Just as the American League All Star fan voting is seemingly dominated by fans of the World Series champion New York Yankees, the National League voting is lopsided favoring the NL champion Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils have players at or near the top of the ballot at every position. At first base, the fans have gotten it right so far. Albert Pujols of St. Louis, the best player in the NL, has a sizeable lead over Philly’s Ryan Howard. I’m sure both players will be on the all star squad and Pujols should be the starter. Joey Votto of the Reds deserves some consideration also.  At second base Chase Utley of the Phils leads the voting, and is deserving, but he’s injured right now and the second place player, Atlanta’s Martin Prado, is a capable replacement. Jimmy Rollins slightly trails Florida’s Hanley Ramirez at shortstop, and the vote is right in my mind, despite the negative attention Ramirez brought on himself early in the season. Placido Polanco of the Phils leads the 3rd base voting, but my choice would be the player in 2nd place, the Mets’ David Wright. My choice for NL catcher would be a sentimental one, currently in third place on the ballot, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez of Washington.  Two of the three players leading in the outfield voting are good choices – Ryan Braun of the Brewers and the Dodgers’ Andre Ethier. The third player is Atlanta rookie Jason Heyward but he has said he won’t play in the game because he’s nursing an injury.  For this last starting spot, I’ll go with a dark horse, the Cubs’ Marlon Byrd.

The fan voting for the major league All Star game is coming to a close soon, and as usual, a lot of the voting is a popularity contest rather than players being voted in on merit. It’s not a big deal when this happens because the all-star game managers usually right any wrongs when they pick the backup players. Looking at the American League voting so far, obviously the New York Yankees are dominating. They could wind up with starters at every infield position by the time the voting ends. In my mind, the Yanks’ middle infielders are deserving of their spots. Robinson Cano is having an outstanding season and is clearly the top choice at 2nd base. There was a time when it seemed that every team in the AL had a great shortstop, and every year there was debate as to who deserved to be the all-star starter. Well, Derek Jeter is the last man standing among that group and deserves the starting nod for longevity alone. Throw in the fact that he’s still an outstanding player and the choice is clear. At third base Evan Longoria holds a slight lead over the Yanks’ Alex Rodriguez and I’m hoping it stays that way. Some of Longoria’s votes may be from people who thought they were voting for the star of Desperate Housewives to win an emmy but that’s OK, as long as it keeps ARod out of the lineup that’s fine with me. At first base Mark Texiera is a good hitter and an outstanding fielder but his stats so far this season don’t add up to an All-Star game starting spot. I like Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, and Chicago’s Paul Konerko is always underrated and should be recognized also. Joe Mauer of the Twins is a lock at catcher and that pick is a no-brainer. In the outfield Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle is an automatic choice, but I’m not a fan of either Carl Crawford or Nelson Cruz, who stand 2 and 3 in the voting at this point. My choices would be Torii Hunter of the Angels (especially with the game being played in Anaheim) and Cleveland’s Shin- Soo Choo, for no other reason than I am a die-hard Indians’ fan. I would say the designated hitter choice of the fans so far, ex-Angel Vladimir Guerrero, is a good one also.