Rangers Sending 5, Maybe 6, To All-Star Game
The Texas Rangers today had five players selected to play for the American League in the 2010 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which will take place on Tuesday, July 13 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
The complete American and National League teams were announced today by Major League Baseball.
Designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero and outfielder Josh Hamilton was elected as A.L. starters in fan balloting with both players receiving the most votes at their respective positions. Shortstop Elvis Andrus, reliever Neftali Feliz, and second baseman Ian Kinsler were selected by vote of the league's players, managers, and coaches.
In addition, third baseman Michael Young was named as one of the five players in contention for the 34th and final spot on the American League team. That All-Star will be selected in on-line fan balloting in the 2010 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote on texasrangers.com and mlb.com that begins at 1:15 p.m. CT today and concludes on Thursday, July 8 at 3:00 p.m. CT.
Fans can also vote for Young on their mobile phones. Mobile voting is exclusive to Sprint, Nextel, and Boost subscribers. From these mobile phones, fans can text A5 to 1122 to cast votes for Young. Standard rate messaging fees apply, and fans are asked to check with their carriers.
To encourage fans to vote for Young on-line, the Rangers are offering an All-Star sweepstakes prize of a suite for 20 for a Rangers game in 2010. Fans will be automatically registered for the sweepstakes each of the first 25 times they vote for Young in the All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote on texasrangers.com/allstar. THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE NUMBER OF TIMES THAT FANS MAY VOTE IN THE ALL-STAR GAME SPRINT FINAL VOTE. However, fans will be registered to win for the sweepstakes just the first 25 times they vote for Young. All rules for the sweepstakes can be found on texasrangers.com/allstar.
The five overall All-Stars named today match a Rangers team record first accomplished in 2004 while the four position players selected tie the club mark set in 2008.
Guerrero earned his 9th All-Star selection and 6th as an elected starter, by receiving 3,926,103 votes to outdistance the Angels Hideki Matsui by over two million votes in the designated hitter fan balloting. Guerrero was elected as an outfield starter for the N.L. with the Expos in 2002 and for the A.L. with the Angels in 2004-05-06-07. He was also a reserve on the N.L. squad in 1999-2000-01 as he will make his first All-Star appearance since 2007. Guerrero is 5-for-18 (.278) with a home run (2006) in eight All-Star games. He leads the majors with 70 RBI while batting .340 with 18 homers in 76 games in 2010.
Hamilton earned a starting position for the third consecutive year by leading all A.L. outfielders with 2,840,816 votes, ahead of Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki (2,544,564) and Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford (2,235,597). He is just the third Ranger ever elected to start more than one All-Star Game, joining Ivan Rodriguez (9 from 1992-2001) and Alex Rodriguez (3 from 2001-03). Hamilton is 2-for-6 with an RBI in starts in center field in 2008 at Yankee Stadium and 2009 at Busch Stadium. He is batting .340 with 19 homers and 59 RBI in 77 games this season.
This is just the 3rd time that the Rangers have had 2 players elected to start an All-Star Game in fan balloting, joining 1998 (Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez) and 2001 (Ivan Rodriguez and Alex Rodriguez).
Andrus placed 2nd in the player/manager/coaches voting at shortstop behind elected starter Derek Jeter of New York to earn an All-Star berth in his 2nd major league season. He is hitting .292 with 25 RBI in 77 games in 2010. Feliz finished 2nd in the player/manager/coaches voting for A.L. relievers behind New York's Mariano Rivera. He becomes the 3rd Rangers rookie ever selected as an All-Star, joining catcher Jim Sundberg in 1974 and pitcher Jeff Zimmerman in 1999. Feliz is tied for the A.L. lead with 22 saves and has a 1-2 record and 3.00 ERA in 37 appearances this season.
Kinsler was named to the 2010 All-Star team to replace the injured Dustin Pedroia of Boston after placing 3rd in the player/manager/coaches voting at 2nd base behind New York's Robinson Cano and Pedroia. It is Kinsler's 2nd All-Star selection as he was 1-for-5 as a reserve in 2008. He is batting .299 with 3 homers and 26 RBI in 57 games in 2010.
Young is seeking his 7th consecutive All-Star selection. He was selected as a reserve at shortstop from 2004-08 and started at 3rd base in place of the injured Evan Longoria of Tampa Bay in 2009. The 6 All-Star selections are the second most in Rangers history behind ten for Ivan Rodriguez. Young is 4-for-12 with a double, triple, and 3 RBI in 5 previous All-Star appearances (DNP in 2007). He was the game's MVP in 2006 with his game-winning two-run triple in the top of the ninth inning. He is hitting .310 with 11 homers and 51 RBI in 80 games this season.
Young joins OF Delmon Young of the Twins, 1B Paul Konerko of the White Sox, OF Nick Swisher of the Yankees, and 1B Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox as the candidates for the A.L.'s final roster spot. This marks the 2nd time that the Rangers have had a player in the final All-Star roster spot on-line voting as Ian Kinsler placed 2nd to Detroit's Brandon Inge in 2009.
ALL-STAR NOTES: Andrus (21 years, 10 months) and Feliz (22 years, 2 months) are the 2nd and 3rd youngest Rangers All-Stars ever behind Ivan Rodriguez (20 years, 8 months) in 1992…Andrus is the 5th Rangers shortstop to earn an All-Star team berth, joining Toby Harrah (1975-76); Bert Campaneris (1977); Alex Rodriguez (2001-03); and Michael Young (2004-08)...The Rangers have had at least two All-Star selections in 7 of the last 8 years beginning in 2003....the 5 Rangers All-Stars in 2004 were Hank Blalock, Francisco Cordero, Kenny Rogers, Alfonso Soriano, and Michael Young…the 4 position players on the 2008 All-Star team were Milton Bradley, Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, and Young.
