Per, well, everyone at this point, Andre Ethier has been selected to the All-Star team to replace Shane Victorino, who was placed on the disabled list earlier today. He’ll join Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw in Arizona. I imagine Bruce Bochy just went down to #2 on the fan voting list, because there’s really no argument to be made that Ethier is more deserving than Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates, but as I always say, I really don’t care too much about the All-Star selections because the process is so flawed, so congratulations to Andre. The more Dodgers the better, and in this case particularly so for him, as Ethier is a Phoenix native who will get to play in front of his home crowd. That in itself makes this cool, especially on yet another day where we hear rumors about Ethier possibly not wanting to stay in Los Angeles. It’s hard to blame him for that if it’s true at this point; while I’d like him to stay, I also have no problem with saying something that is very unpopular among casual fans – if you can trade him for a solid return (not for nothing, but for value) rather than sign him to a long-term deal, I would absolutely be in favor of that.

Anyway, that’s a concern for another day. For now, Ethier’s an All-Star for the second year in a row, and that’s some good news for a team badly in need of it.

(No, not ignoring yet another outstanding Kershaw outing last night, and I don’t want us to get so used to his excellence that it becomes routine. As Sons of Steve Garvey notes, we’re witnessing the early stages of what just might be the greatest Dodger in decades. You can blame a tough workday for the lack of comment on that, and besides, I’m hardly the only one who is having trouble living and dying with every pitch this season like we used to, right?)