Red Sox Players losing ground in All-Star Voting

Get your Ya-Ya's out, people!!

The Red Sox haven't exactly lost their grip. But as indicated by the latest weekly voting update, announced Monday afternoon, they have lost two significant edges, and their hold on a couple of other positions is looser. At catcher, Minnesota's Joe Mauer culminated a furious charge of several weeks by finally overtaking Boston's Jason Varitek. A 323,000-vote week catapulted Mauer into a 44,775 lead over the Red Sox veteran.

Meanwhile, Derek Jeter zipped past David Ortiz to grab the lead in overall votes. The Yankees captain attracted more than 424,000 votes last week to jump his total to 1,988,251, giving him a slim lead of fewer than 6,000 over the Boston designated hitter. Ortiz extended his lead at DH to more than 750,000 votes over the Yankees' Hideki Matsui, and while three of Big Papi's teammates also maintained their position leads, they are shrinking.

At first base, Kevin Youkilis' edge over Mauer's teammate, Justin Morneau, is down to fewer than 270,000. At second base, Texas' Ian Kinsler made up more than 50,000 votes on Dustin Pedroia to creep within 166,000. And among the outfield leaders, No. 1 Manny Ramirez continues to lead the Rangers' Josh Hamilton, but his cushion is down to less than 126,000 votes