Let’s Send Dom Brown to New York…For the All-Star Game
By Akiem Bailum
Twitter: @Li495Akiem
May 20, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Domonic Brown (9) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the second inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The 2013 Phillies season has not exactly been one to remember with over a third of the campaign in the books. Roy Halladay has struggled and many fans throughout the Delaware Valley want to use him as trade bait circa July 31st. Cole Hamels has struggled.
Cliff Lee has looked like a bright spot, but the Phils are currently two games under .500 and seven games out of the National League’s second Wild Card spot currently held by the Keystone State’s second team—the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Many predicted the Braves and Nationals as the teams to beat in the National League East and that we in Philly would already be looking forward to Eagles training camp by now.
Enter…Downtown Dom Brown.
Already, he’s earned NL Player of the Month after slugging out 11 homers for the month of May. Brown now has 16 homers on the season. His statistics up to date include an average of .291, 17 home runs and 42 RBIs. In his last 14 games alone, his batting average is over .420. Some are even comparing his swing, being a left-handed hitter, to pre-2000 Ken Griffey, Jr. when he seemed destined to break Hank Aaron’s home run record.
In Philly, Downtown has Dom-inated the local sports talk almost as much as he’s dom-inated the diamond. I’m surprised either 94 WIP, The Fanatic, or Comcast Sports Net hasn’t rebranded themselves into “The Dom Brown Channel: All Dom, All The Time”.
Despite his proficiency of hitting the baseball out of the yard (Citizens Bank Park being a bandbox or not), Brown has since said he wants no part of competing in the Home Run Derby.
“A lot of guys do it, and that swing gets big, man. I want to keep shortening my swing as much as I can. I don’t want to go in there. Even in BP, I don’t try to hit home runs. If I hit the ball out, I hit the ball out. But I just try to hit the ball up the middle and hit every pitch out to centerfield,” Brown said in an interview with the Delaware County Daily Times.
The Home Run Derby will take place on July 16th from CitiField in Queens, New York’s Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The All-Star Game will be the night after the Derby in the same stadium.
Dom Brown ought to be playing baseball in New York the night of Tuesday, June 17th.
His statistics speak for themselves and it should be statistics (as well as fan input) that determine whether one gets into baseball’s Midsummer Classic or not.
He’s got the sabermetrics part of the equation set up, but there are reportedly at least 15 other outfielders in the National League that are ahead of Brown. The Braves’ Justin Upton, the Brewers’ Ryan Braun, and the Nationals’ Bryce Harper are the top 3 outfielders in terms of voting.
While they are also worthy of All-Star recognition themselves, the Cardinals’ Matt Holliday and the Dodgers’ Matt Kemp are also ahead of Brown in the voting.
Huh? Come Again?
Matt Holliday:
.245 with 8 home runs and 30 RBIs
Matt Kemp:
.251 with TWO home runs and 17 RBIs.
The popularity contest that is All-Star voting has an underachieving Matt Kemp ahead of the guy that has become the story of baseball inside and outside of Philadelphia. I have no problem with the fact that All-Star voting is a popularity contest, because despite Bud Selig’s insistence that the game “counts”, it is still, at its core, an exhibition showcasing the game’s best players.
Also, most likely, one out of either Upton, Harper, and Braun will not man the large CitiField outfield come July 17th since reserves eventually always come into the picture in the days between the All-Star selection announcements and the game itself.
I even have a halfway decent creative idea for a Dom Brown All-Star Game campaign…StarDOM…get it?
Even if he stands a good chance of getting in as a reserve, there is no reason why he should be behind an underperforming Matt Kemp in the All-Star voting. Just the fact that this Kemp is on the ballot is enough of an embarrassment for Major League Baseball.
Which is why if I’m a Philadelphia Phillies fan, I’d let the ballot stuffing and online voting begin right now. The kid has earned it. After all, what else is there to be glad about in Philadelphia sports now?