[新聞] Backstop battle tightens in AL balloting
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Backstop battle tightens in AL balloting
Mauer, Varitek, Posada narrow Pudge's chances to start in SF
06/05/2007 3:00 PM ET
By Mark Newman / MLB.com
http://0rz.tw/952Js
Robinson Cano's lead over Placido Polanco at second base is almost gone,
Justin Morneau moved past Jason Giambi into second place behind David
Ortiz at first base, and the four-way race at catcher got even more
interesting as the American League voting updates were announced Tuesday
by Major League Baseball.
Balloting for the 78th All-Star Game on July 10 in San Francisco
predictably intensified after last week's first voting updates were made
public, prompting many fans to use up their 25 allotted votes in the
Monster All-Star Online Ballot at MLB.com and the 30 club sites. There
were no actual changes among the leaders for AL starting positions, and
Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees saw his Major League-leading vote total
soar to 1,058,907 -- setting the stage for what could be the largest
All-Star vote total in history.
Rodriguez and teammate Derek Jeter have the largest voting leads in the
Majors at third base and shortstop, respectively, but the possibility of
extending Yankee dominance to the other side of the infield decreased.
Cano's lead over Detroit's Polanco has shrunk from 40,743 last week to
8,214. Polanco leads Cano in just about every key statistical category,
including errors (0 to 6), average (.335 to .272), runs (36 to 24), RBIs
(30 to 26), OBP (.382 to .315) and strikeouts (8 to 39). And keep an eye on
the second-base voting on Boston rookie Dustin Pedroia, who has been hot
and just moved from fifth place last week to overtake B.J. Upton of the
Devil Rays for fourth.
At a time when many people were debating whether Ortiz should be the Red
Sox representative at first base instead of recently hot Kevin Youkilis
-- Ortiz is a designated hitter and there is no DH on the ballot this
year due to the NL park -- Big Papi only extended his lead at first base.
The only difference is that Minnesota's Morneau is the immediate chaser.
Ortiz leads him by 424,237 votes, seemingly safe. But remember that it
was Morneau who surprised so many people last fall by crashing the
Ortiz-or-Jeter buzz party and taking home the AL Most Valuable Player award.
Don't be surprised to see more and more focus on the catching race in
upcoming weekly AL voting updates, because it somehow just got even
tighter. Pudge Rodriguez of the Tigers saw his lead over Joe Mauer of
the Twins shrink from 41,348 last week to 31,331. Only 25,212 votes
behind Mauer is Jason Varitek of the Red Sox. Jorge Posada of the Yankees
is 20,245 behind Varitek. Posada was only 4,014 behind Varitek last week,
and the fact that the Yankees catcher remains about the same distance behind
Rodriguez shows that Mauer and Varitek were putting on most of the pressure.
The starting outfield picture remained unchanged as well, led respectively
by Vlad Guerrero of the Angels, Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox and Ichiro
Suzuki of the Mariners. But there was some notable movement behind that
trio. Bobby Abreu and Johnny Damon of the Yankees slid from fifth and sixth
to seventh and eighth, respectively. Torii Hunter of the Twins remains in
fourth about the same distance behind Ichiro; AL Triple Crown candidate
Magglio Ordonez of the Tigers leapfrogged both Yankees and is
fifth; and keep an eye on Grady Sizemore of the Central-leading Indians,
because he just jumped from ninth to sixth.
With no DH on this year's ballot, and possibly because of the Youkilis
factor, there also was a surge in the number of write-ins this past week.
No write-ins are among the top five infielders or top 15 outfielders,
however. Those who are so inclined might want to bring a writing utensil
if going to the ballpark this month, and that capability also exists on
the online ballot.
The Major League Baseball All-Star Balloting Program is the largest
balloting program in professional sports. Throughout the balloting period,
21 million ballots are being distributed at the 30 Major League ballparks
and an additional 1.7 million ballots to 95 Minor League clubs that are
in-season during the balloting period. In-stadium balloting at Major
League ballparks began no later than May 3, while balloting at Minor
League ballparks began on May 7-17. Each Major League club has 25 home dates
during which it is conducting balloting, while Minor League clubs have 15
home dates for balloting. The in-stadium program will conclude at Minor
League ballparks by June 16 and at Major League parks no later than June 22.
In-stadium balloting at Rogers Centre in Toronto, sponsored by Rogers
Personal TV, began on April 27 and will run through June 16. Balloting in
Puerto Rico, sponsored by DirecTV, began on May 3 and will run through
June 10. Pepsi, Frito-Lay and, for the first time, Quaker -- all divisions
of PepsiCo Inc. -- are distributing 12 million Major League Baseball
All-Star ballots exclusively at more than 3,400 Wal-Mart stores, where
balloting began on May 13 and will conclude on June 17 across the U.S.Pepsi
has been the title sponsor of the U.S. retail All-Star balloting program
since 1997.
Since the advent of online balloting at MLB.com, this annual rite of fan
voting has become a record-smashing proposition year after year. It was
that way again last year with the overall voting numbers, and it seems
very likely to be the case again based on the voting updates so far.
Fans can vote at MLB.com and all 30 club sites until 11:59 p.m. ET on
June 28, and then they will resume voting immediately after the 2007
MLB "All-Star Game Selection Show" presented by Chevrolet, which will be
televised by TBS on July 1. Baseball fans around the world will be able to
select the 32nd and final player on each All-Star team via the Monster.com
2007 All-Star Final Vote.
Selecting the rosters isn't the end of the fun in 2007, either. Concluding
the All-Star balloting process, fans will have the opportunity to vote
for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player presented by Chevrolet at the
All-Star Game via the Monster.com 2007 All-Star Game MVP vote at MLB.com.
The All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports and
televised around the world by Major League Baseball International.
ESPN Radio will provide exclusive national radio coverage, while MLB.com
will offer extensive online coverage and MLB Radio will have exclusive
play-by-play coverage of the game on the Internet.
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