DETROIT--Brandon Inge's "Bran Torino" campaign with Philadelphia's Shane Victorino apparently worked, as both players received the last spot for their respective All-Star teams Thursday. The players were elected by fans to Tuesday'sAll-Star game in record-shattering voting exclusively on MLB.com, theofficial Web site of Major League Baseball, and the individual clubsites.
The Detroit third baseman will join fellow Tiger All-Star teammates Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, and Curtis Granderson. They all received the nod from AL All-Star manager Joe Maddon of Tampa Bay on Sunday. Inge garnered 11.8 million votes to win the last AL spot, holding off Texas Ranger Ian Kinsler, Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels, Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays and Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Inge and Victorino joined forces in a campaign appropriately titled "Bran Torino," after the hit Clint Eastwood movie, "Gran Torino." The idea behind the move was to get Victorino fans to vote for Inge, and vice versa. Each voter gets one AL vote and one NL vote, so the idea was not only creative, but effective.
Inge is hitting .264 with 19 home runs and 54 RBI this season. His production has been impressive, especially considering he was in a bevy of trade rumors to start last season. He eventually moved back behind the plate-only to move back to third base. Inge is the longest tenured Tiger currently on the roster.
Victorino received 15.6 million votes and was followed by SanFrancisco's Pablo Sandoval, Arizona's Mark Reynolds, the Los AngelesDodgers' Matt Kemp and Washington's Cristian Guzman.
