NEW YORK, 6 July 2004 — Alfonso Soriano of the Texas Rangers led the votes for the 2004 All-Star Game, Major League Baseball announced on Sunday.

Soriano received 3,466,447 votes for the game in Houston July 13. He will start at second base for the American League team.

St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen led the way in the National League, picking up 3,187,710 votes.

Three New York Yankees join Soriano as AL starters. First baseman Jason Giambi, third baseman Alex Rodriguez and shortstop Derek Jeter are on the team, along with Detroit catcher Ivan Rodriguez and outfielders Manny Ramirez of Boston, Vladimir Guerrero of Anaheim and Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle.

San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. of Cincinnati and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs were all voted to the starting outfield for the NL.

The selection of Bonds, Griffey Jr and Sosa marks the first time three players with 500 home runs will be starters in the game. It will be Bonds’ 13th All-Star selection, Griffey Jr.’s 11th and Sosa’s seventh.

Among the NL starters voted in was New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza, who was elected to start for the 10th time and will be making his 11th All-Star appearance.

Other NL starters include first baseman Albert Pujols of St Louis, Houston second baseman Jeff Kent and shortstop Edgar Renteria of the Cardinals.

AL manager Joe Torre (Yankees) has seven starters and five relievers on his pitching staff.

Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder of Oakland, Toronto’s Ted Lilly, Esteban Loaiza of the White Sox, Kenny Rogers of Texas, Boston’s Curt Schilling and CC Sabathia of Cleveland are the AL starters.

Mariano Rivera and Tom Gordon of the Yankees, Francisco Cordero of Texas, Minnesota’s Joe Nathan and Anaheim’s Francisco Rodriguez will be in the AL bullpen.

Roger Clemens of Houston, Tom Glavine of the Mets, Arizona’s Randy Johnson, San Francisco’s Jason Schmidt, Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs, Livan Hernandez of Montreal and Florida’s Carl Pavano will be the NL starters.

The relievers on Florida manager Jack McKeon’s NL staff are Los Angeles’ Eric Gagne, Cincinnati’s Danny Graves, Florida’s Armando Benitez and Milwaukee’s Danny Kolb.