It’s a sad day for baseball and the Yankees especially as long time owner George Steinbrenner passed away this morning. The historic career of Steinbrenner has been covered throughout the day and he will be honored prior to the first pitch at the All-Star game. The Yankee’s players will be wearing a black armband to represent Steinbrenner tonight.
This will be the place to get your All-Star fix and converse about the game as it happens. I’ll be giving updates after every significant moment happens in the game and you can feel free to comment on the game below.
The American League has won the past 12 meetings and home field in the World Series is up for grabs. If your team has playoff aspirations and has a chance for the World Series, this game could change the outcome of those October contests. Be sure to take it all in as the best players in the game are honored in front of us all.
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Matt Capps gets the win, Matt Thornton gets the loss, and Jonathan Broxton gets the save. It’s been fun, hope everyone enjoyed the blog. For more from me, you can follow me on twitter @Ben_Duronio.
Brian McCann is elected All-Star MVP! As a Braves blogger, this is especially awesome to see. McCann is going to get some of the national recognition that he has deserved for the past few seasons.
National League 3 – American League 1.
Ian Kinsler flies out to the right centerfield gap and the National League takes it for the first time in 13 years by the score of 3-1!
John Buck lofts a single in front of right fielder Marlon Byrd, but Byrd picks the ball up and throws it to first while spinning and falling to get Ortiz out at first, a truly fantastic play.
Broxton sits Beltre down with a 99 mph fastball for the first out.
David Ortiz leads the inning off with a single, tying run now stepping to the plate in the form of Adrian Beltre.
Jonathan Broxton is in to try and save out the game in his team’s home town, albeit in the other stadium.
Bottom of the 9th, 3-1 NL:
Another strikeout for Valverde who celebrates in an odd and irritating way. On to the bottom of the ninth.
Valverde strikes out Young as well with another strikeout via his nasty splitter.
Jose Valverde is on to face Michael Bourn. Valverde runs through Bourn and strikes him out with a split-finger fastball.
Top of the 9th, 3-1 NL:
MLB home run leader Jose Bautista pops up to end the inning. The AL will have one more shot to come back in the ninth.
Scott Rolen uses his soft hands to take in a Paul Konerko grounder and throws him out at first for out number two.
Brian Wilson is on for the NL, facing the young shortstop Elvis Andrus. Wilson gets ahead 0-2 and throws a waste pitch high, then gets Andrus to ground out to Phillips for the inning’s first out.
Bottom of the 8th, 3-1 NL:
Rolen flys out to left to end the inning. Quick work for Soriano who has had a great season as closer of the Rays.
Rafael Soriano enters and gets Adrian Gonzalez to fly out to left and Joey Votto to fly out to center. Scott Rolen now up.
Top of the 8th, 3-1 NL:
Wainwright throws some slick breaking balls and strikes Hunter out to strand both runners, still 3-1 for the NL entering the top of the eighth.
Wainwright walks Kinsler which brings up Vernon Wells, the winning run. Wells hits a grounder to Furcal but they can only get the force at second. First-and-third with one out for Torii Hunter.
John Buck smokes one into left field as Matt Holliday drops a catchable ball. It was a tough play and it was hit deep to left, but he should have come down with it.
Wainwright quickly takes care of Swisher with one of his devastating curveballs. One out in the seventh.
Former closer Adam Wainwright is on to face the AL, with Nick Swisher getting his first cuts of the day.
Bottom of the 7th, 3-1 NL:
Andrew Bailey replaces Thornton, Rafael Furcal now up with McCann on second base. Furcal walks as Brandon Phillips has a chance to extend the NL lead. Bailey strikes out Phillips on a nasty breaking ball to end the inning.
Brian McCann hits a bases clearing double to make it 3-1 for the NL.
Byrd wins the battle with a walk, but the NL still needs another base runner to tie the game up. Lefty Brian McCann now on to face Thornton, who has a .172 avg against lefties.
Thornton gets Young to pop-up to fellow White Sox Paul Konerko, now first-and-third with one out. It’s a Chicago vs. Chicago matchup with Thornton facing Cub’s representative Marlon Byrd.
Girardi removes Hughes for Matt Thornton and Charlie Manuel counters by hitting Chris Young for Andre Ethier.
Matt Holliday getting his first at-bat of the game and he too singles up the middle as Rolen speeds to third base, making it first-and-third with one out.
Scott Rolen up now and he singles to center off of Hughes.
Phil Hughes on to pitch to Joey Votto, who pinch-hits for Howard, and grounds out to the second basemen, Ian Kinsler.
Top of the 7th, 1-0 AL:
Capps strikes out Ortiz and we move into the seventh.
