6-29-2010 @ 3:15 Andy Charles
As voting for the All-Star Game reaches the frenzy point, it appears that Dodgers manager Joe Torre is hoping that reliever Hong-Chih Kuo gets a call to play in the match, being played just down the road in Anaheim.
MLB Tips experts have the left-hander down as one of the stories of the 2010 season at Dodger Stadium, making his comeback from a fourth operation on his elbow and performing to an extremely high level.
Kuo and Jonathan Broxton have been formindable in late innings work so far this season, although the Dodgers closer did finally blow up on Sunday night when the Yankees made a huge comeback to claim an extra innings victory.
Broxton has every chance of being voted in, but Kuo’s impressive numbers might mean that boss Joe Torre has to plead for his inclusion by speaking to Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel, who will pick the final players on the National League roster for the game July 13.
As it stands only one Dodger bat will be voted on to the team, outfielder Andre Ethier who has slowed a little since coming back from injury, but remains in the top three in the outfielder voting behind Ryan Braun and the injured Jason Heyward.
But Kuo’s season has to be one of the most spectacular in recent Dodgers memory with no MLB Predictions backing him things to turn out as they have. It would be a travesty if he were to miss out on playing in Anaheim, even if Cincinnati's Arthur Rhodes might have something to say about being the premier lefty reliever in the National League.
He has given up just nine hits all season, for an opponents’ batting average of .114, and become one of Torre’s most trusted troops as the battle continues to get somewhere near the Padres at the top of the Western Division.
"If I'm asked - I can't say I've never done it if I've felt somebody should get some consideration - I may make a call on his behalf," Torre said after the defeat by the Yankees on Sunday.
"I'm not sure if it might be frowned on because there's very little that's left up to the manager any more I have to keep reminding myself we have to make sure we stay the course with him. I pitched him in two innings on Saturday but we have not repeated him. What he's gone through with the surgeries, he's certainly a great soldier."
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