Sports

Longoria wins vote for final AL All-Star spot

Tampa Bay Rays rookie third baseman Evan Longoria’s storybook season just added a new chapter. Now, he better cancel whatever plans he may have had next week. 

The former Long Beach State standout edged out four other candidates to be named to his first American League All-Star team, MLB.com announced this afternoon. 

The final National League roster spot went to Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Corey Hart, who beat out New York Mets third baseman David Wright in another narrow vote. 

The final All-Stars were determined via mobile phone and Internet voting on MLB.com, which more than doubled last year’s record of 23.3 million votes in the four-day election including one million votes an hour on the final day, the Web site reported. 

Longoria, who was also named June’s AL Rookie of the Month, was joined on the ballot 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 for the 32nd and final roster spot as of July 8. 

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 fan 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) through July 9. 

The 22-year-old will be a part of history, as his first All-Star Game will also be final one for historic Yankee Stadium, which will be torn down after the season in place of a new Yankee Stadium.

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