Sports

Longoria holds lead in final AL All-Star ballot vote

Tampa Bay Rays rookie third baseman Evan Longoria wasn’t on the radar when Major League Baseball released its initial All-Star fan ballots this season. In fact, he wasn’t even in the Majors.

Now, according to MLB.com, the former Long Beach State Dirtbag leads the voting as of July 9 after being named one of the five finalists for the 32nd and final roster spot on the American League All-Star team July 6.  

“Yeah, it’s awesome, I’m really looking forward to going if I go,” Longoria told MLB.com. “Obviously, it would be an opportunity of a lifetime. To be there my rookie year would be awesome.”  

Longoria is joined by Chicago White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye, Kansas City Royals outfielder Jose Guillen, Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts and New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi, who’s also an ex-Dirtbag.

Longoria, Dye and Giambi each had more than 3.75 million votes and were separated by just over 10 percent as of July 8.  The National League also has five finalists for its final roster spot.

The final All-Stars for both leagues are being determined via mobile phone and Internet voting on MLB.com, which ends today, July 10 at 2 p.m. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter. 

“I’m sure my mom has [been voting],” Longoria joked with reporters and Tampa Bay’s 10, a news station in Florida. “She’s probably online right now, been voting for the last hour. Yeah, I’m going to vote for myself, I won’t lie.”  

The AL, which is unbeaten in the last 11 All-Star Games including 10 wins and a tie in 2002, will face the NL in the 79th Midsummer Classic at Yankee Stadium in New York July 15. The game will be nationally-televised on FOX at 5 p.m.

Longoria didn’t appear on the initial ballot because he started the season in Triple-A Durham and could only be voted for via write-in by the fans.

He was then passed on by the players and managers in the selection process for the All-Star reserves July 6, but has since padded his stats with team-highs of 16 home runs (leads all ML rookies) and 53 RBIs (second among AL third basemen) to go with a .281 batting average in 80 games, while also playing Gold Glove-caliber defense with a .972 fielding percentage (second among AL third basemen) as of July 9.  

Now, the 22-year-old has a third shot at making the team, but may also be selected as an injury replacement should he not win the vote and someone were to get hurt.

As of July 9, Tampa Bay (55-35) was 50-30 since Longoria’s ML debut April 12. The early front-runner for the AL Rookie of the Year award is a big reason why the surprising Rays sport the Majors’ best record and sit atop the AL East this deep into the season for the first time in the franchise’s brief 11-year history. Tampa Bay, which was rewarded with just two All-Star selections, holds a two-game lead over Boston, which had seven players selected to the AL team.

Longoria’s immediate impact has been noticed beyond St. Petersburg, Fla., and Tropicana Field, also. When the Rays visited Anaheim for a series with the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels in early June, Angels analysts Rex Hudler and Jose Mota marveled over Longoria’s demeanor and potentially bright future.  

“I’m very impressed with his offensive capabilities and the potential that he possesses,” Hudler said. “The chance this kid has in his future, wow. He could be a great player.”

Mota added: “I like his presence. I like the fact that he stands at home plate thinking he’s going to do well. The way he carries himself, it’s like that shining light around him that says, ‘I trust myself that I’m going to do well.'”

Longoria’s trust is now in the fans’ hands to carry him all the way to the Bronx for his first All-Star Game, and so far it looks like the fans know his name.

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