American League Starters :
1B David Ortiz, Boston
2B Mark “When I Talk To” Loretta , Boston
3B Alex Rodriguez, Yankees (apparently, there’s a powerful block of voters outside the NY area)
SS Derek Jeter, Yankees
C Ivan Rodriguez, Tigers
OF Vlad Guerrero, Angels
OF Manny Ramirez, Boston
OF Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle

AL Pitchers

SP Mark Buerhle, White Sox
SP Jose Contreras, White Sox
SP Roy Halladay, Toronto
SP Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay
SP Mark Redman, Kansas City
SP Kenny Rogers, Detroit
SP Johan Santana, Minnesota
SP Barry Zito, Oakland

RP Bobby Jenks, White Sox
RP Jonathan Papelbon, Boston
RP Mariano Rivera, Yankees
RP B.J. Ryan, Toronto

AL Reserves :

1B Paul Konerko, White Sox
1B Jim Thome, White Sox
2B Robinson Cano, Yanks (injured!)
2B Jose Lopez, Seattle
3B Troy Glaus, Toronto
SS Miguel Tejada, Baltimore
SS Michael Young, Texas
C Joe Mauer, Minnesota
OF Jermaine Dye, White Sox
OF Alex Rios, Toronto (injured)
OF Gary Matthews Jr., Texas
OF Grady Sizemore, Cleveland
OF Vernon Wells, Toronto

I guess the AL can’t have five first basemen, but Nick Swisher and a certain Yankee who couldn’t spell “HGH” if you spotted him the, uh, well, never mind. He could probably spell “HGH.” But Giambi and Swisher certainly deserve some sort of recognition (other than an indictment, I mean).

No Francisco Liriano? As long as there’s room for Mark Redman (above) , that’s all that really matters.

National League Starters

1B Albert Pujols, St. Louis
2B Chase Utley, Philadelphia
3B David Wright, Mets
SS Jose Reyes, Mets
C Paul Lo Duca, Mets
OF Jason Bay, Pirates
OF Carlos Beltran, Mets
OF Alfonso Soriano, Nationals

Pitchers

SP Carlos Zambrano, Cubs
SP Bronson Arroyo, Reds
SP Brad Penny, Dodgers
SP Tom Glavine, Mets
SP Pedro Martinez, Mets
SP Chris Carpenter, St. Louis
SP Jason Schmidt, San Francisco
SP Brandon Webb, Arizona
RP Brian Fuentes, Colorado
RP Derrick Turnbow, Milwaukee
RP Tom Gordon, Philadelphia
RP Trevor Hoffman, San Diego

NL Reserves

1B Lance Berkman, Houston
1B Ryan Howard, Philadelphia
2B Dan Uggla, Florida
3B Miguel Cabrera, Florida
3B Freddy Sanchez, Pittsburgh
3B Scott Rolen, St. Louis
SS Edgar Renteria, Atlanta
C Brian McCann, Atlanta
OF Andruw Jones, Atlanta
OF Matt Holliday, Colorado
OF Carlos Lee, Milwaukee

The Braves are 12 games under .500 and 14 games out of first place. So I think it is terrific that Phil Garner found a way to put 3 Atlanta position players on the All-Star team.

John Kruk would’ve been even more charitable. He argued tonight that Garner should’ve acknowledged Craig Biggio. I somehow suspect there will not be a chorus of voices around the country joining the Krukster in this stance.

The NL is taking 4 third basemen, but 3 guys at first. No disrepect to Freddie Sanchez (well, maybe a little) but Nomar Garciaparra is leading the league in hitting and his team is a game and a half out of first place. Pittsburgh, conversely, could well be 30 games under .500 by the night of the All-Star game. I’m not sure that even the most ardent Pirates fan would argue they deserve more than one representative at the Mid-Summer classic.