David Wright has gained some ground on Pablo Sandoval according to the latest All Star voting update released by Major League Baseball this evening.

Last week, Sandoval had more than a 200,000 vote lead, but now Wright has narrowed that gap to just 126,403 votes.

The Mets have made an aggressive push to get the vote out, as has MMO and we are starting to make a big impact. There’s no question that Wright is the most deserving third baseman in the National League, and we should do everything we can to close the gap and get this done for one of our own!

Modest and humble as always, the Mets captain spoke out about the organization’s ambitious get-out-the-vote campaign and asked them to tone it down, saying:

“You appreciate what they’re trying to do, and they’re very good at it. But, at the same time, this is a team game. As much as I’d like to be here to represent this team in the All-Star Game, we can’t let this become an in-between inning, one-player production. Especially with the way that we’re playing as a team, I feel very uncomfortable being singled out for All-Star Game-type stuff.”

Wright’s a class act and it’s up to us to make sure he’s at third base when that first pitch is thrown during the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field on Tuesday, July 16.

Met fans can support Wright and the rest of the team by using this Official Online All Star Ballot until Thursday, July 4, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

*** Remember that you can vote up to 25 times, and you can cast 10 more votes just by registering with MLB.com.

The 2013 AL and NL All-Star teams will be unveiled on Sunday, July 7, on the 2013 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show, televised nationally on TBS.

#VOTEMETS

“It’s nice when the organization is trying so hard to do something for one of their players and I can’t thank them enough for that,” Wright said.

“But at the same time, I’ve asked them to kind of back it down a little bit, especially with the stuff between innings. You appreciate what they’re trying to do, and they’re very good-hearted, but at the same time, this is a team game.”

Interestingly enough, Wright told reporters that it wasn’t the Mets reaching out to Cougar Life that bothered him the most, although I’m sure it had to play some part.

Yesterday, Deadspin leaked a series of email exchanges between the Mets and Cougar Life who was asking them to get their clientele, comprised of older women, to vote for David Wright after they named him “The Hottest Cub.”

I’m glad Wright spoke up. I think it’s better when fan sites like this one and others do what they can to drum up voting and I thought the Cougar Life thing was way off putting for my tastes.

Am I surprised that Wright reached out to someone in the Mets’ marketing department and asked them to turn down the volume? Not at all… This speaks to the type of person Wright is; one who takes integrity and honor very seriously.

Honestly, Wright deserves to be starting over Pablo Sandoval. He blows him and most third baseman in the league out of the water across many statistical categories.

The lack of voting support is not a reflection of the Mets fan base which is three times larger than the San Francisco Giants fan base.

I blame the fact that Wright is not leading in the vote to the product on the field and five straight losing seasons which has seen many Met fans tuning out.

The fan base has become disconnected, divided, frustrated and unwilling to pay good money to watch the team. You have some that are more patient who grin and bare it, while others are just so sick of the losing and are unwilling to tolerate it anymore.

My advice to the Mets is to fix the team and I will assure you that the All Star voting will fix itself…

There will be no more need for gimmicks and stunts like Cougar Life.

The problems isn’t the fan base, it’s you.

Don’t blame us… Blame yourselves…

Now go and cast 35 votes for David Wright if you haven’t already by voting here…

Original Post 6/13

Deadspin writes:

When the first vote totals for the MLB All-Star Game were released last week, David Wright was in second. A desperate Mets marketing department didn’t want Wright to lose to Pablo Sandoval for the second year in a row, especially not with the game being held at Citi Field. So one employee decided to turn to an untapped voting base, one that would support Wright in droves: tens of thousands of older women who want to **** him.

You have to read the entire email interaction here….

Last month, Cougar Life—”the cougar dating site for younger hot men to meet sexy older professional women”—surveyed its female members. David Wright beat out Cole Hamels and Matt Kemp to take the title of “hottest cub.”

Ummm… I like my way better… Just #VoteWright… Go here…

A New York player will captain both Home Run Derby teams during this year’s All-Star week. David Wright will captain the National League while Robinson Cano will look to lead the American League to it’s fourth-straight title.

Wright, who hasn’t participated in the Derby since 2006, will select three additional players from the National League to complete his squad. Wright currently sits tied for 27th in the National League in home runs with eight. He’s tied for third on the Mets with Marlon Byrd behind Lucas Duda (10) and John Buck (11).

This marks the first official hometown representative for the Mets for the All-Star activities at Citi Field.

