Crooked Voters! Bah!

I thought popularity contests ended in high school.

But they didn't. I've learned this as I've matured; that life is full of popularity contests and a great example of this is voting for any All-Star team. In particular, for Major League Baseball's All-Star teams.

Just because Japan's population is roughly 137 million (holy crap sprawl!), that doesn't give them the right to overload MLB.com with internet votes for Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka (even though I'm a Red Sox fan).
There have been two or three years when Ichiro deserved to be All-Star bound, and he was. But there have also been two years that his numbers weren't All-Star caliber, but he started because of the Japanese population's absurdly frequent voting online.

The Japanese aren't getting singled out. There are plenty of other players who are/were voted into All-Star games when they did not deserve to be. Manny Ramirez in 2007 is a great example. Pre-All-Star break, Manny was hitting under .300 with 11 dingers and 45 batted in. Not All-Star numbers by any means, but with his reputation, there he was, on the team for his 11th go-around.

Pudge Rodriguez is the classic example. At the break last season, the Indians' Victor Martinez had more hits, home runs and runs batted in than Pudge (not to mention he smoked the Tiger in batting average too), but the well-known, perennial All-Star catcher got the knod and Martinez was on the All-Star bench.

It should have been the other way around, but the "fans" that vote for All-Star teams are just that: Fans. And fans of their own teams first.

I'm a Red Sox fan through and through, but Manny wasn't on my ballot in 2007, and for good reason. There were other, more deserving candidates who would cherish the opportunity 1,000 times more than Manny. And I love Manny as a player, but to be frank, it doesn't seem like he cares much about the "All-Star festivities" when that time of year comes around.

Yawkey League All-Star voting might not be on as grand a scale as MLB's, but it would be an honor to see some of the guys I have mentioned the past few weeks get some consideration at their respective positions.

One week's worth of stats shouldn't make an All-Star, but neither should a name.



Hitter and Pitcher of the Week for the week of 6/09 - 6/15

This is a big deal for us, here at Yawkey League News and Action. By us, I mean me, and by big deal, i mean that this week marks the first week there will be co-players of the week in a category. And the two players could not be more different, in terms of league longevity, overall speed and savvy.

Al Becker of the East Boston Blue Fish and Drew Tambling of the McKay Club Beacons have each won half of a Yawkey League News and Action trophy made out of fusilli pasta and pine tar.

Congratulations to both of you.

Both Becker and Tambling had monster weeks for their respective clubs, as each hit .500 or better in their three games. Becker, an elder statesman of the YBL had himself a week for the books.

In three games (all wins, including one over The Somerville Juggernaut) last week, Becker was 6-for-11 (.545 ba) with a double, a triple, a grand slam, five driven in and four scored. He neither struck out nor walked during that span.

Becker, in his last three full seasons with the Bluefish, hit .328 combined; but this season he's at .436 through 11 games and on pace to garner a (wink, wink) spot on the Yawkey League All-Star team.

Tambling, a young first-year player in the Yawkey League got his first taste of success last week by batting .500 (4-for-8) over three games (all wins for the Beacons). Known for his speed and agility, and not home run power, young Andrew drove a ball into the right field lettuce at Brighton's Rogers Park for his first YBL long shot. His line for the week was two home runs (the other was inside-the-park), five RBIs, four runs scored, two steals and one walk.

Playing for UMass Boston this past season, Tambling hit over .300 and stole 10 bags for the Beacons. His background story is an interesting one, and his excursion to the Gay Pride Parade is even more interesting.

The first place Malden Bulldogs now have another accolade to add to their Wall of Fame: A Pitcher of the Week award!

Young Evan Tardungo dealt strikeout hands to the Brighton Black Sox all game last Wednesday, June 11 en route to a complete game four-hitter. The former UMass Boston and Fisher College pitcher allowed only four hits and four walks, while striking out 11 in his second win of the season.

Tardungo is a horse on the mound. In his last three years of collegiate level pitching, the righty has 13 complete games under his belt to go along with 14 wins.

In seven career Yawkey League games and 31 innings pitched, Tardungo has an itty bitty 0.54 ERA to go along with 46 fanned.

This just in: The Malden Bulldogs have a lights out pitching staff.