The
2004 National League All Star team was an easier team for
voters to forecast than the American League. Unlike the
AL, the National League team has 4 players who were selected unanimously
by their peers. At 1B, Carlos Delgado of the Doolie
Superbas took home all 7 first place votes. Delgado is
batting .287 with 19 HR and 50 RBI, while all world outfielder
Albert Pujols of the San Francisco Seals will start in
LF. Pujols is currently the National Lea gues
Triple Crown threat, batting .346 with 28 HR and 78 RBI.
Other players voted in unanimously were C Jorge Posada
(.307-15-45) and CF Carlos Beltran (.315-13-40) of the Moon
Raiders. SS Derek Jeter (.335-8-26) of the Chemung
Crawdads and 2B Marcus Giles (.287-8-33) of the Beartooth
Bitteroots make a great double play combination. 3B Mike
Lowell (.318-16-49) anchors the hot corner for the NL.
Joining Pujols and Beltran in
the outfield will be RF Magglio Ordonez (.303-9-48) of the
Crawdads. The designated hitter for the game will be
determined based on the reserves selected by the NL
skipper.
The race to name the NL Starter
was not even close. LHP Ted Lilly (13-0 2.45 ERA) took
home 6 of 7 first place votes. The funny think about
Lilly is he wasn't even selected on one owners ballot, go
figure! Matt Mantei 3-2 21 Saves, 1.21 ERA) of the
Crawdads edged out Shigetoshi Hasegawa
(3-0 17 Saves, 0.89 ERA) of the San Francisco Seals to become
the teams closer.
Note: Only 7 teams
participated in the voting. Some teams did not
select 3 players at each position as well.
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