Being on the disabled list did not seem to hurt Ibanez, and it remained to be seen whether the same could be said of Beltran in this race for the third spot.
Did hometown All-Star Albert Pujols beat out Chase Utley of the Phillies to become the NL's top vote-getter for the third time in his career? Pujols, who through Wednesday had 30 homers already, was fewer than 100,000 votes ahead of Utley in Monday's final update. Pujols also was extending his lead as of the last reported update on MLB.com Thursday afternoon.
All of this will become clear during the TBS show. And one of the best things about that show is that it just gets things rolling again for you, the voting public.
The always-popular 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote gives baseball fans around the world the opportunity to select the 33rd and final player on each All-Star team. Balloting begins immediately following that announcement show and continues until 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 9. Teams and individual fan bases that are involved will try to throw the most forceful grassroots campaigns behind their candidates, and the two winners will be announced on MLB.com shortly thereafter.
Charlie Manuel of the defending world champion Phillies and Joe Maddon of the Rays will be managing the NL and AL teams, respectively. They will each choose five nominees for you, and then it will be up to you to decide which is most deserving of rounding out the roster. Last year, fans went with Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria and Milwaukee outfielder Corey Hart. Both players had significant playing time in the outcome of the AL's subsequent 4-3 victory, due to the fact that the game went 15 innings. Longoria doubled in the tying run in the eighth inning, going 1-for-4; Hart was 0-for-3 coming off the bench. So these votes can matter.
It is anyone's guess who will be on the ballot, because everyone is waiting for the 2009 All-Star Game Selection Show not only to see the starters but also to see how managers, players and MLB ultimately determined the rest of the rosters.