Bonds leads NL voting

New York Barry Bonds, tied for the National League lead in batting average and home runs, tops the early balloting for the NL All-Star team.

Bonds, who hit a record 73 homers last season, has 231,890 votes, more than 12,000 ahead of New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza, who is second. Bonds is hitting .347 with 18 home runs, 32 RBIs and 59 walks going into Tuesday night’s game with Arizona.

In addition to Bonds and Piazza, the other leaders include first baseman Jeff Bagwell of Houston, second baseman Roberto Alomar of the Mets, shortstop Jimmy Rollins and third baseman Scott Rolen of Philadelphia, and outfielders Sammy Sosa of Chicago and Vladimir Guerrero of Montreal.

Bob Brenly of Arizona will be the NL manager.

D’Backs recall Prinz

San Francisco The Arizona Diamondbacks recalled reliever Bret Prinz from Triple-A Tucson on Tuesday and designated right-hander Jose Parra for assignment. Prinz appeared in 11 games with the Diamondbacks earlier this season, going 0-1 with an 8.53 ERA. He allowed six runs on eight hits over 613 total innings.

Mendoza to attend grandmother’s funeral

Chicago New York Yankees reliever Ramiro Mendoza flew to Panama on Tuesday morning and will miss two games after his grandmother died.

Mendoza’s wife arrived in Chicago on Monday night, and Mendoza told manager Joe Torre after the game that his grandmother had died.

Mendoza, 2-2 with a 3.45 ERA in 18 games, will return to New York on Thursday, an off day for the Yankees. The Yankees play Boston at home in a three-game series beginning Friday.

Devil Rays demote pair

St. Petersburg, Fla. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays optioned catcher Toby Hall and outfielder Jason Tyner to Triple-A Durham on Tuesday. The team also recalled infielder Aubrey Huff from Durham and called up catcher Paul Hoover.