Polanco leads All-Star voting at third base

Placido Polanco has a lead of nearly 200,000 votes at third base in the initial fan balloting for the National League All-Star team released yesterday.

Polanco has 724,724 votes. Atlanta's Chipper Jones is second at 540,168.

Polanco made the only All-Star appearance of his career for the American League in 2007 while he was with Detroit.

He is the only Phillies player with the lead at his position.

Jimmy Rollins is second at shortstop but trails Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki by more than a half-million votes. Rollins has 454,782 votes to Tulowitzki's 975,777.

Chase Utley, who has been active for a little more than a week, is narrowly third at second base with 561,585 votes just behind Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks (562,071). Cincinnati's Brandon Phillips is well ahead at 837,778.

At first base, Ryan Howard (521,440) stands fourth behind St. Louis' Albert Pujols (988,784), Cincinnati's Joe Votto (806,346) and Milwaukee's Prince Fielder (540,269). Pujols is the top vote-getter overall.

Carlos Ruiz (354,680) is fourth among catchers behind San Francisco's Buster Posey (785,314), Atlanta's Brian McCann (633,987) and St. Louis' Yadier Molina (595,576). Posey is out for the season.

Among outfielders, Shane Victorino is seventh and Raul Ibanez is 13th. The Brewers' Ryan Braun and Cardinals teammates Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman have the top three spots.

Fans can cast their votes for starters up to 25 times at MLB.com and all team sites until June 30 at 11:59 p.m. The game is July 12 at Chase Field in Phoenix.