The fans have voted 36-year old lefty swinging outfielder Ichiro Suzuki into the starting lineup. It will be his 10th appearance in the mid-summer classic. Ichiro has played in 80 games this season for the Mariners and he is 108 of 327 (.330 avg, .807 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 3 homers, 24 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. His run production numbers look so poor because he’s getting absolutely no help in the lineup. 31-year old lefty starting pitcher Cliff Lee was selected for the pitching staff. Lee has started 12 games for the Mariners this season and he is 7-3 with a 2.45 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. He has only given up 83 hits in 95 2/3 innings this season for the Mariners. Lee has also whiffed 78 batters while only walking 5 so far this season which is pretty remarkable when you think about it. Hopefully the Mariners will wait to trade Lee until after the all-star game so he can wear a Mariners’ uniform.

27-year old lefty swinging 1B Casey Kotchman is not the classic power hitting 1B as he has career highs of 65 runs scored, 14 homers and 74 RBIs. But he brings a solid glove and good plate discipline to the Mariners. He has played in 18 games this season for the Mariners and he is 17 of 61 (.279 avg, .905 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 3 homers and 14 RBIs. Against righty pitchers he is batting third and then down at the bottom of the lineup against lefties. Still I look for him to knock in his fair share of runs especially batting behind Ichiro and Figgins against righty starting pitchers. Kotchman works pitchers when at the plate which is another asset he brings to the Mariners as he has walked 7 times this season while only whiffing 6 times. Kotchman is a solid baseball player for the Mariners and he makes the rest of the infield better defensively.

Franklin Gutierrez has been one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball so far this season, having only one game without a hit through 15 games.  The 27-year-old Seattle Mariners’ center-fielder has a .421 BA (24/57), 4 2B, 1 3B, 10 RBIs, 6 Rs, .460 OBP, and .526 SLG.  He has also thrown the leather around nicely in center-field, where he has also shown he has very good speed.  Gutierrez is off to a great start and is one of the best hitters in baseball right now.  He is a great all-around talent who is coming off a breakout 2009 season, where he finished with a .283 BA, 18 HRs, 70 RBIs, 85 Rs, 24 2Bs, 16 SBs, and a .764 OPS.  Gutierrez did tweak his groin on Monday, but he will be playing through it.  Hopefully for the Mariners’ sake the groin injury does not cool off his hot bat, as they need all of the offense they can get and he is their best player thus far.

Starting centerfielder is the only everyday player who really hit the ball well against the A’s. He has played in 4 games this season and he is 6 of 14 (.429 avg, 1.071 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 RBI and 1 stolen base. I think Gutierrez is going to have a big year for the Mariners especially if they move him up in the batting order which is a distinct possibility.

36-year old lefty swinging OF Ichiro Suzuki finished in 9th place for the MVP Award in the A.L. He played in 146 games for the Mariners last season and he was 225 for 639 (.352 avg, .851 OPS) with 88 runs scored, 11 homers, 46 RBIs and 26 stolen bases. He has now played 9 years for the Mariners in which he is 2,030 for 6,099 (.333 avg, .811 OPS) with 973 runs scored, 84 homers, 515 RBIs and 341 stolen bases. Ichiro is the second best leadoff hitter I have ever seen behind only Rickey Henderson and there is no reason to think he will slow down any time soon.