In a move that will likely elicit a wide range of reactions, the San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox are apparently teaming up to get out the vote for the 2011 MLB All Star Game. The Giants and Red Sox are encouraging fans to vote a straight party line of Giants in the NL and Red Sox in the AL. At the end of the day the nature of all star voting is pretty ridiculous. It's a mix of a popularity contest and who can come up with the most clever way to stuff the ballot box.
↵The partnership actually makes a lot of sense. The Giants can benefit from the passion of Red Sox Nation, while the Red Sox can take advantage of the Giants rising popularity from their World Series victory. Given the historic nature of both franchises, it's not the most random of partnerships. It will be interesting to see if this pays off for some of the borderline all stars in ballot results. Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez and third baseman Pablo Sandoval are both in the top five at their respective positions so this could potentially bump them up just enough.