NEW YORK -- The hits keep coming for Ichiro Suzuki -- on the field and on the Internet.

Boosted by online support worldwide and paper ballots cast in Japan for the first time, Suzuki became the first rookie to draw the most votes for the All-Star game.

	NL Starters
	Here are the players voted to start for the National League in this year's All-Star Game, along with their career appearances and 2001 stats.
	Player	App.	'01 Stats
	1B T. Helton COL	2nd	.324-25-82
	2B J. Kent SF	3rd	.294-12-61
	SS R. Aurilia SF	1st	.352-12-34
	3B C. Jones ATL	5th	.304-21-59
	C M. Piazza NYM	9th	.269-20-45
	OF B. Bonds SF	10th	.303-39-71
	OF S. Sosa CHC	5th	.302-26-75
	OF L. Gonzalez ARI	2nd	.356-32-78

Suzuki was among four Mariners elected by fans Monday to start next week at Safeco Field in Seattle.

"Of course I was surprised. I did not expect or imagine that I would be the starter in the All-Star Game," Suzuki said through an interpreter Monday night.

Later, Suzuki hit a tying, two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning at Texas. It was his major league-leading 126th hit of the season.

Cal Ripken, who will retire after this season, overtook Seattle's David Bell in the final week to earn his 17th start and 19th appearance. The Baltimore third baseman rallied from a 44,000-vote deficit to pass Bell and Anaheim's Troy Glaus and win by 45,000 votes.

The Japanese-born Suzuki received 3,373,035 votes. The 27-year-old right fielder also leads the majors in stolen bases.

"Major league baseball fans know baseball talent. I try to play better for them. I appreciate that I got so many votes," he said.

	AL Starters
	Here are the players voted to start for the American League in this year's All-Star Game, along with their career appearances and 2001 stats.
	Player	App.	'01 Stats
	1B J. Olerud SEA	2nd	.317-10-55
	2B B. Boone SEA	2nd	.326-21-80
	SS A. Rodriguez TEX	5th	.315-23-67
	3B C. Ripken BAL	18th	.227-4-25
	C I. Rodriguez TEX	10th	.292-16-41
	OF I. Suzuki SEA	1st	.349-4-38
	OF M. Ramirez BOS	5th	.331-25-82
	OF J. Gonzalez CLE	3rd	.341-21-74
	DH E. Martinez SEA	6th	.303-12-64

"This is my first year in the major leagues and the All-Star Game is in Seattle, so it means a lot to me," he said. "I have been here for only three months, but the people here appreciate my talent."

The seven-time batting champion from the Orix Blue Wave got 1,217,680 online votes -- the commissioner's office was still counting how many of them came from Japan, and was not expected to know the total for a couple of days.

Suzuki was picked on 682,815 of the 835,000 paper ballots cast in Japan.

Suzuki was the first rookie to be elected since Sandy Alomar Jr. for Cleveland in 1990. Hideo Nomo was a rookie when he was selected by NL manager Felipe Alou as the starting pitcher for the 1995 All-Star game.

The Mariners, with the best record in the majors, also will have first baseman John Olerud, second baseman Bret Boone and designated hitter Edgar Martinez in the starting lineup next Tuesday in their home ballpark.

"I think a lot more guys deserve to be in there, like some of our pitchers," Martinez said. "They all deserve to be there, too. So many guys have done such a great job."

ESPN.com analysis

For all the talk about problems with All-Star balloting -- and yes, there are plenty of problems -- just about everything worked out in the end. Yes, we should be concerned when Dan Wilson out-polls Jorge Posada (and when John Olerud out-polls Jason Giambi and Carlos Delgado combined), but can we really argue much with the election of Ivan Rodriguez? No, the 17 non-pitchers elected to start the All-Star Game are not the best players ... but they're not far off, either. Yes, fans tend to vote for the most famous players, but of course the most famous players are generally excellent players, too. And the fans do pay attention; witness the elections of National Leaguers Rich Aurilia (over Barry Larkin) and Luis Gonzalez (over Larry Walker), both of them veterans who are certainly something short of household names. I can only quibble with the presence of Cal Ripken among the starters. A great player once, Ripken isn't even the best third baseman on his own team these days, and his starting slot is obviously a testament to the things that he's done, rather than the things that he can still do. -- Rob Neyer

The last team to have four elected starters was Cleveland in 1999 -- Roberto Alomar, Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton and Jim Thome. Had Bell beaten out Ripken, the Mariners would have become the first team with five elected starters since Cincinnati in 1977.

"It would have been great to see David in there, but Cal is not a surprise because of what he means to this game," Olerud said.

Ripken finished with 1,108,383 votes, beating out Bell's total of 1,063,772.

There were 716,325 online ballots cast in the final week after stadium voting closed, and a total of 2,231,137 ballots cast online.

Alex Rodriguez, who left the Mariners after last season as a free agent and signed with Texas, drew his fourth start at shortstop.

"I'm going back to a place where I had some wonderful memories, and get to play with some of my best friends in the world," Rodriguez said.

Barry Bonds, leading the majors with 39 home runs, drew an NL-leading 2,140,315 votes. The San Francisco outfielder will be making his eighth start and his 10th All-Star appearance.

"It's letting you know there's a lot of people watching you. It's letting you know a lot of people are punching out your name," Bonds said before the Giants played at Los Angeles.

As for Ichiro getting the most votes, Bonds said, "He's earned the right. He's a hero over there. I thought Nomo was big, he's got nothing on this guy."

Giants second baseman Jeff Kent and shortstop Rich Aurilia also drew starts. They are the first NL middle infielders to be elected from the same team since Ozzie Smith and Tommy Herr of St. Louis in 1985.

"I've always thought we were one of the best double-play combinations in the league, and we never really got that much credit for it. Maybe this will help," Kent said.

Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez earned his ninth consecutive start and 10th appearance overall. Also starting for the AL are outfielders Juan Gonzalez of Cleveland and Ramirez of Boston.

New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza earned his seventh start and ninth All-Star appearance. His status is uncertain, however, because of a broken toe.

The other NL starters are outfielders Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs and Luis Gonzalez of Arizona, first baseman Todd Helton of Colorado and third baseman Chipper Jones of Atlanta.

The pitchers and reserves and the rest of the 30-man rosters will be announced Wednesday. Seattle pitchers Kazuhiro Sasaki, Freddy Garcia, Aaron Sele and Jamie Moyer all are candidates for selection.

Retiring San Diego star Tony Gwynn, who finished 10th among NL outfielders, is expected to be picked by NL manager Bobby Valentine of the Mets. New York Yankees manager Joe Torre will guide the AL.

Boone, leading the AL with 80 RBI, was elected for the first time and will make his second All-Star appearance. He broke Roberto Alomar's string of five straight starts at second base for the AL.

"Bret Boone deserves it, he's having a great year," Alomar, hitting a league-leading .355, said before Monday night's game against Cleveland.

Aurilia, Helton and Luis Gonzalez also were elected for the first time.

Ripken and Alex Rodriguez each get $100,000 bonuses for their elections, while Juan Gonzalez and Ramirez get $75,000 apiece.

Aurilia, Boone, Luis Gonzalez, Kent, Martinez, Olerud, Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez and Suzuki each get $50,000, and Helton receives $25,000. Bonds, Jones and Sosa didn't have bonus clauses.