The Official Site of Chase Utley

Mon, Jun 1st 2009, 12:00

Chase holds strong lead in all-star balloting

When Charlie Manuel fills out his National League lineup card for the All-Star Game next month, he might have more than one familiar name to write down.

His NL East-leading Phillies are starting to pile up some votes.

While second baseman Chase Utley already was off to the early lead at his position, newcomer Raul Ibanez has made a move into a potential starting slot in the outfield and mainstay Jimmy Rollins is gaining, moving up to second place at shortstop behind Florida’s Hanley Ramirez in the latest voting results released Monday.

And if Albert Pujols wasn’t running away with the overall vote the way he is, Ryan Howard might be in consideration at first base — but he’s only in third, closely trailing the Brewers’ Prince Fielder by a little more than 2,000 votes.

Pujols remains the individual in sharp focus for the 80th Midsummer Classic, which will be played on his turf at Busch Stadium on July 14. He leads all vote-getters with 1,240,395.

After the first week, the Brewers were holding several of the No. 2 spots in voting, with outfielder Ryan Braun and shortstop J.J. Hardy the ones in position to start. Braun still leads in the outfield, but Hardy slipped to third, and after some home games to catch up, the Phillies made the noise.

No one more so than Ibanez, who leaped from sixth up to second — about 91,000 votes behind Braun — in the outfield race. Long a star offensive performer in the American League but never an All-Star, he might get his chance this year in the National League for the Phillies, who signed him as a free agent last offseason.

Ibanez has certainly held up his end of the bargain, batting .332 with 17 homers and 46 RBIs and a 1.079 on-base plus slugging percentage — third in the Majors.

Getting all the way to St. Louis will take more of the same — and more votes, of course — but that’s true for anyone.

A position-by-position snapshot of the NL:

• At first base, Pujols continues to dominate, followed by Fielder and Howard.

• At second base, Utley held on to the top spot but has a new pursuer in the Dodgers’ Orlando Hudson, in second. He’s followed by Milwaukee’s Rickie Weeks, second a week earlier.

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