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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mariners Will Send 5 All-Stars

Associated Press

For the second year in a row, the Seattle Mariners will have five players at the All-Star game.

Left-hander Randy Johnson and second baseman Joey Cora were named by New York Yankees manager Joe Torre on Wednesday to join teammates and elected starters Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez in Cleveland next Tuesday.

It will be Johnson’s fifth All-Star game and Cora’s first.

Johnson, 33, may be picked to be the American League starting pitcher since Toronto’s Roger Clemens is scheduled to pitch Sunday. Johnson was the AL’s starting pitcher at the 1995 All-Star game in Texas.

Griffey will start in center field, Rodriguez at shortstop and Martinez at designated hitter.

Johnson, who underwent back surgery last Sept. 12, is 11-2 with a 2.18 earned run average with 164 strikeouts this season. He was the AL Pitcher of the Month in June.

Cora, 32, batted .337 with seven home runs and 31 RBIs in his first 76 games this season.

A year ago, Griffey, Martinez, Rodriguez, catcher Dan Wilson and right fielder Jay Buhner were chosen from the Mariners for the All-Star game.

Albert Belle, who left the Indians for $55 million, is coming back to Cleveland an All-Star.

Belle, who will return to Jacobs Field in the uniform of the Chicago White Sox, was among the reserves chosen.

He will be reunited with Indians catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., chosen by Torre as a backup. Another former Indian, Atlanta’s Kenny Lofton, earlier was selected in fan voting to start for the National League.

Six of Lofton’s new teammates - including pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Denny Neagle - dominated the N.L. team chosen by Braves manager Bobby Cox.

Belle’s return to Cleveland is bound to be a big sideshow. When he came back for the first time, in June, Indians fans threw fake money at him and berated him throughout a three-game series.

Torre had a tough task in selecting a reserve first baseman - so he chose two: Oakland’s Mark McGwire, who leads the majors with 30 homers, and Chicago’s Frank Thomas, the AL’s leading hitter.

Left off was Cleveland’s Jim Thome, second in the balloting to New York’s Tino Martinez, and Boston’s Mo Vaughn, who is on the disabled list.

“There were a bunch of them - O’Neill, (B.J.) Surhoff, Rusty Greer, Thome, Will Clark,” Torre said of his biggest problem. “First base is impossible. I spent a lot of time on that today.”

AL East leader Baltimore, with three starters already on the team, contributed pitchers Mike Mussina and Randy Myers.

Torre offered a roster spot to Baltimore’s Jimmy Key, who announced prior to pitching the Yankees to the World Series title in Game 6 last year that he would be getting married this season. Key, who will be wed during the All-Star break, declined the roster spot.

“Key deserved to be picked,” Torre said. “Once he refused that, we picked a 10-man staff.”

The other Yankees added to the AL roster were outfielder Bernie Williams and pitchers David Cone and Mariano Rivera. Filling out Torre’s pitching staff were Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen and Toronto teammate Roger Clemens, Kansas City’s Jose Rosado, Anaheim’s Jason Dickson and Detroit’s Justin Thompson.

Dickson and Boston infielder Nomar Garciaparra were the only rookies chosen. Also on the AL team for the first time were Cora, Rivera, Rosado, Thompson, Williams and Milwaukee infielder Jeff Cirillo.

Minnesota’s lone representative is second baseman Chuck Knoblauch.

Joining Atlanta’s pitching trio and starter Lofton were catchers Javy Lopez and infielders Chipper Jones and Jeff Blauser.

Both Houston - with first baseman Jeff Bagwell and second baseman Craig Biggio among fan selections - and San Francisco have three players on the NL team. Pitcher Darryl Kile was added from the Astros. Added from the Giants were pitchers Shawn Estes and Rod Beck and outfielder Barry Bonds.

Filling out the NL pitching staff were Pedro Martinez of Montreal, Kevin Brown of Florida, Bobby Jones of New York and Philadelphia’s Curt Schilling.

New York’s Todd Hundley gave the NL three catchers. The rest of the position players added by Cox were infielders Andres Galarraga of Colorado, Mark Grace of Chicago and Tony Womack of Pittsburgh, and outfielders Moises Alou of Florida and Ray Lankford of St. Louis.

Like Torre, Cox had a tough choice at first base, and he selected Galarraga and Grace.

Among those omitted was New York’s John Olerud.

“I tried not to think about it, so I wouldn’t be disappointed,” said Galarraga, who thought he had All-Star numbers the last two seasons but wasn’t picked. “I know it’s tough. That’s why it’s kind of more special because it’s so tough to make it.”

Estes, Jones, Schilling, Lopez, Womack and Lankford made the roster for the first time.