Ryan Braun not focused on all-star balloting

If Ryan Braun was either surprised at how high he ranked in all-star balloting in the early going or disappointed that he wasn't higher, he didn't let on Tuesday.

In the initial results of fan balloting, Braun ranked third behind Los Angeles' Matt Kemp and St. Louis' Carlos Beltran. He was 800,000 or so votes behind Kemp but only 100,000 or so behind Beltran.

Braun was the leading vote-getter among all NL players last year and regularly has led the outfield voting in being selected four consecutive times. But, after a tumultuous winter in which his positive drug test and successful appeal of a 50-game suspension played out publicly, there was reason to wonder how the voting fans would respond.

Braun insisted it wasn't something on his mind.

“I’ve always been appreciative of people’s support. It’s always meant a lot to me,” Braun said. “It’s certainly not a priority. I’m trying to focus on getting healthy and helping our team get back to where we expect to be.”

'It's not something I've ever given a lot of thought to. I've always been appreciative of the support of the fans in all-star voting. Beyond that, it's not something I think about day to day, that's for sure. 

"It's always a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to represent the city of Milwaukee, the Brewers franchise. It's something I've always enjoyed, so definitely a good thing."

Braun said the support of Brewers fans means a lot to him, especially with the injury-riddled club off to a slow start.

"The people here have continued to support us in spite of the fact that we haven't gotten off to a good start," he said. "That always means a lot. Things aren't always going to go the way you want them to as a team but the fact they've continued to support us, continued to show up and help create a great atmosphere and environment helps us when we're scuffling."

Braun is back in the lineup after missing three of the last four games with an ailing Achilles tendon as well as a sore hip. Asked how he felt after the team's off day Monday, he didn't give a glowing report.

"Eh. I feel all right," he said with a smile."

Asked if it's something he'll have to deal with the rest of the season, Braun said, "I don't know. I hope not. You always hope it goes away but any injury you deal with during the season, it rarely goes away completely. You look around the league and you see a lot of guys, the same thing. Whenever you have something, it's really difficult for it to go away, especially when you play every day and you play hard. I can't control when I have to sprint for a ball or dive for a ball or slide into a base.

Braun aggravated the heel problem and also hurt his hip sliding into second base on a steal Friday with the Brewers trailing the Pirates, 6-2, in the sixth inning.  He and manager Ron Roenicke have talked about the wisdom of stealing if aggravating the injuries could occur but Braun didn't sound willing to just shut it down.

"At times, yeah (it makes sense not to run)," he said. "But when you're competing, adrenaline kind of takes over. If they're giving me a stolen base, I feel like it's stupid not to take it. They give us times on pitchers.

"I'll try to pick and choose my spots but I think it's an important part of my game and an important part of our game. There's even more emphasis on it when you lose a guy like Prince (Fielder) because we've got to find a way to manufacture runs. 

"The Achilles has been there for over a month. I've just been dealing with it. Everything is on my right leg. When you're trying to work through an injury, the rest of your body compensates. Because my Achilles was sore, it led to this hip thing. I went to slide the other night and tried to do something different to avoid hurting (the Achilles) again and this happened.

"Every year, I've dealt with something. For the most part I've been able to work through injuries in the past and I hope this is the same thing. I'm just focused on today and trying to get through today." 


(jsonline.com)