Ortiz, Red Sox dominate AL All-Star voting

NEW YORK, June 16 (UPI) -- Boston's David Ortiz leads all vote getters and four of his teammates lead their positions in balloting for starting spots on the American League All-Star team.

The 2008 All-Star Game is scheduled for July 15 at New York's Yankee Stadium but, if voting trends continue, the home team will have a decidedly Boston bent, vote totals released Monday by AL officials indicated.

Ortiz, in voting for designated hitter, has 1,605,660 votes and leads all AL players. The Red Sox' Manny Ramirez leads the voting for outfielders while Kevin Youkilis is tops among first basemen, Dustin Pedroia leads second basemen and Jason Varitek is first at catcher.

Varitek has a 40,000-vote lead over Minnesota's Joe Mauer in the closest voting at those positions.

There are two Yankees at the top of their positions, however, as shortstop Derek Jeter has the second highest-overall total and third-baseman Alex Rodriquez is fourth. Ramirez is third overall.

The other leaders among outfielders are Texas' Josh Hamilton and Seattle's Hideki Matsui.

Voting for the All-Star game continues through July 2 at mlb.com. The AL starters are to be announced July 6.