All Stars Announced

[Raji]

San Francisco has its host for the All-Star Game.

Barry Bonds snuck past Alfonso Soriano into the third outfield position in National League All-Star voting, assuring himself of a starting spot on the roster in his hometown on July 10. The contest's starters were announced on Sunday.

Bonds, a 14-time All-Star and seven-time MVP, had been running fourth in voting. If he had not overtaken the Cubs' Soriano, the Giants slugger could have been left off the roster. Reserves were named by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and his staff. Bonds is batting .306 with 40 RBIs, but most importantly, his 16 home runs leave him just five behind Hank Aarons' all-time mark.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who leads baseball with 28 home runs, was the top vote-getter overall. He's also hitting .327 and has driven in 79 runs.

Joining Rodriguez as AL starters will be Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez and his teammate, second baseman Placido Polanco. The Yanks' Derek Jeter will play alongside A-Rod at shortstop. The outfield will consist of the Angels' Vladimir Guerrero, the Tigers' Magglio Ordonez and the Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki. Even though he plays primarily designated hitter, Boston's David Ortiz got the nod at first base.

Ordonez is a first-time starter, and Polanco is a first-time All-Star.

On the NL side, the Dodgers' Russell Martin gets his first start at catcher, while Prince Fielder of the Brewers will be at first base for the first time. The Phillies' Chase Utley will start at second, with the Mets' Jose Reyes at short. His teammate, David Wright, gets the nod at third base.

The NL's infield is the youngest since 1970.

Ken Griffey Jr., who hit his 585th homer on Sunday, and New York's Carlos Beltran will start alongside Bonds.

Eleven-game winner Josh Beckett of the Red Sox anchors the AL pitching staff. The other starters are the Angels' John Lackey, Twins' Johan Santana, Tigers' Justin Verlander, Indians' C.C. Sabathia, A's Dan Haren and Royals' Gil Meche. The Red Sox's closer also makes it. Jonathan Papelbon leads a group that includes the Mariners' J.J. Putz, Angels' Francisco Rodriguez and White Sox's Bobby Jenks.

Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, who surpassed 500 saves this season headlines the NL bullpen. He'll get help from the Mets' Billy Wagner, Brewers' Francisco Cordero, Rockies' Brian Fuentes, D-backs' Jose Valverde and Dodgers' Takashi Saito. The starters are led by Dodgers 10-game winner Brad Penny, Padres' Jake Peavy, Phillies' Cole Hamels, Brewers' Ben Sheets and Braves' eight-time All-Star John Smoltz.

The league also announced reserves -- chosen by La Russa and the Tigers' Jim Leyland -- for the Midsummer Classic:


AL Reserves
C: Cleveland's Victor Martinez
C: Yankees' Jorge Posada
1B: Minnesota's Justin Morneau
2B: Baltimore's Brian Roberts
3B: Boston's Mike Lowell
SS: Detroit's Carlos Guillen
SS: Texas' Michael Young
OF: Minnesota's Torii Hunter
OF: Boston's Manny Ramirez
OF: Tampa's Carl Crawford
OF: Toronto's Alex Rios
OF: Cleveland's Grady Sizemore



NL Reserves
C: Atlanta's Brian McCann
1B: St. Louis': Albert Pujols
1B: Chicago's Derrek Lee
1B: Washington's Dmitri Young
2B: Arizona's Orlando Hudson
2B: Pittsburgh's Freddy Sanchez
3B: Florida's Miguel Cabrera
SS: Milwaukee's J.J. Hardy
OF: Chicago's Alfonso Soriano
OF: Houston's Carlos Lee
OF: Philadelphia's Aaron Rowand
OF: Colorado's Matt Holliday


Fans can still vote one more player onto each roster in online voting, which ends at 6 p.m. on Thursday at MLB.com.

The candidates for the NL are Astros starter Roy Oswalt, Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano, Padres starter Chris Young, Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny and D-backs starter Brandon Webb, last year's Cy Young winner.

On the AL side, Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman takes on Angels starter Kelvim Escobar, Blue Jays starter Roy Halladay, Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima and Twins reliever Pat Neshek.



Raji