Though somewhat less controversial than Charlie Manuel naming Phillies 1B Ryan Howard to the NL All-Star team ahead of Cincy’s Joey Votto, the exclusion of Mets starter Mike Pelfrey caused a minor stir yesterday.  “We seek not to diminish Pelfrey™s accomplishments, but to contextualize them,” writes the Newark Star-Ledger’s Andy McCullough, defending Manuel’s decision.

Pelfrey is slated to start on Sunday, two days before the bonanza in Anaheim. He would not have been able to pitch in the game. The word out of Philadelphia is that his ineligibility went into Manuel™s decision-making.

In the end, the big guy just got squeezed. He roared through the early months of the season and faded a tad in his past few starts. His resume was outclassed by Ubaldo Jimenez™s 14 victories, Josh Johnson™s sub-2.00 ERA, Roy Halladay™s impeccable control and remarkable efficiency.

Pelfrey could not catch up. As of Sunday afternoon, he did not fit into the National League top 10 for strikeouts, WHIP, hits per nine, walks per nine, strikeout-to-walk ratio, innings pitched and ERA+.

His ERA put him in a tie for 10th place. He ranks ninth in the NL for wins above replacement (WAR) for pitchers and ranks eighth for win probability added (WPA), according to Baseball Reference™s data.

And what of the lower-tier All-Stars, the ones without perfect games and Sports Illustrated covers?

Mike Pelfrey: 10-2, 2.93 ERA, 104.1 IP, 66 K, 35 BB, 1.294 WHIP, 138 ERA+
Chris Carpenter (St. Louis): 9-2, 3.16 ERA, 119.2 IP, 105 K, 36 BB, 1.212 WHIP, 128 ERA+
Yovani Gallardo (Milwaukee): 8-3, 2.56 ERA, 109 IP, 120 K, 46 BB, 1.229 WHIP, 155 ERA+
Tim Hudson (Atlanta): 8-3, 2.37 ERA, 106.1 IP, 51 K, 40 BB, 1.166 WHIP, 170 ERA+
Tim Lincecum (San Francisco): 8-4, 3.28 ERA, 109.2 IP, 121 K, 46 BB, 1.304 WHIP, 131 ERA+
Adam Wainwright (St. Louis): 2.34 ERA, 119.1 IP, 114 K, 32 BB, 1.031 WHIP, 173 ERA+