Vote for Manny

NEW YORK (AP) -- Jason Rosenberg was heading home and listening to satellite radio
when he heard that Manny Ramirez was fourth among National League outfielders in initial All-Star voting. By the end of the night, a new Web site was born: Vote for Manny.
"I said it would be funny if Manny got elected, because he's coming off a suspension on
July 3 and the All-Star game is a week later, so they don't even have that sort of
built-in protection," the 39-year-old from suburban Ardsley said Wednesday. "So I got
home, and just quickly threw a Web site together."
Rosenberg got voteformanny.blogspot.com up and running Tuesday night, designed to point out that MLB has no rule preventing players coming off drug suspensions from becoming All-Stars. It links to an online All-Star ballot and implores fans: "Remember, vote early and often!"
Ramirez was suspended for 50 games on May 7 after his drug test showed artificial
testosterone and baseball investigators obtained documentation that he received HCG, a
banned female fertility drug taken by some after steroid cycles to restart natural
testosterone production.
In the initial All-Star vote released Tuesday, Ramirez was on 442,763 ballots, trailing
Milwaukee's Ryan Braun (663,164), the Chicago Cubs' Alfonso Soriano (545,354) and the New York Mets' Carlos Beltran (476,843).
"The All-Star game is for the fans and I think if he got voted in, then it would be
appropriate for him to play," said Philadelphia's Charlie Manuel, the NL manager. "Once he serves his suspension, he's paid his penalty and he's just like every other player."