07/02/2007 6:13 PM ET Monster 2007 All-Star Final Vote in full swing on MLB.com Bonderman, Young lead league-wide close races in opening day of online voting

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Detroit Tigers pitcher Jeremy Bonderman leads a very close race among the five candidates for the final roster spot on the 2007 American League All-Star Team, followed by Hideki Okajima of the Boston Red Sox; Pat Neshek of the Minnesota Twins; Kelvim Escobar of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; and Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays.

On the National League side, Chris Young of the San Diego Padres currently holds a small lead over the other four pitchers on the ballot for the final roster spot, followed closely by Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs; Roy Oswalt of the Houston Astros; Tom Gorzelanny of the Pittsburgh Pirates; and Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The sixth annual Monster All-Star Final Vote ballot commenced exclusively on MLB.com at approximately 7:00 p.m. EDT last night and over 4.6 million votes have already been cast in just under 24 hours of fan voting (through 5:00 pm ET on Monday, July 2, 2007). The online voting will continue until 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 5, 2007.

In addition, fans will again be able to cast their votes via their mobile phones by texting the word "Vote" to 36197 to receive the All-Star Final Vote candidates. In Canada, fans should text the word "Vote" to 88555.

The Monster All-Star Final Vote program has seen nearly 60 million votes cast since its inception in 2002, including a record 18.6 million last year when fans chose A.J. Pierzynski of the Chicago White Sox and Nomar Garciaparra of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Previous winners of the Monster All-Star Final Vote include: Scott Podsednik (AL, 2005); Oswalt (NL, 2005); Hideki Matsui (AL, 2004); Bobby Abreu (NL, 2004); Jason Varitek (AL, 2003); Geoff Jenkins (NL, 2003); Johnny Damon (AL, 2002); and Andruw Jones (NL, 2002).

The 78th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which will determine home-field advantage in the 2007 World Series, will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and televised around the world by Major League Baseball International, with pregame ceremonies beginning at 8:00 p.m. (EDT). ESPN Radio will provide exclusive national radio coverage, while MLB.com will provide extensive online coverage of all festivities surrounding the 78th All-Star Game. XM will provide satellite radio play-by-play coverage of the XM All-Star Futures Game as well as the State Farm Home Run Derby and Midsummer Classic.

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