MLB: Alex Rodriguez Nears Two Million All-Star Votes

Guerrero, Ramirez, Ichiro headline outfield in AL balloting results.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

NEW YORK - Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels, Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox and Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners remain the American League's leading outfielders, with Magglio Ordoñez of the Tigers running a close fourth in American League balloting results for the 78th All-Star Game, to be played Tuesday, July 10th at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Guerrero (.329, 12 HR, 62 RBI) is the A.L.'s leading outfielder in balloting with 1,541,241 votes, followed by Ramirez (1,098,497) and Suzuki (1,048,781).

All three players were elected as starters in 2004 and 2006.

Ramirez (.293, 10 HR, 39 RBI) has won fan balloting each year since 1999, while Ichiro (.356, 100 H, 35 RBI, 19 SB) has been elected as a starter in five of his six Major League All-Star seasons.

Ordoñez, a five-time All-Star, follows in the balloting with 970,300 votes. Ordoñez (.370, 13 HR, 64 RBI) has never been elected to the A.L.'s starting lineup.

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez continues to maintain his position as baseball's overall leader with 1,914,162 votes.

Rodriguez has never finished as the overall balloting leader in his career.

The next closest American Leaguer is Rodriguez's teammate, shortstop Derek Jeter, who has drawn 1,591,453 votes.

The pair of Yankees are followed by Guerrero and Red Sox first baseman David Ortiz (1,423,064).

(New York Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran is the leading National Leaguer with 1,343,727 votes.)

Currently rounding out Jim Leyland's American League All-Star lineup are two members of his Detroit Tigers, catcher Ivan Rodriguez (962,104) and second baseman Placido Polanco (856,075).

"Pudge" and Polanco are both in the lead over New York teammates Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano.

The Major League Baseball All-Star Balloting Program is the largest balloting program in professional sports.

The fan balloting program will determine the eight position players from each League who will start the 78th All-Star Game.

Throughout the balloting period, 21 million ballots will be distributed at the 30 Major League ballparks and an additional 1.7 million ballots will be distributed to 95 Minor League Baseball Clubs that are inseason during the balloting period.

In-stadium balloting at Major League ballparks began no later than May 3rd, while balloting at Minor League ballparks began between May 7th and May 17th.

Each Major League Club will have 25 home dates during which it will conduct balloting, while Minor League Clubs will have 15 home dates for balloting.

The in-stadium program concluded at Minor League ballparks by June 16th and will conclude at Major League ballparks no later than June 22nd.

In-stadium balloting at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, sponsored by Rogers Personal TV, began on April 27th and ran through June 16th.

Balloting in Puerto Rico, sponsored by DIRECTV, began on May 3rd and ended June 10th.

Pepsi, Frito-Lay and, for the first time, Quaker - all divisions of PepsiCo Inc. - will distribute 12 million Major League Baseball All-Star ballots exclusively at more than 3,400 Wal-Mart stores, where balloting began on May 13th and concluded on June 17th across the United States. Pepsi has been the title sponsor of the U.S. retail All- Star balloting program since 1997.

Fans can cast their votes for starters up to 25 times with the Monster 2007 All-Star Online Ballot at MLB.com and all 30 Club Web sites until Thursday, June 28th at 11:59 p.m. (EDT). The Monster 2007 All-Star Online Ballot is available in English, Spanish and Japanese.

The 2007 American League and National League All-Star Teams will be unveiled on Sunday, July 1st on the 2007 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show presented by Chevrolet, which will be televised nationally on TBS at approximately 4:00 p.m. (EDT), immediately following the 1:00 p.m. (EDT) game between the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins.

Each All-Star squad will have a total of eight elected starters, as determined by the fan balloting program, and 23 pitchers and reserves, as determined by the "Player Ballot" and the two All-Star Team managers - American League manager Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers and National League manager Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals - in conjunction with Major League Baseball.

Immediately following the announcement of the American League and National League All-Star rosters, fans will have the opportunity to select the final position player for each League's 32-man roster at MLB.com.

The Monster 2007 All-Star Final Vote will provide fans the opportunity to cast their votes from a list of five players from each League over a four-day period.

For the third year, fans will be able to vote for their Final Vote selections on their mobile phone.

Both winners of the Monster 2007 All-Star Final Vote will be announced after the voting has concluded on Thursday, July 5th.

Fans once again will have the opportunity to participate in the official voting for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player presented by Chevrolet at the 78th All-Star Game via the Monster 2007 All-Star Game MVP Vote on MLB.com.

The 78th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which will determine home-field advantage in the 2007 World Series, will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and televised around the world by Major League Baseball International, with pregame ceremonies beginning at 8:00 p.m. (EDT).

ESPN Radio will provide exclusive national radio coverage. MLB.com will provide extensive online coverage of all festivities surrounding the 78th All-Star Game.

XM will provide satellite radio play-by-play coverage of the XM All-Star Futures Game in addition to its other live coverage from San Francisco.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports