Look: I usually don’t get too broken up over All-Star voting. The massive bulk of voting fans tend to be poorly informed, so the outcome becomes more of a pageant for the most famous baseball players than a contest between the very best players in each league.

And I hardly aspire to speak for Mets fans, or, worse yet, tell them what to do. The views here reflect the thoughts of only one Mets fan — me, this guy — and I’ve never been much for groupthink or rah-rahism or any of that stuff.

But I think it’s safe to say, today, that we all need to get up out of our seats right now, walk over to the nearest mirror, and take a long look at ourselves. Placido Polanco is leading NL third basemen in All-Star voting. Placido Polanco.

It’s infuriating enough that five Phillies lead their positions after the first ballot count, and frustrating just to imagine all the drunk, filthy Philadelphians taking time away from vomiting on little girls, hands shaky from all the Tasering, punching in the holes next to every single Phillie on the ballot.

And then, insult to injury, to know they’re actually succeeding in their depraved mission? No. I won’t stand for it.

Placido Polanco’s OPS, even playing half his games in that ridiculous ballpark, is nearly 100 points lower than David Wright’s. Sure, he may play slightly better defense, and Wright’s certainly not having his best year, but holy crap, people. This is David Wright. Handsome golden boy face of the franchise. And we root for a New York team; we’re supposed to be the ones who overvalue our stars and send undeserving players to the All-Star game.

Pathetic. Just pathetic.

Did you know that Wright, despite all the fuss about his struggles, is still tied for first in WAR (per baseball-reference) among NL third basemen with Ryan Zimmerman? It’s true. After them on the list come David Freese, Jorge Cantu, Casey McGehee, Scott Rolen, Chase Headley, Chipper Jones, Casey Blake, Mark Reynolds and Ian Stewart. And then, 12th among NL third basemen, is Placido Polanco.

Congratulations, bro. You’re playing better than Pedro Feliz and Andy LaRoche. You know what that says to me? All-Star.

I voted for Wright five times this morning. Took me all of ten minutes, tops. Gotta support the team, like David Puddy might say.

I also wrote in Angel Pagan a bunch of times, because somehow, in 2010, Major League Baseball still hasn’t managed to get the names of all the guys who are actually playing on the ballot. I know that’s the way it’s always been, and I recognize that it probably takes a lot of time to print and distribute those things to every stadium, but c’mon. Just, c’mon.

Oh, and I voted for Carlos Beltran on every ballot, just because.

While watching the Subway Series tilt with my wife Friday night, she pointed out that I almost never mention Luis Castillo here. And indeed, since Opening Day I’ve only mentioned Castillo in passing, and usually only when detailing a specific game situation he was part of or when listing his defensive struggles among the Mets’ various problems.

In the waning days of the preseason, I half-joked that Castillo was my favorite player in baseball, for a variety of reasons. That’s not why I’ve laid off him here, though, even as he has struggled to do that one thing he still might do well — get on base.

Maybe that’s part of the reason I lay off Castillo. Plus, he became such a frequent target of Mets-fan vitriol that I think he may have actually become vaguely underrated at some point in the last couple years. He’s not like Jeff Francoeur or someone; no Mets fan believes Luis Castillo is a great player enduring a rough stretch. And far too many blame Castillo for his contract, which isn’t really his fault. I feel no need to pile on.

Plus, there’s something inspiring about watching Castillo persevere with his limited skill set and nagging injuries. Watch him walk around the dugout or the clubhouse, or even off the field on an out, and he’s hobbling. I’ve never been Luis Castillo so I can’t know how much pain he’s enduring, but there’s no doubt from his halting limp that he aches in all sorts of awful ways. And yet he’s out there every time he can be, slapping at strikes and lunging awkwardly at grounders. It’s damn near Sisysphean.

But Castillo’s apparently hurting now, even more than he usually is. And every game he misses is another game closer to Alex Cora’s vesting option doing just that.

So with Daniel Murphy now optioned to Triple-A, the Mets need to revisit the idea of shifting their former first baseman one spot to the left, and pronto. Murphy probably won’t ever be a good defensive second baseman, for sure. But he took to a new position last year with surprising aplomb, and demonstrated enough range in the infield that it’s reasonable to expect he could be nearly as good as Castillo out there in short order.

He won’t turn the double play like Castillo or position himself as well or do any of the myriad little things the veteran has picked up in his 1642 games as a Major League second baseman. But if Murph can just cover some ground on the right side of the infield, it’s not hard to imagine he’ll be a more valuable player than Castillo if he can produce something reasonable offensively.

That’s another matter entirely, as Murphy didn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence with his bat in 2009. But he’s young yet and likely improving, and, again, it’s not like anyone’s asking him to replace Joe Morgan.

At the very least, trying Murphy at second — if it’s even a little bit successful — enhances his trade value and buys the team time while middle infield prospects like Ruben Tejada and Reese Havens develop. With the Triple-A Bisons overwhelmed with corner players as it is, Murphy should get every opportunity to show he can handle second.

Of course, the Mets picked up second baseman Justin Turner off waivers from the Orioles today and assigned him to Buffalo. So, really, who knows what the plans are for Murph? If the Mets see him as a possible Mark DeRosa-type super sub, though — as Jerry Manuel suggested this offseason — they should get about teaching him how to do that.

“So I got up in the eighth and after Feliciano got Cano I sat back down, and they told me in case something else happened and someone gets on base, I will be in there.”

Asked if it was difficult to do that, to keep warming up, Rodriguez said it was a matter of being smart.

“You have to save your bullets and not waste them back there and throw too much,” he said.

But sure enough, in the top of the ninth, Rodriguez was quickly warming up again after another reliever, Ryota Igarashi, gave up a walk and two hits. In came Rodriguez to get the final two outs, although it was not easy. Derek Jeter doubled, and after a groundout, Mark Teixeira reached on an infield single.

– David Waldstein, N.Y. Times.

When I saw this story on the back page of the Daily News this morning, I figured it was just a slow news day and the News was mucking up a fuss for lack of anything else to print.

But the News’ story didn’t include the above details and didn’t mention that the spat between Frankie Rodriguez and bullpen coach Randy Niemann stemmed from a dispute over how the reliever has been used.

This is nothing new: Jerry Manuel’s quick hook severely taxes the arms in his bullpen, and his apparent insistence that every reliever warm up at some point in every game must get frustrating for a crew of already-overworked men. Relievers hate warming up without pitching — they call it “dry-humping” — and the decision to get them throwing represents one of the real, impactful managerial moves that are never represented in the box score.

Sure, it may look like Fernando Nieve sometimes goes a couple of games without pitching, but scour tapes of those games and you’ll note that Nieve is almost perpetually warming up in the bullpen. K-Rod reportedly threw 100 pitches in the bullpen before he entered the Mets’ 20-inning win over the Cardinals. I can’t say for certain, but I’d guess that’s the type of thing that will make you want to fight the bullpen coach.

The Daily News mentioned Rodriguez’s history of spats with Tony Bernazard and Brian Bruney, but this story shouldn’t be about the fiery closer. It should be about Manuel’s myopic bullpen management, and it’s unfortunate that Niemo should have to bear the brunt. I don’t know all the mechanics behind the decision to warm a guy up, but I’ve got a feeling the fault here falls on the man making the call, not the one receiving it.

Pat’s from the reasonable Phillies blog PhilliesNation.com and ESPN Radio in South Jersey.