Cubs prominent in all-star voting

Fan balloting for the All-Star Game is under way, and the Cubs are well-represented in the early voting - even if they have some catching up to do.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo, third baseman Kris Bryant and shortstop Starlin Castro each is second for his position, and catcher Miguel Montero is running third.

Rizzo made the National League all-star team for the first time last year, and Castro is a three-time all-star. Montero made the team twice as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Bryant, a rookie, has taken baseball by storm. He trails St. Louis third baseman Matt Carpenter in the voting. Carpenter has 1.1 million votes to 583,583 for Bryant.

"Obviously, it's not what you play for, but it's a byproduct of going out there, playing hard and helping your team win," Bryant said Wednesday. "That's really been my goal from Day 1.

"It's cool to see that, but my goals have never been associated with those type of things. I'll continue to go out there and play as hard as I can, and if I end up on the team, that's icing on the cake."

Home runs like Tuesday's monster shot will only help the Bryant mystique grow. He attributed that in part to social media but did say he got a text from his mom about the homer, which went off the top of the new videoboard in left field.

At first base, Rizzo trails the Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez, 929,016 to 489,255 votes. Castro, with 571,574 votes, is close behind St. Louis' Jhonny Peralta (595,741). Montero is behind the Cardinals' Yadier Molina and the Giants' Buster Posey.

A different look:

Manager Joe Maddon shook up the Cubs lineup for Wednesday night's matchup against Nationals ace Max Scherzer.

Dexter Fowler moved down from the leadoff spot to cleanup, with Chris Coghlan hitting first, followed by Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Fowler.

With Jon Lester pitching for the Cubs, David Ross was behind the plate in place of Miguel Montero.

"I was sitting down writing out the normal lineup, and I didn't like it versus this pitcher," Maddon said. "With Montero not in the lineup, it presents differently, and I thought we would make it a little too easy trying to slip through us if it set up the other way. I chose to do what I did.

"Part of it is to make sure Rizzo gets pitched at, hopefully. I didn't see him getting pitched at in the 3-hole necessarily tonight. I thought Dexter was the right guy to provide protection, actually among the different candidates, and Coghlan could easily be a leadoff hitter."