New
York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano was the leading vote-getter
in All-Star Game ballots cast by the Baseball Bloggers
Alliance, outpacing Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria.
Cano received a whopping 45 votes, with only Longoria and Texas's Josh
Hamilton also reaching the 35-vote level in the American League.
Starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies led the
National League with 36 votes.
Cano was
the clear choice at second base by the BBA, with only the one vote
received by each of Seattle's Chone Figgins, Texas's Ian Kinsler, and
Boston's Dustin Pedroia keeping Cano from an unanimous decision.
Longoria's 39 votes outpaced Boston's Adrian Beltre (with six), with
Michael Young of the Texas Rangers a distant third with two votes.
The rest of the American League
infield, if selected by the BBA, would feature Minnesota's Justin
Morneau, who just edged out Detroit's Miguel Cabrera by two votes for
the first base nod, and New York Yankees' captain Derek Jeter at
shortstop, as he more comfortably finished ahead of Elvis Andrus of the
Rangers and Alex Gonzalez of the Toronto Blue Jays.
While the Rangers were close with
many of their infielders, it is in the outfield that they finally break
through, as Hamilton led all outfielders with his 35 votes. He would be
joined in the outfield by Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford and Seattle's
Ichiro Suzuki, who used a late surge to surpass Alex Rios of the Chicago
White Sox for the final slot. Texas also would be honored with the
designated hitter, as Vladimir Guerrero easily outpolled the Red Sox's
David Ortiz for that position.
The battery for the American
League was Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins and David Price of the Rays.
Mauer won handily over Boston's Victor Martinez, while Price got the
nod to start over the Mariners' Cliff Lee.
Races in the National League were a
little more competitive.
The closest race was in the middle of the diamond. As of right before
the deadline, Philadelphia's Chase Utley and Atlanta's Martin Prado were
tied with 16 votes apiece. The late votes pushed Utley over the top
19-16.
Other close races included third
base, which saw New York's David Wright take out Washington's Ryan
Zimmerman by four votes and Cincinnati's Scott Rolen by six, and the
last outfield slot. Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers and Andre
Ethier were overwhelming picks, receiving 30 votes each, but Chicago's
Marlon Byrd slipped past Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen by two votes in
the last surge of voting to take the final position.
Rounding
out the National League selections were Colorado catcher Miguel Olivo,
St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols and Florida shortstop Hanley
Ramirez. Jimenez was the overwhelming choice to take the ball for the
senior circuit, receiving over 30 more votes than his closest
competitor.
All members of the BBA were eligible to make their selections. Bloggers
were allowed to vote for either the American League, the National
League, or both leagues if they so desired. Ballots were published on
the individual blogs as a show of transparency.
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in 2009 and
numbers 184 blogs covering all major league teams and various other
aspects of baseball among its members, as well as blogs and sites that
have affiliated as Friends of the BBA. The official website of the BBA
is located at www.baseballbloggersalliance.
The list
of participating blogs:
American
League (48)
National League (52)
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