Dodgers’ Rafael Furcal suffers from playing behind the West Coast curtain

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

When is an All-Star not an All-Star?

When he plays on the West Coast.

If you’re close to a borderline All-Star pick and call San Diego or San Francisco or even Los Angeles home, your chances of being selected just shrunk by a good 25%.

As always, when All-Star selections are announced, there are legitimate complaints for those bypassed.

For some, like Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto, it’s simply a matter of playing a jammed position (Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzales, Ryan Howard).

For others, though, it’s the stuff of mystery. Unless you play west of the Mississippi.

Rafael Furcal has put up numbers at least as good, if not clearly better, than any National League shortstop.

Yet he will stay home, while Jose Reyes (player vote) and Omar Infante (manager pick) were added to the team with starter Hanley Ramirez (fan vote).

Furcal is batting .336 with five home runs, 30 RBI, 44 runs and 12 stolen bases. Compare to:

Reyes (.277-6-32-51-32).
Infante (.309, 1, 22, 23, 3).
Ramirez (.298, 13, 53, 48, 15).

The fans picked the right starter, but after that the case for his backup could/should, easily be Furcal.

As commentator OldBrooklynFan noted, if Hong-Chih Kuo and Matt Kemp played for the Yankees, or Red Sox, they’d likely be All-Stars. And certainly, Furcal would be.

‘He’s an All-Star,’’ said Dodgers manager Joe Torre. ‘I grant you, recognition-wise I think we get lost a little bit here on the West Coast.

‘He hasn’t had a lot of at-bats, but he certainly has been a regular player over the years, and what he’s done this year, for who you have out there at shortstop for either league, he matches up.’’

Infante isn’t even a regular starter. And Furcal’s put up his numbers despite a stint on the disabled list.

Of course, they probably didn’t know that back East.

-- Steve Dilbeck