Reliever is added to All-Star roster By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff | July 6, 2007 Earlier in the week, when he wasn't in the Red Sox lineup, infielder Alex Cora spent three innings online in the clubhouse, voting for teammate Hideki Okajima in the Major League Baseball All-Star balloting. Third baseman Mike Lowell didn't engage in marathon voting either online or through text-messaging. He did vote, though, albeit just once. "I'm not one of those big 25-vote guys [the maximum allowed]," he said. "But I figured if you rag on people who don't vote for the presidency and then they complain about politics, then you can't complain if Okie doesn't make it if you don't vote. So I did my token job, I guess." Manager Terry Francona wasn't sure he could figure out the voting so he had his family do it for him. "I had to get my kids to do it," he said. "I think they were successful. The last time I got online to do something like that, I think I voted for somebody by accident. I was trying to learn about something and I think I voted for somebody, so I may not be the person to help him." When the Monster Final All-Star Vote ended at 6 last night, Okajima was the winner among American League pitchers for the 32d and final roster spot, beating out Detroit's Jeremy Bonderman. Okajima became the sixth Boston player -- and third pitcher -- to make it. "I appreciate all the people who voted for me," said Okajima through a translator . "American baseball fans and Japanese baseball fans, teammates, everybody. Big thanks to all the people who supported me. The team used me in very important situations and I was able to perform good, so that was very good that I could come up with a good performance." "He deserves to be there," said closer Jonathan Papelbon, who is also heading to San Francisco for Tuesday's game and voted with his wife for Okajima some 50 times between them. (Altogether, a record 23 million votes were cast.) "I mean, no doubt about it. He should be there. He knows how to pitch. He's a gamer." The National League choice was Chris Young (8-3, 2.00 ERA) of the San Diego Padres. Young made the team despite being under suspension; he began a five-game ban yesterday for his role in a brawl June 16 against the Chicago Cubs. It also was announced that the Atlanta Braves' John Smoltz will miss the game because of right shoulder discomfort and will be replaced by the Houston Astros' Roy Oswalt (7-5, 3.52). Often this season, Okajima has been the setup man for Papelbon, and the two have clicked. Okajima has a 2-0 record, 4 saves, and an 0.88 ERA. He has allowed a run on just four occasions in 38 appearances. "It's great," said Papelbon. "He's keeping everything in check. He's doing a great job being a part of our bullpen." There's an electricity in Fenway Park when Okajima comes in, and Papelbon said the players feel it as well as the fans. "They appreciate what he does, hopefully," Papelbon said. Francona certainly does. "[Papelbon and Okajima] at the end have been phenomenal," said the manager. "Because of their success, you can go from there." Lowell obviously was rooting for Okajima to join him, Manny Ramírez, Papelbon, David Ortiz, and Josh Beckett as the Boston representatives. "There are a lot of deserving guys, but selfishly, he's my teammate, I'd love for him to go," said Lowell. "His numbers have been incredible and he's been a great boost to our bullpen, something where I knew we were hoping for him to contribute. But I don't think anyone expected it to be in this capacity and as dominating as he's been." When asked how he felt about the possibility of starting the game for the first time if the fans' choice -- Yankees star Alex Rodriguez -- is sidelined by a balky left hamstring, Lowell said, "I haven't even paid attention to it. If it happens, great. If it doesn't, I'm still going to enjoy it. I'm not rooting for anyone to be hurt just to have a chance to do that. I think that's a little bit ridiculous." Lowell was an NL All-Star three times with the Marlins, but he knew he had no chance to start because the locals didn't stuff the ballot box. "In Florida, we didn't have a mass capacity of voters there," he said. "The chads were all hanging." http://0rz.tw/392P5 -- 堤真一 X 潔西卡艾芭 http://blog.yam.com/speed2 Dice-K and Okajima http://w9.loxa.com.tw/kim2kim2 波士頓紅襪論壇討論版 http://myurl.com.tw/ejm3 --

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