Cardinals' Pujols headlines 2009 All-Star starters

Baseball Betting Lines

07/05/2009 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major League Baseball has announced the rosters for the 2009 All-Star Game, and the squads are filled with many familiar names, as only a pair of first-time starters were selected.

The 80th Mid-Summer Classic will be played July 14 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, and for the second season in a row a member of the host team was the top vote-getter overall. New York's Alex Rodriguez received the most votes for last year's game at Yankee Stadium.

Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols will make his eighth All-Star appearance and sixth start -- fifth as a first baseman -- after garnering 5,397,374 votes, the second-most in history behind Ken Griffey, Jr., who had 6,079,688 votes in 1994.

Pujols' teammate, catcher Yadier Molina, will make his first All-Star Game appearance, as St. Louis is one of three National League teams to have two starters in the game.

The defending champion Philadelphia Phillies and their NL East arch-rival New York Mets also each had a pair of starters selected. Philadelphia outfielder Raul Ibanez and second baseman Chase Utley will be in the lineup, while New York outfielder Carlos Beltran and third baseman David Wright were also voted in by the fans.

This marks Ibanez's first All-Star Game selection in his 14-season career.

The rest of the National League starting lineup is filled out by Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez and Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun.

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter headlined the American League squad, receiving a league-high 4,851,899 votes to earn his 10th All-Star Game selection -- his fifth as a starter.

Jeter will be joined in the infield by new teammate Mark Teixeira, who is an All-Star for the second time. Filling out the rest of the infield are the reigning AL MVP -- Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia -- and last year's AL final vote winner -- Rays third baseman Evan Longoria.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer is the AL's starting backstop, while the Junior Circuit's starting outfield will consist of Boston's Jason Bay, Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki and Texas' Josh Hamilton.

The AL champion Rays will have four total players to join their manager, Joe Maddon, in St. Louis, as shortstop Jason Bartlett and outfielders Ben Zobrist and Carl Crawford were selected as reserves for the All-Star squad.

The other American League reserves are Baltimore outfielder Adam Jones; Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis; Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez; Detroit outfielder Curtis Granderson; Angels outfielder Torii Hunter; Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau; Texas third baseman Michael Young and Toronto second baseman Aaron Hill.

Headlining the AL pitching staff is 42-year-old Tim Wakefield, who will make his first All-Star Game appearance in his 17th MLB season. Wakefield, a knuckleballer who recently set a Red Sox record for most career starts, is the second oldest player to make his first All-Star Game appearance to Satchel Paige, who was 46 years old.

Joining Wakefield are Kansas City's Zack Greinke; Toronto's Roy Halladay; Detroit's Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson; the White Sox's Mark Buehrle; Boston's Jonathan Papelbon and Josh Beckett; Minnesota's Joe Nathan; the Yankees' Mariano Rivera, who is making his 10th All-Star Game appearance; the Angels' Brian Fuentes; Oakland's Andrew Bailey, who is the only rookie in the game, and Seattle's Felix Hernandez.

Arizona's 21-year-old outfielder Justin Upton is one of four first-time All- Stars among the National League reserves. Joining Upton in that respect are Colorado outfielder Brad Hawpe, Houston outfielder Hunter Pence and Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

Accompanying them on the team will be Atlanta catcher Brian McCann; Houston shortstop Miguel Tejada; Dodgers second baseman Orlando Hudson; Milwaukee first baseman Prince Fielder; Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard; Pittsburgh second baseman Freddy Sanchez and San Diego first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

The National League pitching staff will consist of San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain; the Cubs' Ted Lilly; Arizona's Dan Haren; the Dodgers' Chad Billingsley and Jonathan Broxton; Florida's Josh Johnson; St. Louis' Ryan Franklin; San Diego's Heath Bell; the Mets' Francisco Rodriguez and Johan Santana; Cincinnati's Francisco Cordero and Colorado's Jason Marquis.

Each team will have an additional player, as voted again by the fans.

The National League choices are Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds, Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp, Philadelphia outfielder Shane Victorino, San Francisco third baseman Pablo Sandoval and Washington shortstop Cristian Guzman.

The American League candidates are Angels infielder Chone Figgins, Detroit third baseman Brandon Inge, Texas second baseman Ian Kinsler, Toronto outfielder Adam Lind and Tampa Bay first baseman Carlos Pena.

Balloting for the final player began Sunday and will continue through 4 p.m. (et) on Thursday, July 9.