All-Star: Ryan Braun's Final Pitch

Jul/01/08 05:27 PM Filed in: Ryan Braun
RyanBraun
It's a race between the Brewers and Cubs, but this one's not for the NL Central Division Title.

It's an election-style race for the title of All-Star starting outfielder.

Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun stands around 33,000 votes short of Chicago Cubs counterpart Kosuke Fukudome in fan balloting for the starting nod.

"For me it would be a tremendous honor," said Braun on Newsradio 620 WTMJ's Wisconsin's Morning News. "It would be great for the whole Brewers' organization and the city of Milwaukee.

"It would certainly be a lot of fun and I hope I get that opportunity."

For him to get it, some serious fan voting from Brewers' supporters could make the late difference before the online "polls" close during the late evening of July 2nd.

"Yeah, it's kind turned into a Brewers-Cubs thing, no question about it," admits the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year.

"I really appreciate the support everyone's given me so far, and I really hope we can pull it out in the next couple of days."

Statistically, Braun far outperforms Fukudome in two of the three main categories, with Fukudome outpacing Braun in batting average.
• Braun '08: .282 BA, 20 HR, 58 RBI, .544 Slugging % • Fukudome '08: .296, 6 HR, 34 RBI, .430 Slugging %

"It's unbelievable because this is my first opportunity to make an All-Star team," states Braun. "Just to have this type of support means a lot to me. It's fun to be a Brewer and to play in Milwaukee."

Braun recently signed an eight-year, $45,000,000 contract that extends his current deal through 2015.

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(620wtmj.com)