A Mets Player has not won the Home Run Derby since Daryl Strawberry shared the award with Angles first baseman Wally Joyner in 1986 in The Astrodome.

Thoughts from Joe D.

Wright currently ranks second in All-Star voting at third base, behind San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval, and needs your votes start the All-Star Game at Citi Field.

Lets do what we can to see Wright overtake Sandoval so that he can rightfully be the starting third baseman for the NL. He is ahead of Sandoval is just about ever offensive category and as a defender he blows the chubby hobbit away.

Vote for David Wright now at cast your 35 votes at Mets.com. We have until Thursday, July 4, at 11:59 p.m. ET to get this done. Come on Met fans… Lets Do This!

PLEASE DON’T LET THIS GUY BEAT DAVID WRIGHT…

The second National League All-Star update has been released and six-time All-Star David Wright is losing even more ground to Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants for starting third baseman.

With 1,473,381 votes, Wright now trails Sandoval by over 200,000 votes almost doubling the gap from the first ASG voting release a week ago.

Of course with attendance and interest waning at Citi Field, and the San Francisco Giants continuing to sellout almost every home game, the only shot Wright has at being selected as a starter would be through an aggressive online get out the vote campaign. But so far that doesn’t seem to be working.

Daniel Murphy has picked up some slack and moved up to the 5th spot among NL second basemen, but it’s unlikely he’ll even get close to the runaway leader Brando Phillips of the Reds.

John Buck remains third among catchers and has no chance to catch Buster Posey who is the leading the National League with 1,961,861 votes.

Former Met Carlos Beltran has made his way into the top three in the outfield and trails only Justin Upton and Bryce Harper.

You can vote for Wright, Murphy and the rest of your favorite Mets by clicking on the following banner…

New York Mets vs Washington Nationals

7:05 PM at National Park

RHP Dillon Gee vs RHP Dan Haren

Starting Lineup

1. Omar Quintanilla SS
2. Daniel Murphy 2B
3. David Wright 3B
4. Lucas Duda LF
5. Marlon Byrd RF
6. Ike Davis 1B
7. Anthony Recker C
8. Juan Lagares CF
9. Dillon Gee RHP

Game Notes

The Mets have dropped four straight following their five-game winning streak. New York is 5-5 in its last 10 games. The Mets fell to 8-9 in one-run decisions with last night’s 3-2 loss, including 3-4 on the road. The Mets are 8-16 vs. the NL East this season.

The Mets had a weak showing in the first balloting released for the July 16 All-Star Game at Citi Field. David Wright trails San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval by 127,176 votes at third base. John Buck ranks a distant third at catcher, trailing overall NL vote leader Buster Posey as well as Yadier Molina.

Jonathon Niese will test his shoulder today by throwing a bullpen session at Nationals Park. Niese, who missed his last start with tendinitis, is aiming to re-enter the rotation Saturday against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field.

Manager Terry Collins, Mets’ coaching staff and team members, front office officials and Mr. Met visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center earlier today. The Mets visited with the veterans, their families and the staff at Walter Reed and enjoyed a BBQ lunch together.

Omar Quintanilla is hitting .600 (9-15) with one double, one triple, one home run and three RBI over his last four games. Quintanilla has four straight multiple hit games the longest such streak of his career. Since 2012, the only other Met with four straight multi-hit games is David Wright, who accomplished the feat May 8-12, 2012.

Game Preview

The Mets continue their series with the Nationals tonight as they try to look past the last four games. Once again, the Mets offense struggled in a game that was win-able last night. Today, Dillon Gee looks to build off of his last start as he takes on Dan Haren.

Dillon Gee is 3-6 over 11 starts this year with a 5.68 ERA. His last start was by far the best of the season as he allowed only one earned run over 7.1 innings and struck out 12 batters. Terry made a controversial move at the time taking him out in the 8th with a low pitch count (after an impressive streak of K’s) but the move ended up working. In his one start against Washington this year he shutout the Nationals over 5.2 innings of work allowing 3 hits. The Nationals have the following numbers against him:

Desmond 4-17, 2 HR
Espinosa 1-13
Zimmerman 3-15, 2B
Bernadina 2-11, HR
LaRoche 1-8

Dan Haren is 4-6 over 11 starts this year with a 5.09 ERA while pitching 63.2 innings. Things are starting to come together for Haren recently as in his last two starts he has allowed 5 ER over 13.1 innings of work (before that 7 ER over 5 IP). The last time he faced the Mets was back in 2011 where he allowed 6 ER over 4.0 innings and 7 hits. The Mets have the following numbers against Haren:

Byrd 8-16, 2 2B, 3B
Wright 4-16, 2 2B, HR
Buck 2-13
Murphy 2-5, 2B, HR
Davis 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

Now that the All Star game will be held at Citi Field this season, the hope is that more Mets players will be represented at the home field, but with the state the Mets are in at this point, there is no guarantee that that will happen. There is a chance that the fans will vote in David Wright as the starting third basemen and he only trails Pablo Sandoval by 127,176 votes.. With a little more than a month away from the game, Wright still may be able to land on the team as a reserve, but starting would be his preference especially with the game being at Citi Field.

