Philadelphia Phillies’ second baseman Chase Utley leads the NL All Star balloting with 537,788 votes, second in the majors to Boston designated hitter David Ortiz, who has 556,567. He holds a commanding lead over Houston’s Kazuo Matsui (182,287).

Utley is batting .309 on the season, and is tied with Lance Berkman for first with 16 home runs. Berkman holds a small lead over St. Louis‘ first baseman Albert Pujols in balloting with 329,473 votes.

Utley, a two time All Star, is having his best start yet in the majors, and is coming off a game in which he hit a career best 6 RBIs against the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.

Widely considered to be the front runner for NL MVP coming into the season, Utley is making a great case for continuing the Phillies’ streak of MVP players. Utley is in the top five in home runs, RBIs, runs, slugging percentage and total bases. He has pulled away from most of the NL, with the exception of Berkman, who is having a career year at the age of 32.

Other notable Phillies in all star contention are: Shortstop Jimmy Rollins (156,620) 5th, First Baseman Ryan Howard (140,683) 5th, and Outfielder Pat Burrell (220,596) 6th.