It’s a franchise record for the Chicago National League baseball team as the beloved Cubs placed seven players on the Major League All-Star Baseball roster for the for the July 15 event at Yankee Stadium. Twice before, the cubs have had six all-stars in a single game.
The Chicago White Sox have had two named to the American League team, with one more subject to an online fan vote. Others could be added as selected players opt out.
The Cubs’ manager, Lou Piniella, was previously added to the coaching roster when Willie Randolph of the New York Mets was disqualified once he got fired.
Outfielders Kosuke Fukudome and Soriano and rookie catcher Geovany Soto – the first rookie catcher in NL hostiry to start -- were chosen to start for the Cubs, who own the best record in the league. Soriano has been out with a broken left hand, So it is up to the tea, if he will be activated and allowed to play. He took batting practice Sunday and reported some weakness in the hand. Pitchers Kerry Wood and Ryan Dempster and third baseman Aramis Ramirez were chosen by NL players
Pieniella lobbied for his pitchers and got Carlos Zambrano added to the roster.
THE WHITE SOX statistically have the best pitching staff in the Major Leagues but none of their pitchers was selected for the All-Star Game, although third baseman Joe Crede and outfielder Carlos Quentin were chosen for the first time.
Crede went into Sunday's selection process with just six hits in his past 47 at-bats (.128), while Quentin was in 4-for-31 (.129) slump, although he was tied for second in the league with 19 homers.
The Sox starters most likely to have made it were Gavin Floyd, who is 10-4 with a 3.22 ERA; and John Danks, who won Sunday with the third best ERA in the league behind Oakland's Justin Duchscherer and Cleveland's Cliff Lee, both of whom were chosen.
Among other Sox who thought they had a chance were outfielder Jermaine Dye, tied with Quentin at 19 homers and fourth in slugging percentage, catcher A.J. Pierzynski and relievers Scott Linebrink (1.75 ERA) and Bobby Jenks (29 saves).
Dye is one of five players who will go into a pool for what is called The Final Vote, to be decided by votes of fans. Scott Podsednik was elected to the 2005 All-Star Team for the Sox from the same spot and Pierzynski before that.
Nationwide, Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez also has six Boston teammates on his side of the field.
The New York Yankees will be well represented, too, for the game at their own ballpark: Top vote-getter Alex Rodriguez, captain Derek Jeter and reliever Mariano Rivera were picked.
The Tampa Bay Rays, with the best record in the majors, did not have a single player elected to start. Pitcher Scott Kazmir and catcher Dioner Navarro were added to the AL squad.
There was only one change in the final week of fan voting for starters: Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun overtook Ken Griffey Jr. in the NL outfield. Griffey finished fourth and was left off the team. He is likely to be added in the interim
Ramirez, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis were elected by fans from the World Series champion Red Sox. Ortiz has an injured wrist and AL manager Terry Francona of Boston said that Texas' Milton Bradley would take over as the designated hitter.
Boston outfielder J.D. Drew, catcher Jason Varitek and closer Jonathan Papelbon were picked by a vote of AL players.
Rodriguez, the Yankees third baseman, received the most votes overall with 3,934,518. Philadelphia second baseman Chase Utley led the NL with 3,889,602.
The AL starting lineup: Youkilis at first base, Pedroia at second base, Jeter at shortstop, Rodriguez at third base, outfielders Josh Hamilton of Texas, Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle and Ramirez, and Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer.
Starting for the NL: Houston first baseman Lance Berkman, Utley at second base, Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez and Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones, with Soriano, Fukudome and Braun in the outfield.
"The beauty of it, the fans got to vote eight, the players got to vote 16, at the end of the day, the challenges you have from this seat is you have to make sure there's a representative from each team," Hurdle said.
Fan voting for the starters ended Wednesday.
Griffey was second in the NL balloting released Monday, leading Braun by about 167,000 votes. But Braun wound up winning among NL outfielders while Griffey finished 87,000 behind Fukudome.
Pedroia beat out Texas' Ian Kinsler by about 34,000 votes in the closest race while Hanley Ramirez held off Milwaukee's J.J. Hardy and Houston's Miguel Tejada at shortstop. Tejada was taken six months after his name showed up in the Mitchell Report on drugs in baseball.
An Internet vote will be held this week to select the final player on each team.
The AL candidates for the last spot: Outfielders Dye and Jose Guillen, first baseman Jason Giambi, second baseman Brian Roberts and third baseman Evan Longoria.
The NL candidates: Outfielders Pat Burrell, Corey Hart, Carlos Lee and Aaron Roward and third baseman David Wright.
Among the position players left off the team: Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee, hitting .302 with 15 homers and 52 RBIs going into Sunday, Colorado third baseman Garrett Atkins (.311, 12 HRs, 50 RBIs), Detroit outfielder Magglio Ordonez (.307, 12, 50) and Boston third baseman Mike Lowell (.302, 13, 54).
Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka (9-1, 3.12 ERA) and St. Louis' Kyle Lohse (10-2, 3.61) were among the pitchers left out.
Once again, the league that wins the All-Star game will get home-field advantage in the World Series.
The AL has not lost an All-Star game since 1996 at Veterans Stadium. Since then, the AL has won 10 and tied one.
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