2004 First-Time All-Stars
The Washington Post
Tuesday, July 13, 2004, Page D4
American League
Ted Lilly, SP, Toronto: Early this season, had an 11-start streak of yielding two or fewer runs.
Javier Vazquez, SP, New York Yankees: Started the season 3-4 before winning five starts in a row.
Jake Westbrook, SP, Cleveland: Began the year in the bullpen before getting a chance to start.
Francisco Cordero, RP, Texas: Converted his first 19 save chances.
Joe Nathan, RP, Minnesota: First year as a closer has proved an undisputed success.
Francisco Rodriguez, RP, Anaheim: At 22, is the NL's youngest all-star.
Victor Martinez, C, Cleveland: Has taken advantage of his first year as cleanup hitter.
Ken Harvey, 1B, Kansas City: Unusual batting grip -- overlapping hands -- has worked this year.
David Ortiz, 1B, Boston: Led the AL with 31 RBI in June.
Ron Belliard, 2B, Cleveland: Improvement is the story here -- he hit .211 in 2002.
Carlos Guillen, SS, Detroit: Already has more home runs (13) than he has had in any full season.
Michael Young, SS, Texas: Had never played shortstop in the majors before this year.
Carl Crawford, OF, Tampa Bay: Speedster led the AL in steals last year. National League
Livan Hernandez, SP, Montreal: World Series MVP in 1997, he never made the all-star game until now.
Carl Pavano, SP, Florida: Has gone at least seven innings in 13 consecutive starts.
Carlos Zambrano, SP, Chicago: Has 104 strikeouts -- and only 47 walks.
Danny Kolb, RP, Milwaukee: Didn't allow an extra-base hit until last week.
Johnny Estrada, C, Atlanta: This is his first full season as a major league starter.
Mark Loretta, 2B, San Diego: At 32, he's the oldest first-timer.
Jack Wilson, SS, Pittsburgh: Hit just .246 in his first three years in the big leagues.
Carlos Beltran, OF, Houston: Was fourth in AL voting behind Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez and Ichiro Suzuki; was traded to Houston on June 24.
Miguel Cabrera, OF, Florida: Only 21, he homered off Roger Clemens in last year's World Series.
Bobby Abreu, OF, Philadelphia: His 18 home runs are only two fewer than he hit last season.
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