The final All-Star vote tally before the one that decides the line-up is now available. Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Orlando Cabrera, and Jonny Gomes hang in there in their races, but Scott Rolen is actually within striking distance.

Ken Griffey, Jr. was on the All-Star line-up in 2007, and before that the last Red to appear was Barry Larkin in 2000. Two voted in the last 10 years? Don’t you think we ought to do something about that? Hell, Rolen himself has appeared in the line-up that many times in that many years. Let’s send him again.

Remember, you get 25 votes per email address. Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Gmail are your partners in making your voice heard.

It also appears you can vote 25 times per email address per day. At least I’ve been able to cast votes on different days with the same email address. Why not try it out for yourself?

Boxscore

Forget about the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. The danger of particles creating a micro-black holes large enough to destroy the galaxy is nothing compared to the danger of B-Phil and J-Roll on the same field at the same time. What would happen should these two middle-infielding celestial bodies collide? The gravity well of awesomeness might consume the Milky Way in three-tenths of a second (or the amount it takes to flip a double-play ball, whichever is shorter).

Or worse, we might be sent back in time to the Dave Miley era. Argh! Someone moved Adam Dunn’s armchair!

On this night, though, we escaped the galactic destruction and just saw the B-Phil side of the equation win out. Probably it was the universe evening out his recent arrest somehow. 72 in a 35? Hasn’t he seen the commercial where the lady stops just in time to avoid hitting the dumb girl who runs out into the road in front of her, only to be rear-ended herself? Talk about a Pay It Forward ending.

Johnny Cueto was kickin’ it, giving up one earned run on six hits and two walks through eight innings. Bill Bray was somewhat less awesome, giving up a two-run homer in his single inning of work. Lucky for him, the 18 ERA he earned in his first appearance in the majors this season wasn’t so much of a problem, what with the offense coming through with the seven runs and all.

Orlando “Lando” Cabrera, Joey “Vote” Votto, Ramon “Filling in” Hernandez, and Chris “Why must the outfield be so full” Heisey each contributed an RBI to that total, with Scott “Keep this inning” Rolen came through with the other three.

He also smacked his 300th career home run tonight, with him family in attendance and everything. Boy, that was easy. I remember when Ken Griffey, Jr. used to approach those big round numbers and it would take a damn month for him to actually hit it.

Tomorrow the Reds send Mike Leake out against Joe Blanton at 7:10 p.m.

On an unrelated note:
The other day, MLB sent me an email inviting me to return to the All-Star voting page. Of course, I had long since voted 25 times, but when I went back, I was able to cast 25 more votes. I took a glance at the rules, but it wasn’t clear to me whether you could vote 25 times per day, but why not go and try it for yourself?

Today’s Human League “What I Love About” honoree is the NLC’s Hottest Baller of 2008, Brandon Phillips.

What I love about Brandon Phillips is his smile. Easy and infectious, his smile says, “hey, everything’s cool here.”

What I love about Brandon Phillips is his glove and his back-handed flip to second. It’s a beginning to a double-play so beautiful that it makes his move to 2B all worthwhile.

What I love about Brandon Phillips is his attitude. Kinda sassy, a little arrogant, but still willing to slow down enough to explain what “crunked” means to a Reds beat writer. I love that he’s not perfect and needs to have a kick to the seat of the pants sometimes. I love that he’s up and down with the team, feeling the energy of the city.

What I love about Brandon Phillips is that horrible commercial that he and Joey Votto were in at the beginning of the season–I think it was for Subway–where the director had to position the camera man ever-so-carefully so you couldn’t tell that there was no one in the stands as they got the out at first–presumably tagging out the high saturated fat you’d get at a burger joint.

What I love about Brandon Phillips is watching him turn it on when the Indians come to town. That’ll show ’em.

What I would really love about Brandon Phillips would be seeing him starting in the All-Star Game, but he needs your help to make that happen. Vote, vote, vote!!

Continuing our series of Human League posts about the Reds All-Star vote-getters, tonight I ponder the wonder and glory that is Scott Rolen.

What I love about Scott Rolen is maturity as a genuine role-model for those who have lacked demonstration of how to comport themselves. I love that perspective and experience make him confident in his righteousness to bitch at umpires in just about every game.

What I love about Scott Rolen is the relief I feel when he steps into the box after Joey Votto. I love that, as potent as one infield corner is, there’s a mirror of it on the other side, protecting each other while at the same time challenging.

What I love about Scott Rolen is singing, “Rolen, Rolen, Rolen…Keep this inning Rollin'” when he’s at the plate. Since the Ryan Parker song, I now sometimes also sing, “Rolen on the River.”

What I love about Scott Rolen is how, through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, he has fought his way here to take back what injury had stolen. I love that the Cardinals gave up on him before he finished that quest and the Reds are the ones to see the return to greatness. It’s about time it worked that way for a change.

What I love about Scott Rolen is that my mom likes him. She’s not even a baseball fan. He’s just that lovable.

If you, too, love Scott Rolen, do your part to spread the word by voting. The All-Star game deserves his presence.

At long last, I find myself again entangled in that romantic ardor of fandom that I haven’t known lo these five years of blogging. The kind of baseball love affair that makes you want to write sentences like that first one.

In honor of the five Reds in the top spots in All-Star voting, I’m going to share with you my poetic musings on these paladins of the plate in a new Human League segment called “What I Love About.”

What I love about Jonny Gomes is the eagerness he brings to the game and to life. The intensity in his gaze hints at a man uncontent to drift through life like common mortals, intent instead to live every moment to its fullest. It also hints at a man who might be capable of the kind of frenzy displayed by Danny Bateman in The Replacements. “Get me the base, Jonny!” “I GOT THE BASE.”

What I love about Jonny Gomes is his hair. Mr. T meets Kid N Play with just a touch of the true Hoosiers I used to live next door to in rural Indiana. Just a touch, mind you. He could have gone with the rat tail, but he didn’t. He knows when enough is enough.

What I love about Jonny Gomes is his twitchy helmet adjustments as he goes to the plate. One wonders if maybe the haircut has caused the helmet not to fit quite right.

What I love about Jonny Gomes is doing a Google image search on his name. Try it. It’s awesome.

But what I love most of all about Jonny Gomes are his team-leading 49 RBI. That’s about 15% of the team’s total runs for the season so far.

If you find yourself moved, tell the world with your vote.