Five All-Stars for Sox
David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, Manny Ramirez, Josh Beckett, and Jon Papelbon were all named to the roster of the American League All-Star team today. The Red Sox tied the Detroit Tigers for most participants with five players in the 78th Midsummer Classic.
Ortiz topped the fan balloting at first base and won the right to start for the American League on July 10 in San Francisco. With 2,857,848 votes, Big Papi finished comfortably ahead of Minnesota’s Justin Morneau (1,780,118).
Ramirez did not finish among the American League’s top-three outfielders in fan voting, but the Sox leftfielder was selected to his 12th All-Star Game by his peers. Papelbon and Lowell were also voted onto the team by the players.
One notable Red Sox omission from the AL team is first baseman Kevin Youkilis. Youkilis is hitting .326 with 9 home runs and 43 RBIs this season. He faced stiff competition at that position with teammate Ortiz and last year’s MVP Morneau.
Daisuke Matsuzaka (9-5, 3.80 ERA, 110 strikeouts) is also not on the roster.
Red Sox fans have the chance to put one more of their players on the AL roster. Reliever Hideki Okajima (0.90 ERA, 36 strikeouts in 40 innings) is part of MLB.com’s “Final Vote contest.” Okajima is competing for fan votes with Jeremy Bonderman, Kelvim Escobar, Roy Halladay, and Pat Neshek.
You can vote for Okajima here.
The complete All-Star rosters can be found here.
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