Sun Jul 6 17:54:41 2008

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All-Star rosters revealed

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New York, NY (Sports Network) - Major League Baseball has announced the rosters for the 2008 All-Star Game, and the squads are filled with familiar names as well as seven first-time starters.

The 79th Mid-Summer Classic will be played July 15 at Yankee Stadium, and a member of the Bronx Bombers finished as the leading vote-getter in fan balloting.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will make his 12th All-Star appearance and 10th start for the American League after earning the most votes from the fans with 3,934,518.

Teammate Derek Jeter will join Rodriguez on the left side of the American League infield at shortstop, while four members of the arch-rival Boston Red Sox also earned starting berths for the AL.

Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis and second baseman Dustin Pedroia will each make their initial All-Star appearances, while Manny Ramirez will start in the outfield in his 12th All-Star Game. David Ortiz was selected as the designated hitter, but will not play because of a wrist injury.

The remainder of the American League starters are Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer, Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton and Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki. Hamilton is also a first-time All-Star.

Philadelphia second baseman Chase Utley was the leading vote-getter for all National League players, garnering 3,889,602 tallies. He will be joined in the NL infield by Houston first baseman Lance Berkman, Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez and Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones.

The Senior Circuit outfield will consist of Milwaukee's Ryan Braun and a pair of Chicago Cubs in Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome. The NL catcher will be Cubs rookie Geovany Soto.

Soto, Fukudome, Braun and Ramirez will be making their first appearances in the All-Star Game.

The Cubs have seven players on the National League squad, as third baseman Aramis Ramirez was selected as a reserve and Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Kerry Wood were chosen for the pitching staff.

The other NL reserves are catchers Russell Martin of the Dodgers and Brian McCann of the Braves; first basemen Albert Pujols of St. Louis and Adrian Gonzalez of San Diego; second baseman Dan Uggla of Florida; shortstops Cristian Guzman of Washington and Miguel Tejada of Houston; and outfielders Matt Holliday of Colorado, Ryan Ludwick of St. Louis and Nate McLouth of Pittsburgh.

Joining the three Cubs pitchers will be Colorado's Aaron Cook, Arizona's Dan Haren and Brandon Webb, Philadelphia's Brad Lidge, San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson, Milwaukee's Ben Sheets, Cincinnati's Edinson Volquez and Billy Wagner of the New York Mets.

The American League pitching staff will consist of Oakland's Justin Duchscherer, Toronto's Roy Halladay, Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir, Cleveland's Cliff Lee, Minnesota's Joe Nathan, Boston's Jonathan Papelbon, Baltimore's George Sherrill, Kansas City's Joakim Soria, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees and three Angels -- Francisco Rodriguez, Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders.

Reserves for the AL will be catchers Dioner Navarro of Tampa Bay and Jason Varitek of Boston; first baseman Justin Morneau of Minnesota; second baseman Ian Kinsler of Texas; shortstop Michael Young of the Rangers; third basemen Joe Crede of the White Sox and Carlos Guillen of Detroit; outfielders J.D. Drew of Boston, Carlos Quentin of the White Sox and Grady Sizemore of Cleveland; and Texas designated hitter Milton Bradley.

Each team will have an additional player, as voted again by the fans.

The American League choices for the final player are Tampa Bay rookie Evan Longoria, Yankees slugger Jason Giambi, Baltimore second baseman Brian Roberts, White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye and Royals outfielder Jose Guillen.

The five National League choices are Mets third baseman David Wright, Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell, Milwaukee's Corey Hart, Giants outfielder Aaron Rowand and Astros slugger Carlos Lee.

Balloting for the final player began Sunday and will continue through 5 p.m. (et) on Thursday July 10.