NEW YORK — In case you haven’t seen this yet, here are the starting lineups for Tuesday’s All-Star Game:

National League

1. Hanley Ramirez, SS

2. Chase Utley, 2B

3. Lance Berkman, 1B

4. Albert Pujols, DH

5. Chipper Jones, 3B

6. Matt Holliday, RF

7. Ryan Braun, LF

8. Kosuke Fukodome, CF

9. Geovany Soto, C

Starting pitcher: RH Ben Sheets

American League

1. Ichiro Suzuki, RF

2. Derek Jeter, SS

3. Josh Hamilton, CF

4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B

5. Manny Ramirez, LF

6. Milton Bradley, DH

7. Kevin Youkilis, 1B

8. Joe Mauer, C

9. Dustin Pedroia, 2B

Starting pitcher: LH Cliff Lee

Yankee Stadium. Tuesday. First pitch: 7 p.m.

Notes: I have a ton of writing to do off the press conferences today, so I’ll make this quick.

The web site www.BodogLife.com has posted these odds for tonight’s Home Run Derby:

Josh Hamilton (TEX) 3/1
Lance Berkman (HOU) 7/2
Chase Utley (PHI) 5/1
Justin Morneau (MIN) 5/1
Dan Uggla (FLA) 6/1
Ryan Braun (MIL) 6/1
Grady Sizemore (CLE) 13/2
Evan Longoria (TB) 7/1

Morneau predicted that Josh Hamilton would win. But don’t count out the big Canadian. Remember, he had to go first last year at San Francisco’s AT&T Park. He hit four homers, then added one more in a tiebreaker round against Albert Pujols, who moved on to the next round.

It’s interesting to note that the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi and Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki were among those who turned down an invite to be in this contest. Morneau didn’t get his invite until Sunday morning. That would only add to the story if he wins.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Around MLB, Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.