The campaign to get Triple-A superstar Lastings Milledge elected to the All-Star Game has hit a speed bump.
The thoroughly modern Milly broke his hand while trying to bunt in a game and is likely out six weeks.
Milledge hadn't been hitting much in Syracuse, batting just .253 and slugging a woeful .316. He hadn't hit a homer all season, and had a brutal 16/2 K/BB ratio, which indicates a needlessly aggressive style that wouldn't lead him back to Washington anyway.
The injury comes just as the "Vote Milledge!" campaign was starting to gain some traction.
L-Millz, thanks to MLB's stupid ballot-printing procedures, is on the All-Star ballot as one of the Nats' outfield options. With as lousy as the team's been playing (and since voting Danny Cabrera isn't an option), what could be a better message to the team's leadership than having a Triple-A player show up high in the count?
Milly's campaign had all the momentum of a runaway freight train.
The "Vote Milledge" facebook group has 248 members. Yahoo's Big League Stew endorses it. Mister Irrelevant comes out in favor, even shopping the official campaign photo. Amazin Avenue gives it the thumbs up. The Colbert Nation message board responds with a hearty "GTFO," which probably stands for "Great thinking, fan! Original!" And the greatest sportswriter in the land, Joe Posnanski says that he "heartily supports the effort."
The injury slows the momentum down a bit, but on it chugs.
Fans can still vote 25 times, and it's simple to do. MLB "saves" your ballot each time, so you don't have to click on each player. Just a few clicks reconfirms your prior selection. So go make a difference. Vote today!
Chris Needham used to write Capitol Punishment. Both he and his cat have voted 25 times.
