So, is Kevin Mench in your AL outfield now that the Monster.com All-Star Online Ballot has just been released at MLB.com? The Rangers’ red-hot slugger just went deep for the seventh consecutive game, meaning he is one away from the Major League record shared by Dale Long, Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr. Mench is the only right-handed hitter ever to do it in seven straight.

‘Stros Bro included the fellow Texan in his First Vote — blog about your 25 alloted online votes as you go along the next couple of months.

Elsewhere around the MLBlogosphere tonight:

Steve Mitchell at Diehard Jays Fan was the guest MLBlogger of the Week tonight on our "Under the Lights" show on MLB Radio. Look for the link to his appearance soon in the Multimedia section of the MLBlogs.com homepage. Speak right up if you’d like to be a guest on the show on upcoming Friday nights — a great way for you to get the word out about your MLBlog and talk some baseball.

Big night for MLBlogger David Wright — two dingers in a Mets win in Atlanta. Is he your NL third baseman on that online ballot? That should be a great race the next couple of months. Morgan Ensberg, Scott Rolen, Aramis Ramirez, and some potential surprises there like Edwin Encarnacion and Garret Atkins of the division-leading Reds and Rockies, respectively.

From deep in the hole has a nice series running on his Angels blog about his favorite Halos of all-time. Nice idea for an MLBlog.

Feel free to blog about the NFL Draft this weekend. Hey, we’re all sports fans. Amazing move by the Texans tonight.

Take a look at Casey Stern’s latest post on Sterno Speaks. It was a big first week for our new weekday show called MLB.com Midday. Can personally attest here that Ty Wigginton is a better dart thrower than Rays teammate Joey Gathright, both of whom were in our studios. But Gathright still had one of the plays of the week when he brought back that homer from over the wall at Yankee Stadium.

Here are some Recently Updated Photo Albums. Take a look and follow their link at the top to that person’s blog . . .

• Cubs vs. Marlins 4/25/06
• Cubs Vs. Marlins – April 24 2006
• Found Nemo
• blog
• PlayingInThePast
• 2006 Season
• 4/23 Astros vs Pirates

Currently listening to: Kirk Gibson’s 1988 Miracle Homer.

The race is on. You get 25 votes in the 2006 Monster.com All-Star Game Online Ballot, and who is going to be the first to blog about their first vote? Miggy (above) wants you, and so does Jeter and all the rest. What position is toughest this year? AL catcher is the vote here. My story has some breakdown of the choices by position. This is one of the best times of year, and MLBlogs makes it more interesting because you can share your reasoning for your picks online and out at the ballpark! Let the debates rage between now and the Monster.com All-Star Final Vote, and we’ll give you regular voting updates at MLB.com along the way.

Mostly to show you a tip on how to best display your choices, I cast my own first of 25 online votes (and I’ll punch ‘em at the park, too). My votes always flow along with the subsequent two months, so some of these are hot early and some are just personal favorites.

‘Stros Bro has the right idea. Take a look at his First Vote. You can do that 25 times with your MLBlog, and then as announcement time approaches, you will be able to look back through your posts and have a chronicle of every time you voted. Some enterprising MLBloggers probably will even record the ballpark ballots they punched.

Please leave a comment here if you’ve done the same thing ‘Stros Bro just did. The big picture on the homepage at MLBlogs.com is now pointing to his post. Will be happy to point it to your First Vote as well for the whole MLBlogosphere to see. After you submit your online ballot, just do an Alt-PrtSc if you have a PC and then in Photoshop crop out the above part of your voting results page. Easiest way to show it.

Vote wisely, NL fans. This is the 10th anniversary of the last time the senior circuit won the event. It’s been payback for that run the NL had all those years with Garvey, Carter, Rose & Co. And that means the AL has had home-field advantage in the last three World Series, with the last two years proving valuable during sweeps by the Red Sox and then White Sox. It definitely matters.

Mark

Currently listening to: Hammerin’ Hank’s 715th