Braun to start in All-Star Game

Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun on Sunday was named a starter for the National League in the All-Star Game, which will be held July 15 at Yankee Stadium in New York City.

Braun made a surprising surge in fan balloting, finishing first among NL outfielders and second among all NL players with 3,835,840 votes, behind only Chase Utley of the Phillies (3,889,602). Just two days before the voting closed on Wednesday, he wasn't even in line for a starting spot.

Braun came into Sunday's game against the Pirates hitting .279 with 20 homers and 58 RBIs. He hit a homer in the first inning just before the team was announced.

Sheets is 10-2 with a 2.77 ERA -- third in the NL -- in 17 starts this season.

The announcement of Braun as a starter -- which was made on mlb.com and in a televised show on TBS -- comes as somewhat of a surprise, because Braun was in fourth place in the most recent balloting numbers that were released.

Also, the New York Post errantly reported on its Web site Saturday that Braun had fallen short of a starting spot. The report was later retracted, as noted early Sunday by The Capital Times in a blog post. Notably, the Post had every selection right except for Braun.

Braun was 32,925 short of Cubs outfielder Kosuke Fukudome for the third and final starting outfield spot heading into the final two days of balloting.

He made up that deficit and then some even though the Brewers were on the road on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the polls closed.
That push was the product of an orchestrated effort by the Brewers that included a computer kiosk at Summerfest and a viral e-mail effort circulated by fans. According to an article on mlb.com on Wednesday, Braun had received 41 percent more online votes than Fukudome over the final 48 hours.

The loser in this game of musical chairs was future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., who had been No. 2 in fan voting. He was surpassed by Fukudome, who is in his first year in the majors after coming over from Japan, and Braun.

However, the other elected NL outfielder is Alfonso Soriano, who has been sidelined by a broken left hand and is not expected to play. He took batting practice on Saturday but said he was still experiencing pain. 

Braun will be the first Brewers outfielder to start an All-Star Game since 1999, when Jeromy Burnitz replaced an injured Tony Gwynn at Fenway Park.

He is one of seven first-time starters in the Midsummer Classic.

(madison.com)