Five Sox lead in All-Star balloting

SEATTLE - Five Red Sox are in the lead in the first American League balloting results for the 79th All-Star Game (July 15 at Yankee Stadium), major league baseball announced today.

DH David Ortiz, an AL All-Star each of the last four seasons, has received the most votes among all American Leaguers with 556,567. Outfielder Manny Ramirez, an 11-time AL All-Star, has the next highest total with 539,122 votes. The right side of the Boston infield is currently intact as Kevin Youkilis (419,813 votes) and Dustin Pedroia (384,648) could make their first All-Star appearance.

Jason Varitek, a two-time All-Star, has drawn 288,464 votes, first among catchers, but it is a much more heated race.

The other AL leaders are outfielders Ichiro Suzuki (284,763 votes) of the Mariners and Vladimir Guerrero (274,827) of the Angels. Magglio Ordoņez of the Tigers is fourth among AL outfielders with 236,890 votes, followed by Bobby Abreu (233,147) of the Yankees and Josh Hamilton (229,711) of the Rangers.

Yankees Alex Rodriguez (third base) and Derek Jeter (shortstop) also lead their positions.