LOS ANGELES -- Don Mattingly knew he had to be politically correct as he answered the question.

As much as he wanted to bang the All-Star drum for his rookie phenom, Yasiel Puig, the baseball purist in the Los Angeles Dodgers manager simply couldn't do it knowing Puig hasn't even been in the majors for a full month.

So instead of banging the drum or rejecting it altogether, he simply danced around it as best as he could.

"It's a discussion to have," Mattingly said after Puig had a career-high four hits and came within a home run of the cycle in leading the Dodgers to a 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday at Dodger Stadium. "We'll see. He's putting up astronomical numbers and been a great player for us so far. I think you just look at the guys who are in the league. Does a Domonic Brown deserve to go? He's got 21 bombs. There are other guys and I don't even know all the numbers of the guys playing around the league, but I know there are other guys playing well. It's one of those discussions that are tough."

Yasiel Puig's 44 hits in the month of June, including this triple Sunday, are the most for a Dodgers rookie in any month. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

Puig hasn't just put up astronomical numbers since making his major league debut on June 3, he has put up historically great numbers. In fact, since being called up, Puig leads the majors with 44 hits in that span, while leading the National League with a .436 batting average and a .467 on-base percentage. Puig is also ranked in the top three in home runs (seven), runs (19), slugging percentage (.713) and total bases (72).

It's a staggering debut that has been rivaled in the history of baseball by only one man -- Joe DiMaggio.

Puig and DiMaggio are the only players in major league history with at least 40 hits and four home runs in their first calendar month in the majors. Puig's 44 hits in June are second only to DiMaggio's 48 in 1936, and are the most hits ever in one month by a Dodgers rookie.

He capped off his magical first month his big day Sunday that propelled the Dodgers to within four games of first place in the NL West. These are the same Dodgers who were 9½ games out of first place just eight days ago. Puig also recorded two steals and scored two runs.

Puig, the 22-year-old Cuban defector, admitted after the game through an interpreter that he wasn't familiar with DiMaggio but was honored to be on the same list as the Yankees legend. He said his first month in the majors has been a whirlwind and if it takes him to New York next month for the All-Star Game it would be another honor he never expected would come his way this early in his career.

"I'd feel very happy and excited and honored to be in the All-Star Game," Puig said. "If I am the only one that represents the Dodgers at the All-Star Game, I would be very excited just for the City of Los Angeles and its fans, but if I don't make it, I'll still be happy as long as we keep on winning."

Of course, Puig was not included on the initial All-Star ballot, but the Dodgers started a campaign this weekend to get Puig into the game as a write-in candidate, something that hasn't happened since former Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey achieved in 1974, becoming only the second player to have started an All-Star game through write-in voting.

The Dodgers actually enlisted the help of Garvey for a commercial that played throughout Dodger Stadium this weekend that showed Garvey drinking champagne every year the All-Star roster was announced and a write-in candidate didn't make it, much like players from the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins do after the last undefeated team in the NFL loses in a given season. Only this time, Garvey smashes the champagne glass and picks up a ballot at the end of the commercial and urges fans to #VotePuig as he becomes Puig's campaign manager.

Although Puig hasn't been in the majors for even a full month, most of his teammates were getting behind the cause Sunday, wearing Puig shirts and filling out their All-Star ballots with Puig's name written in.