruiz, but he received the most votes of any National League player in the history of All-Star voting.  Let me repeat that in a new paragraph and use boldface so you can read that better.

WITH 7,621,370 VOTES, BUSTER POSEY SET A NEW ALL-TIME RECORD FOR MOST VOTES RECEIVED BY A NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYER.

Prior to Posey's vote count, no National Leaguer had ever surpassed the 6 million vote mark, let alone the 7 million mark.  (Ryan Braun held the previous record of 5,928,004 votes, set last year.)  Posey almost didn't set the record.  Wanna know why?  Because Melky Cabrera, who had never made an All-Star team in seven seasons in the big leagues "earned" 7,521,784 votes, a mere 99,586 votes fewer than Posey's tally.

When Buster Posey and Melky Cabrera receive more votes than any other player in National League player in history, that shows that something is wrong with the current fan voting format.  How could Pablo Sandoval get over 3.5 million votes in the final 72 hours of voting?  How did he get 3.5 million votes, period?

In 1957, fan balloting caused the Cincinnati Reds to have seven players voted to start the All-Star Game (the only non-Red to be voted in was future Hall of Famer Stan Musial).  Commissioner Ford Frick, clearly disturbed by the ballot stuffing in the Queen City, replaced Reds' players Gus Bell and Wally Post in the starting lineup with the more deserving Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.  He also took voting privileges away from the fans until 1970.

Perhaps that is what needs to be done here.  If MLB wants to say "this time it counts" with regards to the All-Star Game and its outcome determining home-field advantage in the World Series, then we should not have undeserving players determine that outcome.  It's time to put an end to farces such as this one.  If the All-Star Game is going to "count", then the votes counted should not be cast by ballot-stuffing fans.  The best players should play in the Midsummer Classic, not the players who play in the cities with the most supportive fans.

Fans of Major League Baseball should never have to be subjected to stuffed panda again.

Joey's Soapbox: Giants Fans More Obnoxious Than Phillies Fans

Last night, I attended the opener of the Mets' three-game weekend series against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field.  After watching batting practice, I made my way to our season ticket seats in row five of Section 138 and sat down to watch what I expected to be a well-played game between the Mets and Giants.  But there was a buzzing in my ear for most of the game.  It was worse than any incessant gnat and more intolerable than anything I had ever heard at Citi Field before.  What caused this annoying buzz that a mere swat couldn't expunge?

Section 138 had been taken over by a swarm of loud, belligerent and obnoxious orange-and-black clad Giants fans.

I'm Joey Beartran and you better believe I'm about to get on my soapbox for this.

There was a time when Giants fans were more docile creatures.  They went to games, rooted for their team and cheered politely.  If the Giants won, they'd be happy about it, but they wouldn't rub it in the faces of their opponent's fans.

Then the Giants won the World Series in 2010 and everything changed.

In 2011, I noticed an influx of Giants fans at Citi Field when the Mets hosted San Francisco.  They took over a small section of the Pepsi Porch and were very loud.  Because they had won the World Series the year before, giving them exactly ONE title in the 53 seasons they had been in the Bay Area, either they were releasing a half-century of pent-up frustration or they were becoming west coast copycats of the Phillies' fan base.  At the time, I went with the former instead of the latter and let them have their fun for one season.  I assumed that because the Giants were the defending World Series champions, their fans were just continuing their long-overdue celebration.  I assumed incorrectly.

Last night, Giants fans were all over Citi Field again, but mostly in Section 138.  Either they were experiencing the world's longest post-championship hangover or they just became really rude and obnoxious.

Giants fans and their Occupy Section 138 movement.

From the first inning, they were chanting "Let's Go Giants" at a decibel rate that would make a Metallica roadie go deaf.  In addition, they were standing up and pumping their fists during these chants, blocking the view of any Mets fan who was trying to enjoy the game.  (I was not affected by the upright Giants fans, as their seats were behind me.)

