David Wright's bat does talking after All-Star snub

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson tends to refrain from social media. But he could not contain himself after the San Francisco Giants' Pablo Sandoval, who missed 40 games with a broken hand, rode a late wave of votes to start at third base for the National League All-Stars ahead of the Mets' blazing David Wright.

"A city of 8 million," Alderson tweeted, "was outvoted by a city of 800,000."

The normally loquacious Wright dressed hurriedly and turned away a crowd of reporters seeking an interview in his first game back in New York since the All-Star snub, saying he had too much to do to prepare for Tuesday night's game against the Phillies.

Then he, too, could not contain himself.

Wright ripped a three-run home run to centerfield in the sixth inning to punctuate an 11-1 thrashing of the Phillies and move ahead of Howard Johnson into third place on the club's all-time home run list with 193.

"To be mentioned among the great players who played here is an honor and something that is very humbling," Wright said. "I think it will mean a lot more after I'm done playing. It's so tough to pat yourself on the back in the middle of a career and definitely in the middle of a season."

He has some big cuts ahead of him to overtake all-time leader Darryl Strawberry (252 homers) and Mike Piazza (220). The consistency with which he approaches his job, though, makes it seem as if almost anything is within his reach.

When he launched his 10th home run in the sixth inning on a 3-and-2 fastball from righthanded reliever Brian Sanches, he set a club mark by reaching double figures in homers for the ninth consecutive season. Strawberry, Piazza and Ed Kranepool accomplished that eight years in a row.

"That's the type of player I'd like to be, kind of consistent," said Wright, who is batting .351. "I want to be able to drive runs in and score runs. So far, this offense makes the job easier for guys in the middle when the guys ahead of you are getting on and the guys behind you are affording protection."

And even though Mets fans did not show him the love that was expected at the ballot box after he ranked among the league leaders in hitting virtually throughout the first half of the season, a capacity crowd of 42,516 voiced its support after he did a little of everything against the Phillies.

He followed Daniel Murphy's one-out triple in the first by opening the scoring with a run-scoring groundout to third. He flashed some leather four innings later, making a diving stop to his left to rob Shane Victorino of what would have been a leadoff hit and jumping to his feet to gun him out.

After he went way deep, jumping his RBI total to 54, fans chanted "MVP! MVP!" to acknowledge an ultraconsistent performer who owns at least one hit in 63 games.

That must have been music to the ears of the reserve All-Star.