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Baseball certainly is these days, especially after Japan's monumental victory over Cuba in the World Baseball Classic in March.

And now, Japanese-speaking baseball fans can show their patriotic pride by voting for players like Ichiro Suzuki, Kenji Johjima, Tadahito Iguchi and Hideki Matsui on the Japanese-language online ballot for the 77th All-Star Game.

Suzuki and Johjima -- both of the Seattle Mariners -- and Iguchi (Chicago White Sox) and Matsui (New York Yankees) are on the ballot for the game, which will be played on July 11 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Suzuki, who was the top overall vote-getter in 2001, entered Wednesday's game against Oakland with a .299 batting average. Johjima, a rookie catcher, was hitting .259 with three home runs and 19 RBIs in 37 games for the Mariners.

Iguchi, a member of the World Series champion White Sox, was hitting .305 with three home runs and 16 RBIs in 34 games.

Matsui, who fractured his left wrist last week and is doubtful for the game, was hitting .261 with five home runs and 19 RBIs at the time of his injury.

Now in its sixth season, the Japanese ballot can be found on MLB.com, any of the 30 club sites, Monster.com and on major.jp, Major League Baseball's official Japanese site.

This is the first year the Japanese ballot will be offered exclusively online.

There were more than 11.5 million votes cast online last year, an increase of nearly one million over the previous year. Fans can vote up to 25 times through June 29, which is when the voting process ends.

The rosters will be unveiled at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 2. The announcement will reveal the 16 elected starters, as determined by fan balloting, and 45 pitchers and reserves, as determined by the player ballot, the two All-Star team managers -- Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox and Phil Garner of the NL champion Houston Astros -- and Major League Baseball.

Fans will have the opportunity to select the final position player for each league's 32-man roster at MLB.com. The Final Vote will provide fans the opportunity to cast their votes from a list of five players from each league over a three-day period. Fans added Roy Oswalt (NL) and Scott Podsednik (AL) to the rosters with that Final Vote last summer.

For the fourth consecutive year, the league that wins the All-Star Game will receive home-field advantage during the World Series. The AL has won back-to-back-to-back Midsummer Classics since that provision was added prior to the 2003 World Series, and eight straight overall.

Rogers Personal TV is pleased to sponsor the In-Stadium All-Star Balloting for the 77th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, to be held Tuesday, July 11th, at Pittsburgh's PNC Park, the host of the 2006 Midsummer Classic. Rogers returns as the title sponsor for in-stadium balloting for the Toronto Blue Jays. Balloting will begin on Friday night at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, where the Blue Jays will begin a homestand against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and will continue through June 15th. Ballots and ballot boxes will be prominently placed within the Rogers Centre concourses for all fans to cast their votes.
Overall, more than 20 million ballots will be distributed within the 30 Major League Baseball ballparks during the course of the program, and Minor League ballparks will distribute 1.9 million ballots. Each Major League Club will have 23 home dates on which it will conduct balloting, while Minor League clubs will have 15 home dates for balloting. The in-stadium program will conclude at Minor League ballparks by June 17th and at Major League ballparks no later than June 24th. Balloting concludes on MLB.com and the 30 Club Web sites on Thursday, June 29th at 11:59 p.m. (EDT).

"Rogers Personal TV is thrilled to be the title sponsor of the In-Stadium All-Star Balloting at the Rogers Centre for the 77th Major League Baseball All-Star Game," said David Purdy, Vice-President and General Manager, Television for Rogers Cable. "With Rogers Personal TV we provide our customers choice - choosing what they want to watch when they want to watch it with programming like our Super Sports Pak including MLB Extra InningsTM. With this sponsorship we are once again offering Canadians a chance to choose - in this case for their favourite MLB All-Star players."

In addition, fans can cast their votes for starters up to 25 times with the Monster.com 2006 All-Star Online Ballot at MLB.com and at www.bluejays.com until Thursday, June 29th at 11:59 p.m. (EDT).

The 2006 American League and National League All-Star Teams will be unveiled on Sunday, July 2nd with a total of 16 elected starters, as determined by the fan balloting program, and 46 pitchers and reserves, as determined by the player ballot and the two All-Star Team managers - American League manager Ozzie Guillen of the Chicago White Sox and National League manager Phil Garner of the Houston Astros - and Major League Baseball.

Immediately following the announcement of the American League and National League All-Star rosters, fans will have the opportunity to select the final position player for each League's 32-man roster at MLB.com. The 2006 Monster.com All-Star Final Vote will provide fans the opportunity to cast their votes from a list of five players from each League over a four-day period.

Also, for the second year, fans will be able to vote for their Final Vote selections on their mobile phone. Both winners of the Monster.com All-Star Final Vote will be announced after the voting has concluded on Thursday, July 6th at 6:00 p.m. (EDT).

Fans once again will have the opportunity to participate in the official voting for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player presented by Chevrolet at the 77th All-Star Game via the Monster.com 2006 All-Star Game MVP Vote on MLB.com. The Major League Baseball All-Star Balloting Program is the largest balloting program in professional sports. The fan balloting program will determine the eight position players from each League who will start the 77th All-Star Game. Fan balloting updates will begin with the National League on Tuesday, May 30th. The attached 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Balloting Program Fact Sheet includes detailed information about the balloting dates at Major League ballparks, a list of balloting release dates and the list of the National League and American League players nominated at each position.

The 77th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be televised in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and televised around the world by Major League Baseball International, with pre-game ceremonies beginning at 7:30 p.m. (EDT). THE FAN 590, Toronto's Sports Radio, will provide radio coverage, while MLB.com will provide extensive online coverage and MLB Radio will provide exclusive play-by-play coverage of the game on the Internet.

Here are just a few of the activities you can take part in at All-Star FanFest®:

-Test your skills in state-of-the-art video batting and pitching cages where you can face life-size images of Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Jason Bay and many more!

-See baseballs and bats made right before your eyes and even make your very own personalized baseball card to take home.

-Learn the game of baseball from real Major League Baseball® players, coaches, managers and umpires in interactive clinics.

-Take a walk through time and see priceless treasures from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum® in Cooperstown, New York or pay tribute to the heroes of the Negro Leagues.

-Get FREE autographs from Major League Baseball Legends.

-Visit Collectors Showcase to see what the top baseball card and memorabilia dealers have to offer.