Mentioning Luis Castillo and the All-Star Game in the same sentence sounds like another Bud Selig marketing ploy gone wrong:
This year, the league that loses the All-Star Game must have Luis Castillo on their All-Star team the following year!
But Mets.com, seizing on one of the Mets’ few bright spots a little too eagerly, has decided that it is time to ramp up the All-Star vote for the Mets’ number 8 hitter:
And now fans have a new opportunity to show their own support, by voting Castillo for the National League All-Star team at the 2009 Midsummer Classic on July 14 at Busch Stadium.
Sure, Castillo was hitting .400 going into tonight’s game, but the season is only two weeks old! What if Daniel Murphy goes two weeks without an error – should we start touting him for a Gold Glove? Is it also time to start talking about Omar Minaya as Executive of the Year for his foresight in signing Castillo to a four-year deal?
Castillo’s off to a nice start, especially compared to what was expected of him, but so far, all he has done is secure his place in the starting lineup with the possibility of moving up from the eighth spot to the two hole, at least when Murphy is on the bench.
And it’s not as if Castillo is clearly having the best season so far by an NL second baseman. Going into tonight’s game, here are Castillo’s stats compared to perennial All-Star Chase Utley.
Castillo: BA .400, R 4, HR 0, RBI 6, SB 0
Utley: BA .372, R 12, HR 4, RBI 12, SB 2
Even with his fast start, Castillo doesn’t come close to Utley. Castillo also lags well behind this NL second baseman:
BA .393, R 14, HR 2, RBI 8, SB 4
But mets.com wouldn’t expect to you vote for that second baseman, since the Mets already voted against him in the offseason, when they had the chance to sign Orlando Hudson.
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After tonight’s dreary game, Jerry Manuel did admit that it was not too soon for a big lineup change and that he plans to flip Carlos Beltran and David Wright in Thursday’s game. Glad to see Jerry making a move to try to shake things up. So far, even Mets.com has not been touting him as Manager of the Year.
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