Two Rays set for All-star Games, More on the Line, Vote Now

The 2010 All-Star game is set to be played at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California on Tuesday, July 13. Voting sponsored by Sprint is underway and will continue until the official closing of balloting on July 4th. Fans have the opportunity to start their voting online July 1 but early voting for some fans is already open. The good news for Rays fans is that 2 rays players are already in. The better news is that other rays players are on the edge and with just a little help can make the AL team a Rays dominate team.

A surprise to be in the lineup so far is Longoria, who is have a damn great year and is only in his third season. He currently leads the Rays in RBI's and on Monday ranked in first place for third base with 2,534,967 votes putting him 963,136 votes ahead of the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez. It looks like a done deal for Longoria. Carlos Pena ranked fifth in the first-base voting with 620,001 which put him far behind the leader for the position Justin Morneau of the Twins who so far has 1,752,276 votes to his tally.

Crawford who gained the honor of last year's MVP in the call star game has over 1,445,615 votes ranking him second Amongst the AL players vying for position on the team for Outfielders. The main competitors are Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki who is in first with 1,567,788 votes, and the Rangers' Josh Hamilton, who was in third place with 1,431,013 votes. As is the custom among the American league the top three players will receive the starting positions on the team, meaning that Crawford is in firmly.

Fans are able to start voting with their sprint smart phones on certain plans beginning on Monday and all fans can cast up to 25 votes for their favorite teams via the MLB.com website or any of the 30 club sites for the individual teams. Online voting closes t the same time as text voting on July 4th during the All-Star Selection Show. The Al-Star Announcements will be broadcast on the TBS superstation. There will also be some interesting changes to the voting this year that will allow the experience to be more enjoyable for both the players and the fans. During the show the fans all over the world will be given a chance to cast "the final vote" to help set the teams and the starting lineup. All voting is being sponsored by Sprint, who is also sponsoring the Game. The all-star selection showed being broadcast via satellite worldwide courtesy of TBS and co-sponsored by Sprint and Pizza Hut/Taco Bell.

For an additional level of interactivity this year fans will also be allowed to vote for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet. This is a great opportunity for the fans to be involved with the MVP selections and get to have a say as to who they feel was the best player in the game. The All-Star Game will be televised by FOX nationwide and additional coverage will be available on the web at MLB.com ESPN Radio will be providing official Play-by-Play coverage across all of north America on AM, FM and XM bands as well as HD radio.