AL All-Star Team

Here's my choices for the AL All-Star Team. I've tried to keep in mind who is leading in voting plus the one rep per team rule in making selections.

C - Jason Varitek Boston
1st - Mark Teixeira Texas
2nd - Brian Roberts Baltimore
SS - Miguel Tejada Baltimore
3rd - Alex Rodriguez New York
OF - Manny Ramirez Boston
OF - Ichiro Suzuki Seattle
OF - Vlade Guerrero Anaheim
DH - David Ortiz Boston

Bench - Ivan Rodriguez C Detroit, Travis Hafner 1st Cleveland, Alfonso Soriano 2nd Texas, Brandon Inge 3rd Detroit, Derek Jeter SS New York, Johnny Damon OF Boston, Mark Kotsay OF Oakland, Carl Crawford OF Tampa Bay, Emil Brown OF Kansas City

Pitchers - Roy Halliday SP Toronto, Johan Santana SP Minnesota, Kenny Rogers SP Texas, Matt Clement SP Boston, Mariano Rivera RP New York, BJ Ryan RP Baltimore, Eddie Guardado RP Seattle

This roster has at least one player from each team but carries only 7 pitchers. Some notes on the roster:

* Tino Martinez is leading the voting at 1st but I don't expect that to last. He clearly doesn't deserve the honor.

* Pudge Rodriguez over Jorge Posada is a coin flip but remember that the game is in Detroit - so Pudge will get the nod.

* I took Mark Kotsay as the rep for Oakland over Eric Cavez but I would not be surprised if Chavez got the nod over the more deserving Kotsay because Chavez is the poster boy for Oakland while Kotsay may be traded if they can't sign him. If Chavez is the pick then host team favorite Brandon Inge probably gets bumped at third and Torii Hunter (my toughest ommission) is in at an outfield slot.

* Can you believe that Johnny Damon has only made one all-star team? Terry Francona as manager of the team will make sure Damon is on the team - an honor he well deserves.

* I picked Carl Crawford over Julio Lugo as the rep for Tampa Bay. That could go either way. Extra SS over extra OF? Six of one vs. six of another. Francona could shock us and take Lugo over Jeter for the bench but I don't see that happening.

* Emil Brown was my pick as rep rom KC and I'm sticking to it.

* For pitchers - I could see Rogers being left off but I picked him for my team. Brian Wickman could be the rep from Cleveland just as it easily could be Travis Hafner or CC Sabathia. If Wickman is chosed then Hafner gets bumped from the team by Paul Konerko from Chicago.

* I picked Guardado over Francisco Cordero, Joe Nathan and Frankie Rodriguez. I'd pick all these guys over Everyday Eddie if I were a GM of a team and I needed a closer but Eddie has had the best first half of 2005 among the group. Any one of those guys (plus Keith Foulke as manager's choice) could replace Kenny Rogers on the roster.

* Matt Clement has been Boston's ace so far this year and Francona better reward him with an all-star berth.

* Tough ommissions - Jon Garland, Aaron Rowand, Mark Buehrle, Gary Sheffield, Melvin Mora and Richie Sexson. Garland has fallen off his hot pace and teammate Buehrle is actually more deserving (they probably cancel each other out) meanwhile Rowand is too young and doesn't get the nod over either Damon or Hunter (who I hope makes the team) but one of these guys has to make the team as the rep from the White Sox if Konerko is not the back-up at 1st. Sheffield will go ballistic when he doesn't make he team and blame it on racists from Boston (only half joking on this). Mora gets no respect and Sexon is just hitting his weight.