The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a nice little story about how Pat isn’t the shoo-in for the All-Star game you might expect. This despite the fact that he “entered last night ranked first among National League outfielders in home runs (20), on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.998), and slugging percentage (.584) and second in on-base percentage (.414).” Insane numbers! The real meat of the article comes when they interview Pat himself. Asked about the possibility of playing in the All-Star game, he said “I… would… thrill… a lot…”. Yes, Pat would totally thrill his peers, but it is clear when you read between the lines what he is really saying. An All Star appearance is not the recognition he wants. He wants that MVP trophy! If you are concerned about not making the All Star game hurting his MVP chances, I’d like to point out that two of the last four MVPs also flew under the common fans radar and didn’t get the votes needed*.

* Jimmy Rollins in 2007 and Justin Morneau in 2006, look it up!