Friday, May 18, 2012

Send A.J. to KC!

...to play in the All-Star Game, that is, not in a trade.

A.J. Ellis is fast becoming the latest Dodger folk hero. Now, the movement to make him a National League All-Star is gaining steam (much to SoSG reader sanfrandodgerfan's chagrin).

Jon Weisman:
Additionally, despite managing only six home runs in more than 800 Pacific Coast League at-bats, Ellis has added enough pop to his game (five doubles, a triple and three home runs this season) that he is slugging .512 and has an OPS of .974, the latter figure tops among all major league catchers. This despite playing two-thirds of his games this year in the relatively stifling hitting environments of Dodger Stadium and San Diego’s Petco Park.

Ken Gurnick:
"To be honest, I didn't think A.J. would be lighting it up offensively," manager Don Mattingly said. "He's really swinging the bat well. We expected the defense, the way he's handled the staff, all the preparation. What we're getting offensively, honestly, is more than I thought."

Jonah Keri of Grantland talked to the man himself:
What about hitting fifth instead of eighth with Kemp out of the lineup? Do you have to change your approach now?

Donnie [Mattingly] talked to me when he made the switch, and he specifically said, "Don't change your approach. Be you, be who you are." I think that's all part of the adjustment to becoming a full-time major leaguer. Just becoming secure in my identity, in who I am as a player. In the past I tried to impress people by doing more things than I was capable of. I'm 31 years old, my growing years are behind me. Now it's about molding, honing my craft, being who I am.

And, as we did once upon a time for a certain surly French-Canadian, Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness has gotten the ball rolling on a full-blown campaign:

If Ellis is going to make it, he’s going to need votes. Today, you can help. Through June 28, you can head on over to the MLB All-Star balloting page and vote for Ellis (and any other Dodger you like) up to 25 times per email address… and who among us has just one email address? Besides, as I’ve been reminded by the wonderful commenters of this site, there’s ways around that; reportedly, you can use the same email address many times from different devices, and if you have a gmail account, well, it’s a fun fact that gmail completely ignores periods even if other sites don’t. That is, the voting process will read ladodgers@gmail.com differently from la.dodgers@gmail.com and lado.dgers@gmail.com… even if it’s all the same account.

Vote early, vote often, as they say. And don’t stop there. Spread the word as much as you can, to friends, family, whomever. Use the Twitter hashtag #AJ2KC as often as you can (hat tip to Sons of Steve Garvey for that one).

Download the campaign button you see above in this post and always on the right sidebar – helpfully provided by the wonderful Stephen Caver, who designed this site – and put it on your blog, on Facebook, make it your Twitter icon, put it anywhere you can. If you’re a blogger, feel free to steal it and use it on your own site. Just make sure to link it back either to this post or to the MLB.com voting page directly.

I am a blogger, and I am stealing it! (Also, as I mentioned once on Twitter, if A.J. Pierzynski fans want to piggyback on that hashtag, feel free. He's in the AL, anyway.)

Come on, people! Only YOU can help A.J. realize his dream of being the starting catcher in the All-Star Game! (Well, it may not be his dream, but if it isn't, it's certainly ours.) If you don't want to do it for A.J., do it to screw with the national sports media!

VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN!

Top image: A.J. Ellis Facts

14 comments:

Franklin Stubbs said...

My daily ballot stuffing quota is in!

Dusty Baker said...

This post is eerily prescient to the coda on my GT post for tonight. In a good way.

Dusty Baker said...

Thanks for getting this shit started right, MSTI!

Hideo Nomo said...

This thing's been in draft form for like two weeks. Then, BAM(sucka), everyone and their mother wrote an A.J. piece. I had to keep rewriting it.

Hideo Nomo said...

Fore the record, my All-Star ballot is:

Votto
Mellis
Furcal
Wright
Ajellis
Kemp
Ethier
Bryce Harper (Write-in, 'cuz why the hell not?)

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I'm giving my votes to the unsung heroes of the NL.

Freddie Freeman
Daniel Murphy
Clint Barmes
Pedro Alvarez
Brian Bugosevic
Lucas Duda

And of course Kemp and Ajellis.

BJ Killeen said...

I already voted for all Dodgers, except Jamey Carroll..no matter what team he's on, even the basement dweller Twins, he deserves to go.

Dusty Baker said...

Hell yeah, we love our Jamey "Wide Eyes" Carroll!

Dusty Baker said...

My NL ballot:

LaRoche
MEllis
Furcal
Wright
AJEllis
Ethier
Kemp
McCutchen

spank said...

My All Star ballot:

Dusty Baker said...

What, you didn't vote, Spank? That's the kind of voter apathy that your generation embodies. You need to take advantage of your right to vote, and vote often!

Dusty Baker's Toothpick said...

Submitted my 50 votes today using two emails. Did y'all know you could vote using the AtBat app. They make it real easy.

Freeman
Uggla
Furcal
Wright
AJ2KC
Kemp
Either
Bruce

Hideo Nomo said...

Fun tip: If you hit "Change your selections" after you hit the 25 vote limit, it lets you start all over again. No idea if they end up tossing out those votes.

Voted 225 times today.

Fred's Brim said...

Go (to KC) AJ!

I will say thought, I don't like that Vote AJ Ellis button. It makes him look too much like Matt Williams