Half Notes

The fans have generally represented themselves well in All-Star voting. This was a bit of an off-year. 

Late Internet flurries have tended to push the best candidates to the fore, but this year online traffic fueled by team marketing efforts steered the ballot in the other direction. For example, the Giants raffled tickets to anyone who voted 20 times, criminally pushing Pablo Sandoval (.833 OPS) over David Wright (1.007 OPS) at the NL hot corner.

Many of the choices, though not mine, are defensible. I picked the Phillies' Carlos Ruiz at NL backstop, but Buster Posey's .850 OPS sits on a foundation of stardom, while Ruiz's .999 OPS is by far the zenith of his career. Asdrubal Cabrera (.862 OPS) has been the AL's best shortstop for two years and got my nod, but the fans want to see first ballot Hall of Famer Derek Jeter (.752 OPS) and his .300 batting average at age 38.

On the other hand, Mike Napoli's Texas-infused surge at AL catcher, where he's played just two-thirds of the time, might owe something to his magnificent 2011 (1.045 OPS), as opposed to his scuffling this year (.773 OPS). Joe Mauer (.863 as a full-time catcher) clearly deserved it more.

The fans really face-planted at NL shortstop. Casting their lot with Rafael Furcal (.713), they picked a player with barely average hitting and fielding this year, following a season of barely average hitting and fielding. Arizona's Jed Lowrie (.809) and Astro phenom Jose Altuve (.791) would both have been far superior choices.

This is an observation, not a complaint. On the whole, the fans do their homework and leave little more than quibbles. Players, managers, sportswriters, gypsy women with tarot cards -- none of them have  better track records.

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Sliding Billy Hamilton swiped 914 bases in his Hall of Fame career, leading the league in on base percentage five times over 14 years.

Well, he's at it again. Billy has already appropriated 100 bases at high-A Bakersfield after 103 thefts in the Midwest League last season.

Okay, it's a different Billy Hamilton, this one a 21-year-old Reds farmhand and the former a 19th-century Phillie and Beaneater. Elder Billy stole 100 bases one season; young Billy has 64 games left to top that mark.

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Tom Wilhelmsen has pitched 45 innings for the Seattle Mariners this season and surrendered 12 runs on 35 hits, 13 walks and 55 strikeouts. Not one of those runs scored in the month of June.

His bullpen mate, Charlie Furbush, has been touched for just seven runs on 16 hits, eight walks and 45 strikeouts in 34 innings. Not one of those runs scored during the month of June.

The two behemoths (6'6" and 6'5" respectively) threw 33 scoreless frames over the 30-day period. The M's went 11-16 for the month. 

That might have something to do with a starting lineup paced by Ichiro's .268 batting average. (His OBP is .296). Or Justin Smoak's 11 home runs. (He's hitting .204). There are more hits in one Seahawks practice than on this whole sorry squad.

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Baseball Prospectus says the Washington Nationals started the season with a 17% chance of making the playoffs. That now stands at 72%. The same projection put the Phils' odds (after losing Howard and Utley) at about even to start the season. They are now negligible.

This tells us one of two things:

1. There's a reason they play the games.

2. Baseball Prospectus's projection system isn't worth the electrons it's printed on.

Or perhaps, both.

b