The votes are in -- million and millions of votes, submitted by thousands and thousands by fans who should have been working or planting gardens or something -- and this year's you-selected, last-minute All Stars are Texas Rangers rookie right-hander Yu Darvish and St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese.
With sentimental favorite Chipper Jones removed from this ballot when named as an injury replacement for Matt Kemp, the early favorite in the National League was 19-year-old outfielder Bryce Harper, off to a fine start in his first major-league season. But instead the spot went to Freese, who starred for the Cardinals last October. In addition to Harper, Freese also had to beat out Diamondbacks second baseman Aaron Hill and Braves center fielder Michael Bourn.
Darvish topped White Sox right-hander Jake Peavy, Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel, Angels closer Ernesto Frieri, and Royals closer Jonathan Broxton. Frieri's been great, but has pitched only 24⅓ innings. Hammel and Peavy have both pitched better than Darvish this season. But Darvish, the Japanese star pitching as a rookie with the Rangers this season, has more name recognition than all the other candidates put together.
Not that Darvish has pitched poorly. With 117 strikeouts, he's third in the league behind superstars Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez. And he does have 10 wins, tied for third in the league with fellow All-Star Chris Sale. But while Darvish has pitched well, his 2.2 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks just 30th in the league and suggests he still hasn't completed the adjustment from Japan to Texas.