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Varitek No Longer Leads In All-Star Voting; Youkilis, Pedroia See Their Leads Shrink
By Administrator | June 25, 2008
Once upon a time, the Red Sox seemed to have a stranglehold on five of the nine starting offensive positions for the 2008 All-Star Game, to be played on July 15th at Yankee Stadium… but as voting heads into the final stretch, the Sox are in danger of having only TWO starters in the Mid-Summer Classic.
David Ortiz (DH) and Manny Ramirez (OF) continue to lead the balloting at their respective positions, but Jason Varitek has fallen behind Minnesota’s Joe Mauer at catcher, and both Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia have seen their leads sliced to a fraction of what they once were.
In Minnesota, the Twins are urging fans to cast ballots for Mauer and 1B Justin Morneau — and Twins fans are obviously listening as they have helped Mauer move past Varitek and have enabled Morneau to cut Youkilis’ lead in half. Meanwhile, the folks in Texas have allowed 2B Ian Kinsler to move within striking distance of Pedroia.
Has Red Sox Nation grown complacent?
Is Red Sox Nation assuming that their Boys of Summer have the starting positions ‘in the bag’, so to speak? If so, just remember what Tony Randall told Jack Klugman about assuming…
Youkilis and Pedoia haven’t surrendered their lead, and they may still hold on to their starting gigs, but Mauer accumulated more than 323,000 votes last week to eliminate a 30,000 vote deficit and take a 44,775 lead over the Red Sox captain.
Meanwhile, with 424,000 votes last week, Derek Jeter zipped past David Ortiz to grab the lead in overall votes.
Red Sox Nation can go here to vote for Pedroia, Varitek, Youkilis and the other Red Sox players on the ballot.
Fans can cast 25 votes for their favorite players at MLB.com and the 30 club websites through next Wednesday (July 2nd) at 11:59 PM ET.
All-Star starters will be announced during the 2008 All-Star Game Selection Show presented by Chevrolet on TBS on Sunday, July 6.
Topics: Sox Players |
