CANO, LONGORIA HEADLINE ALL-STAR VOTING BY BASEBALL BLOGGERS ALLIANCE
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.com. The BBA can be found on Twitter by the handle @baseballblogs and by the hashmark #bbba. Members of the BBA may be heard at Blog Talk Radio each Tuesday night with their call-in show, BBA Baseball Talk.
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