MILWAUKEE -- If Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost was a little bleary-eyed against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday night, it was for a good cause.

Yost said he spent a great part of the day at his computer pushing the button for right-fielder Corey Hart, stopping only when he messed up typing the validation code for the vote five times in a row.

Yost's support for Hart must be working because the outfielder holds the lead over four other candidates for the 32nd and final position on the National League All-Star team that plays the American League squad Tuesday at New York's Yankee Stadium. Voting ends Thursday at 4 p.m.

The league doesn't issue vote counts, but a release said Hart held a slight lead over New York Mets third baseman David Wright and about a 10 percent advantage over Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell. The league reported the top three vote-getters have more than 2 million votes each.

The subject of the vote came up when Yost was asked if he expected a player to vote for himself in this situation. Yost said of course, adding, "Why do you think Ryan Braun missed two days?''

Braun, voted onto to the team by the fans' vote, missed two games last week with a sore right hand.

As they did in the past with Geoff Jenkins and Chris Capuano, Brewers' management is pulling out all the stops for Hart. There are voting stations in the Miller Park kids area on the first level. Ushers and vendors are wearing T-shirts proclaiming, "I Love New York'' with the familiar heart sign that has Hart spelled inside.

And in case the full house in attendance Tuesday for CC Sabathia's debut needed a reminder, the grounds crew put a red heart with "Hart'' in white lettering inside it right behind home plate.

Yost eventually was asked to explain what he meant by messing up the code five times in a row. "Guess who hasn't voted for Corey,'' he replied.

When batting practice was over, Hart was seen at the desk that houses one of the two computers there.

Was he voting for himself? No. Working on that eye-hand coordination so important for a major league hitter by playing solitaire.

Meanwhile, Braun will compete in Monday night's Home Run Derby contest.

Broken what?

With all the attention Sabathia's debut was receiving this night, general manager Doug Melvin recalled a moment late Sunday night when he thought the deal with the Cleveland Indians was about to fall apart.

Melvin and Cleveland counterpart Mark Shapiro had finally settled on the deal, so Melvin e-mailed Huntsville trainer Dave Yeager to get the phone number of Matt LaPorta, the highly rated outfield prospect who was the key part of the deal for the Indians.

Melvin later received a text reply that stated: "LaPorta has a broken'' and then it temporarily broke off.

Melvin saw the deal for Sabathia going right down the tubes before his very eyes.

"I was like, Broken, broken what?' " Melvin recalled screaming at his Blackberry.

The message then picked up again. "Cell phone,'' it said.

Parra goes Friday

For those wondering why starter Manny Parra took a one-inning turn out of the bullpen Monday night, it was because Yost wanted to give him some meaningful work after he was pushed back to Friday in the rotation because of Sabathia's arrival.

But Parra, who has not lost a start since May 3, is an important cog in Yost's rotation. Yost said Sabathia and Ben Sheets will pitch the first two games in San Francisco following next week's All-Star break. Parra will close out that series.