The 2009 All-Star team was unveiled today, and just two Mariners made the team, doubling last season's showing.
For Felix Hernandez, this will be his first appearance at an All-Star game while Ichiro Suzuki will make his ninth-straight.
Hernandez, coming off being named the pitcher AL pitcher of the month for June, ranks third in the league for ERA amongst starters and sixth in wins.
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All Ichiro has done is lead the majors in hits, and his .365 batting average trails only Joe Mauer. He's been named an All-Star in every season of his career.
The last Mariner other than Ichiro to be named to the All-Star team was Jose Lopez in 2006.
Only one pitcher being named to the team for the league's third-best staff in terms of ERA is a bit disappointing but not surprising.
The only player you could make a legitimate argument for is closer David Aardsma. His 1.41 ERA is better than all but one-of-the-five relief pitchers named to the team. Still, his 17 saves ranks just seventh in the AL.
Neither Jarrod Washburn nor Erik Bedard have the wins total to be an option, an unfortunate penalty of their poor run support.
Meanwhile, Russell Branyan has the home runs, second in AL, and slugging percentage, third in AL, but his 45 RBIs lags far behind the leaders.
Like his pitching counterparts, this has more to do with the team he plays on than his own performance this season, but thus is the nature of the game.
Reach Jeff Richards at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
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