John Buck can possibly join David Wright on the All Star team because he leads all NL catchers with 11 HR and 35 RBIs, but if you are looking at his other stats, his batting average is not typically considered all star material especially at .219. Buck has received 523,843 and his currently third in the voting, but highly unlikely that he will gain enough votes to surpass Buster Posey who has 1,275,956.

With regards to the Pitchers, at 5-0 with a 2.17 ERA, and 89 K’s, Matt Harvey was looking as a great potential to start for the Mets but he has not won a start since May 17 and prior to that he last won on April 19th. It isn’t anything that he has done wrong; just the typical Mets lack of run support or timely hits. If Harvey had a better hitting squad, it’s safe to say he might be at least 10-0 by now. That may sound crazy, but if you look at his numbers, he hasn’t allowed more than 4 runs in a game so far this season. Harvey does have a great chance to be on the roster on July 16th, and it would be a nice feather in his cap if he started. But that decision will ultimately rest with Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

At this point in the season I do not see any other Mets players that warrant an All Star nod at Citi Field, and if I am wrong, that will mean that the team turned things around and are playing great baseball. That may be too much to wish for, but you never know. So we just wait and see and hope that with the Mid Season Classic in our stadium, that we will be able to root on more men in orange and blue then originally thought. I know I am dreaming, but I have still about a month and a half before I really need to wake up.

It’s a closer battle at third base, where Pablo Sandoval leads David Wright, 1,094,475 votes to 967,299. Sandoval toppled Wright last year as you may remember which prompted Mets general manager Sandy Alderson to go on Twitter to voice his displeasure with fans.

John Buck is the only other Met player who appears in the top five for voting at any position, ranking third behind Buster Posey and Yadier Molina. The Giants catcher is again pacing the All Star balloting, receiving over 1.2 million votes so far.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy will select the pitching as is customary, and there’s little doubt that Matt Harvey will be among his selections.

Considering the sparse attendance at Citi Field these days, the Mets’ best chance of getting Wright or any other Mets selected would be through voting online.

Do your part by clicking the banner and casting your 25 votes…

Amid a season that has been for the most part filled with disappointment and under-performance, a bright spot shines bright on this 22-32 New York Mets ballclub, and that beacon of light is named Daniel Murphy.

Murphy has emerged alongside David Wright as a primary source of offensive production on the year. Batting a cool .291/.323/.441 clip, his first two months of the season have put him on a pace for a total of 186 hits, 12 homers, 76 RBIs, 102 runs and 54 doubles.

The 28-year old has bounced all over the diamond with the Mets, and as we discussed in my interview with Murphy last month, he has found himself at home at second base. After a transition period that has taken now several seasons, Murphy has finally taken hold of his new position.

His emergence could not have come at a better time, as offensive production out of second in the National League has been hard to come by in 2013. Murphy is in the top three of nearly every offensive category for NL second baseman and is tied with Jay Bruce for the league-lead in doubles with 18.

His success has not only been limited to his turns at-bat as he also has helped to turn a league leading 40 double plays for second baseman.

Presuming Brandon Phillips gets an all-star nod, Daniel Murphy should without a doubt be on the roster at least as a reserve. His primary competition will be Marco Scutaro, who leads NL second baseman with a .329 batting average and is second only to Phillips in OPS with .808. With Giant’s skipper Bruce Bochy making the reserves selections, odds are he could go with his guy in Scutaro over Murphy, putting Murph in a situation where he may have to win the starting nod outright in the fan voting.

Wright will likely have his annual battle with Pablo Sandoval again, while Murphy could be in a three-way dog fight with Phillips and Scutaro for the job.

With the All-Star Game in Flushing for the first time in nearly 50 years, one can assume both Wright as well as Matt Harvey will be selected, however given the year Murphy has had, he deserves to be included as one the Mets to represent the host team on July 16th.