Werth, Utley Compete to be “Face of MLB”

It’s been awhile since Jayson Werth and his beautiful, beautiful beard belonged to Philadelphia — his was one high-priced contract for a World Series vet that Ruben Amaro Jr. managed to avoid signing the last few years. Still, he was part of that ’08 championship team, and even if he plays for a division rival — the Washington Nationals — there’s some lingering love for him here.

So it feels like the folks at MLB.com were being a bit mean, perhaps, by pitting Werth against still-here Chase Utley in the first round of its “Face of the MLB” contest:

Participating in the contest is easy. All you have to do is Tweet #JaysonWerth or #ChaseUtley along with #FaceOfMLB to have your vote count. (You can also vote in the comments at MLB.com’s Facebook page.)

So far, Werth is getting the worst of it: Utley leads with 66 percent of the votes.

MLB.com, irritatingly, isn’t giving much sense of when the voting ends for this round. So go vote for Utley now, while you can, and make sure he moves to the second round.