Cards lead NL All-Star picks, but Wong snubbed
San Diego Padres' Will Venable was out at second as St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong, top, failed to turn the double play during the seventh inning Sunday, in St. Louis. The Cardinals won 3-1. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
The St. Louis Cardinals lead National League All-Star picks with five players but their second baseman, Kolten Wong, is not among them.
The reserve selections at second base announced Monday went to San Francisco’s Joe Panik and Colorado’s DJ LeMahieu, as determined by players’ vote and Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy.
Miami’s Dee Gordon was announced Sunday as having won the fan vote for the starting job in the July 14 All-Star Game in Cincinnati.
Wong, a Kamehameha Schools Hawaii and UH standout, was bidding to become the fifth Hawaii high school graduate selected for the annual all-star game.
Gordon started the day hitting .339, followed by Panik .304, LeMahieu .298 and Wong .279.
Wong, who was a first-round draft pick by the Cardinals in 2011, is not listed among the five “final vote candidates” for the 34th — and last — NL roster spot.
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Wong finished second in fan voting to Gordon by 1,974,194 votes. Panik was third, more than 2.2 million votes behind Wong.
The Cardinals, who started the day with a 53-28 record, the best in MLB, could land a sixth player on the NL roster if pitcher Carlos Martinez wins the “final vote” slot.
Shortstop Jhonny Peralta and outfielder Matt Holliday were selected by fan vote Sunday while pitcher Trevor Rosenthal and catcher Yadier Molina earned places by player vote and pitcher Michael Wacha was chosen by Bochy.
