Jeter, Teixeira named All-Star starters; Rivera also named to team

Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira were named American League All-Star starters at their respective positions.  Teixeira was in a hotly-contested race with Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis.

Mariano Rivera was the only Yankee named to the pitching staff of the American League.  No Yankees were chosen as reserves.

The complete roster can be found here.

Jeter leads AL shortstops in All-Star voting

Major League Baseball released the American League leaders in All-Star voting for the first time this season today, and Derek Jeter (664,630) has a commanding lead among shortstops.

Jeter doesn’t have much competition in the “name” category, as Marco Scutaro (273,589) is in second.

In their respective positions, Mark Teixeira is third, Robinson Cano is fourth, Alex Rodriguez is third, Jorge Posada is fourth and Johnny Damon was the only Yankee in the top 15 of outfielders, coming in 11th.

I honestly don’t care about All-Star voting at all, but the fact that Justin Morneau is in fourth among first basemen is an absolute shame.  And I’m not just saying that because I despise Kevin Youkilis, who just so happens to be leading for that position.

Joba vs. Youkilis resumes tomorrow

We all know Joba Chamberlain and Kevin Youkilis don’t get along to well.  When David Ortiz offered words of advice to young Mr. Chamberlain, the always hilarious New York Sports Jerk had to chime in on the issue – and he doesn’t pull any punches.

Give him a read.  I highly recommend it.

Reuters

Jeter getting along with Sox in WBC

Derek Jeter and his usual foes Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia have not thrown any punches at each other. On the contrary, the season rivals are getting along just fine as teammates for Team USA during this year's World Baseball Classic.

From Mike Puma:

Pedroia recently set the tone when he posted a deodorant ad in his locker. In the ad, Jeter is standing outside Fenway Park, and the message says, "Every day is a walk in the park. Even this park."

Jeter couldn't help but laugh at Pedroia's posting.

"You get to know guys playing against them, as players," Jeter said. "But one of the good things about something like this is you get an opportunity to put personalities with the players."

Previously, Pedroia and Youkilis had only spent time with Jeter as part of last year's AL All-Star team.

Pedroia has no problem admitting he's the biggest instigator among the bunch.

"I like to keep it loose and have fun," Pedroia said after yesterday's workout at Rogers Centre, where Team USA resumes play tomorrow night, having already clinched a berth in this weekend's second round in Miami. "I think [Jeter] kind of laughs at me the whole time. He probably thinks I'm crazy."

Youkilis said he has always respected Jeter, but spending the past week with him has taken that admiration to another level.

"[Jeter] has been unbelievable, and you see why he's the captain of the Yankees," Youkilis said.

It's very patriotic of them to get along, so I'm glad. These relationships, as well as watching David Wright and Jimmy Rollins try to get along is what makes this WBC great.

The US is back in action tomorrow, facing the winner of this evening's Italy/Venezuela game. Team USA has already advanced to the second round.

USA defeats Venezuela

An eight-run sixth inning propelled the United States over Venezuela 15-6 Sunday night in Toronto. The United States advances to the next round of competition, but still has one more game left in group play, facing the loser of the Canada/Italy game on Wednesday.

Mark DeRosa and Chris Iannetta each drove in four runs, and Adam Dunn, Kevin Youkilis and Ryan Braun all homered for the Americans.

Derek Jeter entered the game in the fifth inning and went 0-for-2 at the plate with a walk and a run scored.

Melvin Mora drove in two runs for the Venezuelans, who will face the winner of the Canada/Italy game in hopes of advancing past group play.

USA defeats Canada

Home runs by Kevin Youkilis (I can't believe I have to cheer for him), Brian McCann and Adam Dunn led the way for the United States over Canada 6-5 in the first game Pool C of the World Baseball Classic. The game was played at Rogers Centre.

Derek Jeter went 2-for-3 with a double before being replaced by Jimmy Rollins. J.J. Putz got the save despite giving up two hits and an earned run in the ninth inning.

The United States will play the winner of the Venezuela/Italy game tomorrow night at 8.

AP Photo

Rock the vote

Despite having one of the worst seasons of his career to date, Derek Jeter is the leading all American League players in votes with almost 1,900,000 votes.

Alex Rodriguez also has a comfortable lead in the third base voting.

The Red Sox have four players leading their respective positions - Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.

Justin Morneau and Ian Kinsler are gaining on Youkilis and Pedroia. Hopefully they'll overtake the Red Sox teammates, because Morneau and Kinsler are much more deserving.

How do you not walk Ramirez?

With the Yankees leading 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Manny Ramirez came up with runners on second and third with two out.

Ramirez had homered off Mike Mussina earlier in the game and was 24-95 career-wise against Mussina coming into the game.

The Yankees should've done the smart thing and walked Ramirez to face Kevin Youkilis.

They didn't, however, and Ramirez proceeded to double into the gap to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead and end Mussina's afternoon.

It's also amazing how Mussina always seems to give up the lead soon after he is given it. This has been a common theme throughout Mussina's Yankee career.

And as I type this, Youkilis singles off of Brian Bruney to make the score 4-2.

Scott Proctor was both right and very wrong

Since I was not around to watch the game, I can't really recap it. The Yankees won 9-5, but the end was rather eventful.

What I did see was what transpired in the ninth inning, involving Scott Proctor and Kevin Youkilis. Three Yankees, Robinson Cano, Josh Phelps, and Alex Rodriguez were all hit by pitches, although Phelps' HBP was by a Tim Wakefield knuckleball. One Red Sox, Mike Lowell, was hit by Chien-Ming Wang.

Now, I don't know the exact numbers, but Yankee hitters always seem to get hit by Red Sox pitchers and the Yankee pitchers never seem to retaliate.

Proctor claims that he was pitching inside and the pitch got away from him (it hit Youkilis' shoulder). With three hitters hit earlier, it obviously seemed as if he was throwing inside on purpose to protect his teammates. I see nothing wrong with retaliating if your hitters were being hit, but no one should ever pitch high and inside like that.

Proctor pitching inside was obvious, and I believe what he said about him not aiming at his head. It still doesn't look good. Proctor will probably be suspended for this, and this would be the second time he has faced a suspension for an on-field incident.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images and Yahoo! Sports