MLB All-Star voting

Every year something fairly controversial happens regarding the MLB All-Star voting, which is done by the fans. Their is a long history of ballot boxes being stuffed and undeserving players making the team because of the markets they play in. I'm a Yankees fan myself, and I personally did not vote for Derek Jeter, but if he is the starter, no big deal. I mean, has anyone A.L. shortstop been that much better? He is Derek Jeter after all. I also DID vote for Jason Giambi with at least half of my allotted votes. Maybe Justin Morneau deserves it more, but I don't think so. I won't argue too much if Kevin Youkilis ends up with the honor, either.

I'm not going to use this as sounding board for whether or not fans should be allowed to vote for the All-Star game. That's another topic for another day. There is, however, a grave injustice going on in American League voting now, and it's atrocious. I cannot sit quietly by while "Red Sox Nation" votes Dustin Pedroia onto the All-Star team as a starter. It's disgusting. Yes, he plays solid defense and he's a scrappy little player. Super. Great for the home team, but come on, look at Ian Kinsler's numbers as of this moment in comparison:

Kinsler: .305 12 HR 47 RBI 64 runs 19 SB .362 OBP .502 SLG
Pedroia: .282 6 HR 32 RBI 46 runs 8 SB .329 OBP .410 SLG

In case you're wondering how they're playing leading up to the All-Star game, Dustin Pedroia hit .260 in May and is sitting at .246 in June. In fact, his .282 batting average is still being held up by an 8 game stretch in April in which he went 16-32. Take that out, and he's a .257 hitter for the year. Kinsler, on the other hand, hit .305 in April, .300 in May, and is currently at .325 in June.

Only 3 guys in MLB have more hits than Kinsler does right now. Kinsler and Pedroia aren't even playing the same game. Ian Kinsler has consistently been a superior player to Dustin Pedroia all season long. Everyone please go to MLB.com and use your maximum 25 votes to vote for Ian Kinsler.