Red Sox, Cardinals dominate All-Star Game
NEW YORK (Sports Network) – The Boston Red Sox and St.Louis Cardinals, the participants in last year’s World Series,dominated the starters in final balloting for the 76th All-StarGame, to be held Tuesday, July 12 at Detroit’s Comerica Park.
Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz was selected to hissecond consecutive All-Star team after garnering more than fourmillion votes (4,138,141) in fan balloting.
Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee (3,560,316) was thetop vote-getter among National League players and was chosenfor his first All-Star appearance. Lee leads the majors with a.383 batting average.
A total of four Boston players were voted to the ALAll-Star squad. Catcher Jason Varitek was voted to his secondAll-Star team, as was outfielder Johnny Damon. Manny Ramirezwas chosen for his ninth All-Star appearance and will start inthe outfield.
Damon edged Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners by nearly57,000 votes to win the final starting outfield spot in theAmerican League, joining Vladimir Guerrero of the Los AngelesAngels.
Baltimore’s double-play combination of Brian Roberts atsecond base and Miguel Tejada at shortstop were chosen asstarters, as was Texas first baseman Mark Teixeira and New YorkYankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
In the National League, third baseman Scott Rolen,shortstop David Eckstein and outfielder Jim Edmonds of theCardinals were all voted to start the mid- summer classic.Rolen was selected in fan balloting despite being sidelinedmost of this season with a shoulder injury. This is Rolen’sfourth consecutive All- Star appearance and Edmonds’ fourth inhis career.
New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza was selected to his 12thAll-Star contest, while teammate Carlos Beltran was voted tostart in the outfield.
Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent and Phillies outfielderBobby Abreu were also chosen as starters for the NationalLeague.
Baseball fans cast a record 16 million ballots in votingfor the contest. While fan balloting determined the AmericanLeague’s nine starting players and the National League’s eight,45 of the 47 remaining pitchers and reserves were determined bythe player ballot and the two All-Star managers, Tony La Russaof the Cardinals, Terry Francona of the Red Sox, and MajorLeague Baseball.
The position player reserves for the National Leagueinclude Florida’s Paul Lo Duca at catcher, St. Louis’ AlbertPujols at first base, Florida’s Luis Castillo at second base,and Cincinnati’s Felipe Lopez and Los Angeles’ Cesar Izturis atshortstop and Chicago’s Aramis Ramirez. Florida’s MiguelCabrera, Atlanta’s Andruw Jones and Milwaukee’s Carlos Lee,Moises Alou of the San Francisco Giants, Jason Bay of thePittsburgh Pirates and Luis Gonzalez of the ArizonaDiamondbacks were chosen as the outfield reserves.
The National League pitchers selected are Florida’sDontrelle Willis, seven- time Cy Young Award winner RogerClemens of the Houston Astros and teammate Brad Lidge, theMets’ Pedro Martinez, Washington’s Livan Hernandez and ChadCordero, Atlanta’s John Smoltz, San Diego’s Jake Peavy, St.Louis’ Chris Carpenter and Jason Isringhausen, and BrianFuentes of the Colorado Rockies.
The position player reserves for the American Leagueinclude catcher Ivan Rodriguez of the Detroit Tigers, firstbaseman Paul Konerko of the White Sox and Mike Sweeney of theKansas City Royals, second baseman Alfonso Soriano of theRangers; third baseman Melvin Mora of the Orioles and shortstopMichael Young of the Rangers. Garret Anderson of the Angels,Gary Sheffield of the Yankees and Ichiro were chosen asoutfield reserves, while Shea Hillenbrand of the Blue Jays asselected as a designated hitter.
The American League pitchers selected are Mark Buehrle andJon Garland of the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox, RoyHalladay of the Toronto Blue Jays, Johan Santana and Joe Nathanof the Twins, Kenny Rogers of the Rangers, Mariano Rivera ofthe Yankees, B.J. Ryan of the Orioles, Danys Baez of the TampaBay Devil Rays, Bartolo Colon of the Angels, Justin Duchschererof the Athletics and Bob Wickman of the Indians.
Rogers selection is expected to draw plenty of attention.He drew a 20-game suspension from Major League Baseball forshoving two cameramen this past week.
The game will mark the third straight year in which thewinning league will have home-field advantage for the WorldSeries.
One more spot on each roster is still open and will bechosen among five players in an online vote by fans throughJuly 6. The five AL candidates are Carl Crawford of the DevilRays, Torii Hunter of the Twins, Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsuiof the Yankees, and Scott Podsednik of the White Sox.
On the National League side, the five pitchers on theballot for the final roster spot are Trevor Hoffman of thePadres, Brett Myers and Billy Wagner of the Phillies, RoyOswalt of the Astros and Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks.
Copyright 2004, The Sports Network