Bonds falls out of top three in OF voting for All-Star Game
June 11th, 2007
New York, NY (Sports Network) - San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds has fallen out of the top three in the voting for the National League All-Star Game, putting him in danger of not starting and possibly not even being selected to play in the contest at the Giants home ballpark.
Last week, Bonds was in third in the voting, just ahead of Alfonso Soriano of the Chicago Cubs. However, this week Soriano, who hit three homers in a game at Atlanta on Friday, has moved ahead of Bonds. Soriano has 693,255 votes, which is more than 42,000 ahead of the seven-time National League MVP.
The 78th All-Star Game is slated for Tuesday, July 10 at AT&T Park, but Bonds hasn't played in the Midsummer Classic the last two years. Even if the 13-time All-Star, who is currently fourth among outfielders in voting, isn't voted as a starter, he still could be selected for the game as a reserve.
New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran continues to lead all NL vote-getters with 1,017,795 tallies. Ken Griffey Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds is second among outfielders.
Russell Martin of the Dodgers moved up from third to first in voting among catchers with 615,406 votes, which is nearly 13,000 ahead of New York's Paul Lo Duca.
Philadelphia's Chase Utley (630,007) leads all second basemen, while two other Mets are also in the lead at their respective positions with third baseman David Wright (757,164) and shortstop Jose Reyes (752,923) holding healthy leads. St. Louis' Albert Pujols (645,967) leads all first basemen and is more than 47,000 votes ahead of Milwaukee's Prince Fielder, who is pacing the NL with 23 home runs.
La Russa won't say if he'd pick Bonds as All-Star alternate
June 12, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -Barry Bonds could become the home run king and fail to appear in an All-Star game in his own home park in the same season.
Although he's slowly closing in on Hank Aaron's career record, Bonds dropped into fourth place this week among NL outfielders in voting by fans, who will select the eight starters.
Players will elect eight more position players and eight pitchers for the game on July 10 in San Francisco's AT&T Park. Then St. Louis manager Tony La Russa, in conjunction with the commissioner's office, will select four pitchers and three non-pitchers.
And La Russa isn't saying what he might do if Bonds, a 13-time All-Star, is left out by players and fans.
``I'm not going to get into whether Barry Bonds is in,'' he said Tuesday. ``He might get voted in. I'm not going to get into that.''
La Russa helped lead the Cardinals to the World Series title last season, earning the right to manage the All-Star team with their victory in the NLCS.
``I'll get input from our coaches and MLB, whatever,'' he said. ``The more people who are involved, the better chance you don't miss somebody.''
In the latest balloting results released Monday, Alfonso Soriano of the Cubs had opened a 42,009-vote lead over Bonds. Mets standout Carlos Beltran led with 1,017,795 votes, followed by Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr. with 759,484.
Bonds hit his 747th career home run Monday night, leaving him eight behind Hank Aaron's major league record 755. It was only his second homer since May 8.
``You try to make the best choice you can for the last picks,'' La Russa said.