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2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote Available Only on MLB.com

NEW YORK, July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- American and National League All-Star Team managers Joe Maddon and Charlie Manuel, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, have announced the candidates for the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote to be held exclusively on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, and the individual Club Web sites.

Fans began casting votes for the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote on MLB.com and the Club sites immediately following today's Major League Baseball All-Star Selection Show presented by Pepsi on TBS and can continue until balloting concludes at 4 p.m. (EDT) on Thursday, July 9. The winners, as chosen exclusively by online fan voting totals, will be announced on MLB.com shortly thereafter. Last year's program saw a record 47.8 million votes.

The five candidates for the final roster spot on the 2009 American League All-Star Team are: Chone Figgins of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers; Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers; Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays; and Carlos Pena of the Tampa Bay Rays.

On the National League side, the five players on the ballot for the final roster spot are: Cristian Guzman of the Washington Nationals; Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants; and Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Mobile voting is available exclusively on Sprint capable mobile phones and fans can send the word "Vote" to 1122 to receive the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote ballot. Standard text rates apply. InCanada, fans should text the word "Vote" to 88555.

The All-Star Sprint Game Final Vote program has seen nearly 140 million votes cast since its inception in 2002, including last year's record-setting total when fans chose Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays and Corey Hart of the Milwaukee Brewers. Previous winners of the All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote are: Hideki Okajima (AL, 2007); Chris Young (NL, 2007); A.J. Pierzynski (AL, 2006); Nomar Garciaparra (NL, 2006); Scott Podsednik (AL, 2005); Roy Oswalt (NL, 2005); Hideki Matsui (AL, 2004); Bobby Abreu (NL, 2004); Jason Varitek (AL, 2003); Geoff Jenkins (NL, 2003); Johnny Damon (AL, 2002); and Andruw Jones (NL, 2002).

Last week, MLB.com announced record totals of 223.5 million votes and 17.8 million ballots for the 16 starting position players via the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Online Ballot, which concluded on July 2.

The 80th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, inCanada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and televised around the world by Major League Baseball International, with pregame ceremonies beginning at 8:00 p.m. (EDT)/7:00 p.m. (CDT).

SOURCE MLB.com