david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin) (07/11/85)
OK, NL fans, here's the all-star team you picked. The response was
disappointing (only about half of what were cast last year), as I
received only seven ballots! Below you will find a hypothetical
starting lineup, along with the ballots by position with my completely
superfluous comments.
McGee lf
Herr 2b
Murphy cf
Clark 1b
Parker rf
Carter c
Nettles 3b
Smith ss
Gooden p
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p Gooden NY 5
p Andujar StL 4 2/3
p Hawkins SD 2 2/3
p Hershiser LA 2
p Valenzuela LA 2
p Hoyt SD 1
p Reardon Mtl 1
p Knepper Hou 1
p Dravecky SD 1
p McDowell NY 2/3
Three votes were cast for each, as all-star rules require that no
pitcher toss more than three innings (barring extra innings). Gooden
barely eked out Andujar for starting honors, and that along with
Hawkins winning the third spot shows that net fans, like the general
public, evaluates pitchers on the basis of won-loss records. Thus,
Gooden is about even with Andujar in the voters' eyes, even though
Gooden yields almost one run less per game (ERA of 1.75 vs. Andujar's
2.50). This is also why Hawkins (nice record, unremarkable ERA) beat
out Hershiser (unremarkable record, nice ERA). All those listed,
though, seem reasonable to me, with the possible exceptions of
Dravecky (not enough innings pitched) and McDowell (good, but no
all-star).
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c Carter NY 4
c Pena Pit 3
Obviously a two horse race from the start, this ended much more
closely then I expected. I don't believe Pena's defense, at most
marginally better than Carter's, makes up for what Carter has thus
far done with the bat. Good thing I didn't disqualify myself from
voting. Looks like Pena has enough support to expect to be inserted
in the seventh inning.
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1b Clark StL 4
1b Garvey SD 2
1b Rose Cin 1
Wise choice. Clark is just having a devastating year. Garvey, too,
is having a good enough year that I don't (for once) begrudge him his
votes. And Rose...well, Pete, you've made me look damn foolish. The
numbers clearly show your talents were in steep decline from 1981
through the first half of 1984, yet you've reblossomed. One can only
suspect that you were holding out on the Phillies and Expos. But
Pete, shouldn't you be batting yourself second in the Reds' lineup
instead of third? You've started getting back on base again, Pete,
but you haven't yet found your lost power.
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2b Herr StL 7
A unanimous choice that shows the difference between the net fan and
the general fan. The net fan asks, "what have you done LATELY?", and
that, of course, is proper when we get to the all-star game.
Otherwise, you wind up with Rod Carew starting instead of Eddie
Murray, but that's the AL's problem, isn't it?
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3b Nettles SD 4
3b Cey Chi 2
3b Wallach Mtl 1
By far the toughest choice (no third baseman in the NL is really
having an all-star year), I'm surprised that there was as much of a
consensus as there was. I half expected there to be seven votes for
seven different guys...hey, it did seem like I got about three of the
ballots from the San Diego area...
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ss Smith StL 4
ss Templeton SD 2
ss Brooks Mtl 1
Templeton?!? I take my pat on the net's back for neglecting past
glories back. Templeton is only average as a fielder, and despite past
(as in half a decade ago) accomplishments, he is no better than
average among shortstops in offensive production. Now Ozzie is the
choice defensively, and he is also more productive (check out his OBA
and his SB %) than Templeton; if he is superior in both ways to
Templeton, why vote for Templeton? At least my choice of Brooks made
sense in that Brooks does exceed Smith in SOME facet of the game.
It's probably just those wild and crazy San Diegans screwing up the
ballots, again...
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of Murphy Atl 7
of McGee StL 3
of Parker Cin 3
of Guerrero LA 2
of Gwynn SD 2
of Raines Mtl 1
of Cruz Hou 1
of Coleman StL 1
of Dawson Mtl 1
First, a confession: about two days after I posted the request for
ballots, I changed my own vote for Raines to Guerrero; he had gone
from being "hot" to having a great half-season. Murphy was a
unanimous choice, probably because he did his stuff early, so everyone
was well aware of it. Looks like we'll stick Guerrero and Gwynn in
for McGee and Parker sometime around the seventh. We can't go wrong;
the NL has a surfeit of outfielders having good years. The vote for
Dawson, however, I find puzzling -- with so much to choose from, it
doesn't seem as though Dawson's year is worth special recognition thus
far.
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David Rubin
{allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!david