When the familiar sounds of the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" played over the loudspeakers, encouraging the Mets to "hey ho, let's go", Giants fans changed the lyrics to "Zi-to, let's go" in honor of their starting pitcher, Barry Zito.  That was somewhat clever, but no one changes the lyrics to a Ramones song, especially in their home borough of Queens.

Then they started mocking Mets fans with other chants.  They were ripping on Jason Bay, calling him a bum.  (Bay promptly shut them up by ending the Giants' early no-hit bid in the fourth inning with a home run off Zito, essentially saying "Zi-to, let's go, go, gone!" to them.)  They also made fun of the "Jo-se, Jo-se, Jo-se, Jo-se" chant by changing it to "Po-sey, Po-sey, Po-sey, Po-sey" when catcher/first baseman Buster Posey came up to bat.  But then they broke into a "BER-nie MA-doff, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap" chant and that went over the line.  It got so bad that my colleague actually wondered aloud if this was why Dodgers fans pummeled Giants fan Bryan Stow after their season-opening game in 2011.  (Note:  What happened to Bryan Stow was uncalled for even if he did act like last night's Section 138 invaders.  You don't beat fans for being obnxious, you have your team beat the obnoxious fans' team.  That always shuts them up.)

By the middle of the game, I had to move from my seat because Section 138 had become unbearable.  After a four-inning break in the Caesar's Club, we returned to the field level to watch the ninth inning, an inning in which the Mets rallied to tie the game against the Giants' bullpen-by-committee.  After the Giants had lost their lead, you could hear a pin drop in Section 138.  Fortunately, you couldn't hear that pin where we were standing because we were surrounded by jubilant Mets fans.  (We had moved behind Section 110 along the first base side.)

Of course, the Giants scored a run in the top of the tenth to retake the lead, setting off a celebration in Section 138 because apparently the Giants fans confused a mid-April game for the seventh game of the World Series.  The Mets tried to silence the panda hat-wearing crowd in the bottom of the tenth after Daniel Murphy and David Wright led off the inning with base hits.  But a broken-bat groundout by Ike Davis, a strikeout by Jason Bay (okay, now he is a bum, but only I can say it, not them) and Lucas Duda flyout ended the Mets' threat and started what appeared to be an impromptu conga line in the left field reserved section.

I've seen Phillies fans.  They've been supportive of their teams for quite some time now, and by "quite some time", I mean since 2007.  But last night's overtaking of Section 138 by Giants fans was more obnoxious than anything I had seen or heard by any group of Phillies fans at Citi Field.  They were beyond boisterous.  They were rude and inconsiderate to a level that even a five-year Phillies fan would have to tip their cap to in appreciation.

All I kept thinking about during the many "Let's Go Giants" chants was what those fans were chanting at baseball games before 2010.  It probably sounded more like "Let's Go Dodgers" or "Let's Go Padres" instead.  Either that or they'd be talking to each other in the stands about the 49ers' chances in the NFC West.

Do you see the handsome bear in the photo to the right?  That's yours truly enjoying a game at AT&T Park in 2010 with no hostile Giants fans anywhere around me.  I was there for the entire Mets-Giants series, which took place approximately three months before the Giants won the World Series.  At the time, the Mets were actually ahead of the Giants in the wild card race (the San Diego Padres were leading the NL West).  Although Giants fans were supportive of their team back then, they didn't have this sense of empowerment that they have now.

The St. Louis Cardinals are the defending World Series champions.  I'm sure when they visit Citi Field in early June, Cardinals fans in attendance won't be beating their chests and proclaiming their superiority.  That's probably why they're considered to be among the best, if not the best, fans in baseball.  They're classy.  Giants fans are clearly not.

Stay classy, San Francisco.  Better yet, stay home.  We don't want you in our ballpark if you're going to disrespect our fans because you won one World Series title two years ago.  Before you fire off your next oh-so-clever chant, remember this.  The Giants couldn't beat the Mets in their only postseason meeting in 2000 and it took your beloved team 53 years in San Francisco to win half of the championships the Mets won in less time.  I hope you're just as proud when it takes them 53 more years to win that second championship, you know, the same number of championships the Mets have been able to claim for over a quarter of a century.