The results of the 32nd Man ballots for the All-Star Game are in, and it's Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu.
It's great that Abreu, a great player who's never before made the All-Star team, was selected, but the choice of Matsui was a bit... well, it was predictable, but not really the best choice. While Matsui's certainly better than he was last year, he's still unexceptional for a left fielder.
Rob Dibble's comments on ESPN as the results came in were priceless:
"Hideki Matsui was not even the best guy on his own ballclub, I thought it should have been Frank Thomas or Paul Konerko, who've really helped the Chicago White Sox, so, you know, Hideki Matsui, I think, basically got picked 'cause his manager is the All-Star Manager."
They pay this guy a lot of money to make commentary like that, folks.
Larry Mahnken is a staff writer for The Hardball Times, and co-editor of the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog. You can contact him with your comments, questions, romantic propositions and incoherent rantings at DLMahnken@hardballtimes.com.
