Clayton Kershaw, Yasiel Puig lead 4 Dodgers named to All-Star team

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers will be well represented at the 2014 MLB All-Star Game in Minnesota, with four players named to the National League team on Sunday afternoon. Clayton Kershaw, Yasiel Puig, Zack Greinke and Dee Gordon were all named to the team.

The Dodgers have four players named to the All-Star team for the first time since 2010, when Andre Ethier, Rafael Furcal, Jonathan Broxton and Hong-Chih Kuo made the trip to Anaheim.

Puig was voted by the fans to start in the outfield, receiving 4,059,746 votes, third among NL outfielders, joined by Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates (4,519,440 votes) and Carlos Gomez of the Brewers (4,068,745). Puig won National League Player of the Month honors in May and on the season is hitting .307/.393/.516 with 23 doubles and 12 home runs.

Puig is the first Dodger elected to start an All-Star Game since Matt Kemp in 2012, and at 23 years, 221 days old on July 15 will be the youngest Dodgers All-Star Game starter since Steve Sax (23 years, 158 days old) in 1982.

Giancarlo Stanton, named an All-Star reserve, received the most player votes among NL outfielders (688). Puig was fourth on the player vote with 471 votes, behind McCutchen (637) and Gomez (492).

Kershaw, winner of two of the last three NL Cy Young Awards and runner-up the other season, is in the midst of his finest season despite missing five weeks of the domestic regular season with inflammation of the teres major muscle in his upper back. Kershaw is 10-2 with a 1.85 ERA in 13 starts, with an absurd 115 strikeouts and just 12 walks.

Kershaw threw a no-hitter on June 18 against the Rockies with 15 strikeouts and no walks, part of an active 36-inning scoreless streak that is the fourth-longest in Dodgers history.

This is the fourth straight All-Star appearance for Kershaw, the sixth Dodgers pitcher ever to be named an All-Star for at least four straight seasons, joining Sandy Koufax (1961-66), Fernando Valenzuela (1981-86), Don Drysdale (1961-65), Whit Wyatt (1939-42) and Preacher Roe (1949-52).

Greinke is tied for the National League lead with 11 wins and has a 2.66 ERA in 18 starts, with 119 strikeouts and 22 walks, third in the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio. Since the 2013 All-Star break, Greinke is 18-6 with a 2.29 ERA in 32 starts, with 199 strikeouts and 41 walks in 204⅓ innings.

This is the second All-Star appearance for Greinke, who last was so honored in his Cy Young Award-winning campaign in 2009 with the Royals.

Kershaw made the team via player ballot, finishing third among starting pitchers with 245 votes, behind Johnny Cueto (281) and Adam Wainwright (267). Greinke was a choice by Cardinals manager Mike Matheny in conjunction with MLB.

Jeff Samardzija finished fifth among NL starting pitchers on the player ballot, but was deemed inactive because of his Friday trade to the Athletics, in the American League. Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann finished sixth in the player ballot among starters and was added to the squad in Samardzija's place.

With Kershaw and Greinke, the Dodgers have two starting pitchers in the same All-Star Game for the first time since 1991, when Ramon Martinez and Mike Morgan made the team.

Gordon is playing a new position this year and has thrived at second base. The former shortstop won the starting second base job during spring training and is hitting .302/.356/.416 this season with 101 hits and 50 runs scored in 85 games. Gordon leads the major leagues with both 42 stolen bases and nine triples.

Gordon (2,090,882 votes) finished second to Chase Utley (2,866,529) in fan balloting at second base, but was voted on the team as a reserve by player ballot (garnering 268 votes, second to Utley's 385), something he was hoping for last week.

"You have the respect of your peers," Gordon said. "To have that is amazing."

The is the first All-Star appearance for Gordon, who is the first Dodgers All-Star second baseman since Orlando Hudson in 2009.

Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez finished in second place in fan voting at first base, with 1,888,648 votes. Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks won the starting job with nearly double the votes, with 3,516,890.

Hanley Ramirez finished in fifth in fan voting at shortstop with 1,338,797 votes, over four million votes behind leading NL vote-getter Troy Tulowitzki. Juan Uribe was seventh at third base with 1,222,753 votes, over a million votes behind starter Aramis Ramirez (2,318,611).

A.J. Ellis finished eighth among NL catchers with 743,031 votes. Yadier Molina won the starting spot with 3,842,434 votes.

Among NL outfielders, Matt Kemp finished 16th with 1,061,314 votes and Andre Ethier 19th with 948,439 votes.

The 2014 MLB All-Star Game will be on Tuesday, July 15 at Target Field in Minnesota, and will be televised by Fox.