COLUMN: Astros’ Lee left off NL squad

Fans have the opportunity this week to vote two more players into the 2008 All-Star Game.

Major League Baseball annually names five players from each league who just missed becoming an All-Star.

This year’s “The Final Vote” may be the most important ever because one of those players deserves to be a starter. Leaving him off the  team would be a shame.

In the NL, Pat Burrell, Corey Hart, Carlos Lee, Aaron Rowand and David Wright are vying for the final roster spot.
Burrell leads the quintet with 21 homers. Rowand’s .294 average is the best among the candidates.

Wright leads the group with 65 RBIs, and Hart leads with 12 stolen bases.

That leaves Astros outfielder Lee. While he doesn’t lead the other four finalists in any of those categories, his overall numbers make him the best pick.

Through Sunday, the right-handed slugger was batting .287 with 18 homers and 64 RBIs. Those statistics are good enough that he should be a starter. His numbers are better than the Cubs’ Kosuke Fukudome  (.287, 7, 35) and Alfonso Soriano (.283, 15, 40).

Jermaine Dye, Jason Giambi, Jose Guillen, Evan Longoria and Brian Roberts are the five candidates in the American League.

Dye leads the competition in batting average and home runs (.308, 19). Guillen leads the group with 64 RBIs. Roberts leads with  24 stolen bases.

My pick: Guillen. The Royals outfielder is third in the AL in RBIs, and he’s done it with a team that is next-to-last in runs scored in the AL.

Visit http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp to cast your ballot. MLB will accept votes until 4 p.m. Thursday.

Here are some other positions where the fans got it wrong.

AL Second Base

Ian Kinsler’s numbers are significantly better than Dustin Pedroia’s. Kinsler was batting a league-best. 332 with 14 homers, 53 RBIs and 23 stolen bases through Sunday.

Pedroia was batting .312 with nine homers, 41 RBIs and nine stolen bases.

AL Outfield

Josh Hamilton was a no-brainer. He had a MLB-best 84 RBIs to go along with a .309 average and 19 homers.

The other two starting spots ought to belong to Grady Sizemore and Milton Bradley instead of Manny Ramirez and Ichiro Suzuki.

Ramirez benefits from  being a member of the World Series champs, and Suzuki prospers from online voters in Japan.

Sizemore’s batting average is nothing special (.269) but the Indians’ typical leadoff batter had 22 homers, 50 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. Bradley, who will likely start at DH because of David Ortiz’s injury, is having a career season. He is hitting .320 with 17 homers and 54 RBIs.

NL Pitcher

The Cardinals’ Kyle Lohse has the third-most wins (10) in the majors.

Lohse (10-2, 3.61 ERA) should replace Aaron Cook (11-6, 3.66 ERA) on manager Clint Hurdle’s bench.

Lohse has a better winning percentage and a slightly better ERA than Cook. Lohse pitches for a winning team, while Cook’s team is 15 games under .500.