As of last night, Miguel Cabrera was within fewer than 300,000 votes of Minnesota's Justin Morneau and first place in the voting to be the starting first basemen at the All-Star Game on July 13. Unfortunately, there are only four days left to vote.
↵If Cabrera is out-voted, it's likely that he will still get asked to be on the roster as a reserve. Cabrera, who has not been an All-Star since joining the Tigers in 2008, doesn't simply want a fifth career All-Star Game appearance, though. He wants his first career All-Star Game start:
↵↵↵"If I go to the All-Star Game, I want to be in the starting lineup," said Cabrera, who bashed two doubles and knocked in a pair of runs Monday. "If I am a reserve, that's not going to mean anything to me. If I start, it's a special thing. I've been to four All-Star Games and I've never even started."
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Cabrera has gained 110,000 votes over the past week, but that won't be enough in the final days to edge out Morneau, who, unlike Teixeira, is a worthy adversary for the starting position. Cabrera is tied for the AL lead in HR (20) and leads the league in RBI (66) and slugging percentage (.629), but Morneau leads the AL in on-base percentage (.445) and has a better batting average than Cabrera (.346). If you're a Tigers fan, I think we all know how this should play out -- get your maximum votes in for Cabrera now.