Felix Hernandez joins Ichiro on AL All-Star team

BOSTON — Felix Hernandez dreamed of being a major-league All-Star from the time he grew up in a modest bungalow owned by his truck-driver father in Venezuela.

And now, after the Mariners' ace achieved his goal on Sunday, getting named to the American League squad along with right fielder Ichiro, he'll bring his parents along to the contest in St. Louis next week.

"Oh yeah, my mother will be there, my father too," said Hernandez, the 23-year-old who was still living at his parents' home just a few offseasons ago.

Hernandez (8-3) was named to the All-Star team for the first time, capping a spectacular stretch of games that saw him capture AL Pitcher of the Month honors for June. The right-hander went 3-0 with an 0.94 earned-run average in June and followed up with a seven-inning no-decision here on Friday night in his first outing of July.

"I was happy," he said. "It's like, finally."

Hernandez hasn't been at this all that long, but he has strived to live up to the "King" nickname first bestowed on him when he arrived in the majors as a 19-year-old strikeout phenom the latter part of 2005. He admitted that making the All-Star team had been a goal of his since spring training.

"It's a good feeling," he said.

Ichiro is going for the ninth time in as many seasons, but said the feeling of being selected never gets old. At age 35, he's in the midst of one of his most productive campaigns, hitting .362 with an .880 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and on pace for about 245 hits this season.

Ichiro was the team's lone representative last year.

"The more teammates that go, the better," he said. "So, I'm very happy."

Asked about whether he'd participate in the Home Run Derby if asked, Ichiro said he was under the impression that fans were choosing the participants this year.

"There's no way they would choose me," he added.

In fact, the format hasn't changed from prior years and it will again be Major League Baseball inviting hitters to participate. Ichiro declined an invitation from MLB last year, citing a sore hamstring, but did play in the game.

He was also named Most Valuable Player of the 2007 contest, hitting an inside-the-park home run.

A handful of other Mariners, including first baseman Russell Branyan, designated hitter Ken Griffey Jr. and closer David Aardsma, had been seen as possibilities. But none were added to the team.

"I don't really care, as long as we make the playoffs," Aardsma said, later joking that he might spend the free time "hanging out in a log cabin, maybe sun-tanning."