Seven members of Boston's reigning World Series champions are included on the American League team for the 79th All-Star Game, which will be managed by Terry Francona with his regular coaching staff at his elbow.

It is a predominance for which Francona does not apologize.

"We're here because of our success," Francona said Sunday afternoon in Yankee Stadium, about 200 feet from the home clubhouse into which he will step for the very first time a week from Monday, the day before the Midsummer Classic. "Our success and popularity are reflected in the number of players on the team.

"It's exciting, and something we're proud of."

Excitement was the order earlier Sunday as the wraps came off an AL squad of fresh All-Star faces, both in the starting lineup and on the rest of the 32-man roster.

Baseball fans passed the ballot baton on to the next generation of AL All-Stars to continue their loop's 11-year domination of the game.

The voting public mandated a 44 percent turnover of the AL's starting lineup, and was backed up by a chorus of players who spiked the rest of the squad with eight first-time All-Stars. Keeping with the fresh theme, Francona included three first-timers among his own six selections.

The right side of Boston's infield -- first baseman Kevin Youkilis and second baseman Dustin Pedroia -- and Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton were elected to start in their All-Star debuts.

Additionally, catcher Joe Mauer of the Twins, a reserve on the 2006 AL All-Stars, was voted into his first start.

"Coming from a smaller market and getting voted in, it's pretty special," Mauer said. "You get to start in the All-Star Game, I don't think it gets much better than that."

The newbie quartet joins four others with a combined total of 37 All-Star appearances and 24 starts -- Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (making his fifth start in his ninth appearance) and third baseman Alex Rodriguez (10th, 12th), and outfielders Manny Ramirez (sixth, 12th) of the Red Sox and Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners (seventh, eighth).

The New York teammates were hardly oblivious to the honor of getting to wear pinstripes on one of the grandest nights of The Cathedral's farewell tour.

"It's more than just an All-Star Game," said Jeter, the Bombers captain. "It's a celebration of Yankee Stadium. It's something that I'm looking forward to, and it's something that I'll always remember. Any time the fans vote for you and appreciate how you play the game, it means a lot."

Added Rodriguez, the leading vote-getter for the second straight election, "It's going to be a once in a lifetime [event] ... something that I'll treasure and never forget."

Conspicuously missing from that lineup is outfielder Vladimir Guerrero who, through a career split with the former Montreal Expos and the Angels, had started six All-Star Games.

Also, Boston's David Ortiz, the league's perennial top DH and a veteran of four All-Star Games, including three starts, won in a landslide -- but will sit out the dance with a six-weeks-old left wrist injury.

With New York's Hideki Matsui also disabled after running second to Ortiz during most of the voting period, the DH start is expected to fall to the Rangers' Milton Bradley -- yet another All-Star rookie.

Asked whether he would consider using Ramirez, who while dealing with a sore left hamstring has made 22 of his last 28 starts for the Red Sox at DH, in that slot and Bradley instead in left field, Francona cited Ramirez's election as an outfielder and said, "I don't want to go to jail over this game."

That is the lineup that will try to steer the AL to a record-tying 11th consecutive All-Star Game victory in nine days. The NL holds that record, enjoying its own reign of superiority from 1972 to 1982.

Couched within that streak was the most recent All-Star Game held in Yankee Stadium, the 1977 episode, a 7-5 victory for the NL.

The 79th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and televised around the world by Major League Baseball International, with pregame ceremonies beginning at 8 p.m. ET. ESPN Radio will provide exclusive national radio coverage, while MLB.com will provide extensive online coverage. XM will provide satellite radio play-by-play coverage of the XM All-Star Futures Game.

In addition to the four elected starters, outfielder J.D. Drew, catcher Jason Varitek and closer Jonathan Papelbon were Red Sox added by the players' vote.

The choices of Drew and Varitek were particularly noteworthy.

It is the first All-Star berth of Drew's 11-year, 1,176-game career. And the selection of Varitek despite a .219 average indicates the high esteem in which the Boston captain is held by his peers.

Next in line are the Rangers with four, as the players supplemented the fans' choice of Hamilton with infielders Ian Kinsler and Michael Young, and Bradley. Four position players are All-Stars for the first time in the history of the Rangers, whose high-water mark of five All-Stars in 2004 included pitchers Kenny Rogers and Francisco Cordero.

The players also added Twins first baseman Justin Morneau, White Sox third baseman Joe Crede and outfielders Grady Sizemore of Cleveland and Carlos Quentin of Chicago to the AL bench.

Typically, the chance to be identified with the final All-Star Game on a historic field resonated with Morneau, a second-time All-Star.

"It's pretty special, this being the last one in Yankee Stadium," he said. "It was kind of a goal I set at the start of the year, to be playing well enough to be named to that All-Star team."

The players also took care of the majority of Francona's pitching staff, in addition to Papelbon drafting starters Roy Halladay (Blue Jays), Scott Kazmir (Rays), two members of the Angels' rotation -- Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders -- and Cleveland left-hander Cliff Lee, considered the frontrunner to start the game, and closers Francisco Rodriguez (Angels) and Mariano Rivera (Yankees).

By getting the starting nod, Lee, who began Spring Training as the sixth man in Cleveland's five-man rotation, would continue the rich tradition of besieged pitchers breaking through into All-Star glare.

"I just wanted to do my job," Lee said. "Making the All-Star team is kind of icing on the cake. I've been pretty fortunate this year, and things have gone my way quite a bit."

In somewhat of a surprise -- considering the historic site of the 79th All-Star Game, not given the host team's record -- Rivera was the only member of the Yankees added to the AL squad, by the players. Right-hander Mike Mussina, who won his 11th game on Saturday over Francona's own Red Sox, had been considered a hot candidate.

"Because of who he is and what he represents, we most certainly talked about him," Francona said of the 267-game winner. "But if we had done what is right [and added Mussina], someone who is deserving would have been left off. To get to Mussina, we would've had to do something wrong."

As usual, however, Francona's options were limited by the requirement that each of the 14 teams be represented on the 32-man roster.

Four of Francona's six choices were in direct response to that requirement: Relievers Joakim Soria of Kansas City and Baltimore's George Sherrill, Oakland starter Justin Duchscherer and Detroit first baseman Carlos Guillen are each their team's lone All-Star.

Francona's other picks were Twins closer Joe Nathan and Rays catcher Dioner Navarro -- who joins Kazmir in giving Tampa Bay multiple-All-Stars for the second time (Jose Canseco and Roberto Hernandez were chosen in 1999).

As expected, peers showed the Rays far more respect than did fans, who were caught off-guard by the team with the Majors' best record and never recovered in the voting booths.

"We had a responsibility to respect how they've played," Francona said of Tampa Bay, who earlier Sunday had notched their seventh straight win to maintain a sizable lead in the AL East.

The Rays joined the Los Angeles Angels -- the team with the Majors' second-best record -- as division leaders without a starter in the AL lineup.

Anticipating that relative cold shoulder, Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon had said on Saturday, "I'm not going to cry about it, and I hope nobody else does. It's just the way it is.

"If you take a team to the All-Star Game, you'd take us," the Rays' proud manager had added. "But you take individuals. That's the way this thing works."

The AL is undefeated in All-Star play since being blanked 6-0 in the 1996 edition in Philadelphia's defunct Veterans Stadium. Included in its streak of domination are 10 straight victories around the 7-7 tie in 2002 in Milwaukee's Miller Park.

"The idea is to let the best players in the world do what they do, and hope to end up with one more run than the National League," Francona summed up the assignment. "Then everyone can go home happy.

"Well," the AL manager added with a wide grin, "everyone except for the National League."