Hamilton singles to right field and “Big Papi” follows. Charlie Manuel removed Halladay for Matt Capps, and Joe Girardi pinch-runs Jose Bautista for Josh Hamilton.
Paul Konerko is up and he strikes out with Elvis Andrus stealing. McCann double clutched and threw it late, but Andrus overslid the bag and he was tagged out by Phillips.
Halladay enters and Derek Jeter drops in a single in front of the diving Marlon Byrd. Jeter is lifted for pinch-runner Elvis Andrus. Rafael Furcal is now at shortstop and Brandon Phillips is at 2nd.
Bottom of the 6th, 1-0 AL:
Adrian Gonzalez is getting his first at-bat and he rolls over to Ian Kinsler for a 4-3 putout.
Martin Prado pops up to Derek Jeter after a long at bat.
Lester is facing Ramirez and gets him to hit a grounder right back at him, 1-3 putout.
Ian Kinsler, John Buck, Vernon Wells, and Jon Lester all enter the game.
Top of the 6th, 1-0 AL:
Bell gets Hunter to fly out to Ethier after Carl Crawford stole second base. On to the next half, let’s see if the NL can tie it back up.
Crawford hits a one hopper to Hanley Ramirez and he throws to third to get Mauer who was trying to advance. It was a poor baserunning decision by Mauer. Kuo exits with Heath Bell coming in to face Torii Hunter with a man on first and two outs.
Cano breaks the tie with a sacrifice fly driving in Evan Longoria, 1-0 AL.
Mauer taps a grounder to Kuo who airmails it into right field making it men on second and third with nobody out.
Kuo walks Longoria after getting him to an 0-2 count. Now up is Mauer and Kuo has allowed no hits to left-handers this season.
Hong-Chi Kuo enters to face Evan Longoria as Marlon Byrd and Matt Holliday are now in the outfield as well, Byrd in center with Ethier moving to right.
Bottom of the 5th:
With a full count to McCann, he launches one to the warning track and Verlander manages to get out of it with the game still scoreless.
Corey Hart swings at no good pitches and strikes out, stranding Wright at third for the time being. It’s up to Brian Mccann, who is pinch-hitting for Molina, to get the run in.
Ethier lines it to right field so hard that Wright is forced to stay at third. Hamilton made a strong through a bit up the line, but it was probably the right move to keep Wright at third with one out.
On a full count to Braun, Verlander strikes him out to bring up Andre Ethier, who is for some reason still playing in centerfield.
Wright steals second as Mauer’s throw sails into centerfield. Wright didn’t realize it though and is still at second base.
Justin Verlander enters and immediately gives up a single to David Wright. Ryan Braun up next, trying to do it with the bat as well as the glove.
Top of the 5th:
Guerrero hits a soft liner to Gonzalez and Johnson exits with two very impressive innings.
Hamilton slaps a liner to left field and Ryan Braun makes a phenomenal catch to rob him of a single. His wrist rolled over and it looked like it could have been painful, but Braun’s a tough boy — great catch.
Johnson still on the mound, faces Miguel Cabrera who grounds out to David Wright. Pitching has ruled thus far.
Adrian Gonzalez moves to first, replacing Pujols.
Bottom of the 4th:
Ryan Howard rolls over to second base and Lee is sitting down almost as fast as he got up.
Cliff makes Pujols look silly, striking him out on three pitches. It’s hard to make Albert look that bad.
Lee quickly forces a Martin Prado ground out and here comes Pujols. Also, Torii Hunter has entered the game in centerfield, replacing Ichiro. Hamilton moved over to right field.
The new Texas Ranger, Cliff Lee, is on to pitch for the AL.
Top of the 4th:
Jeter was late on a fastball and almost poked it by the first base bag but it was just foul. Jeter gets brushed back once again before Johnson freezes him on a 3-2 breaking ball.
Johnson looks very impressive as he strikes out Ichiro on a fastball outside of the zone.
Huge right-hander Josh Johnson of the Florida Marlins is up to pitch now for the NL. Johnson gets Carl Crawford to line out to David Wright.
Bottom of the 3rd:
Hanley Ramirez steps up for the second time and quickly grounds into a 6-4 force out to Derek Jeter.
The lightest hitting starter on either lineup, Yadier Molina, hits a single up the middle for the NL’s second hit.
Big Corey Hart steps up to the plate. Hart hit 13 homers in round one of the Home Run Derby last night. Pettitte gets ahead of him 0-2 and throws a fastball just outside. Hart chases a low-and-away pitch as Pettitte strikes out his second batter in a row.
Ethier strikes out on three pitches. The veteran Pettitte made quick work out of the left-hander.
Top of the 3rd:
Jimenez gets out of it as Robinson Cano hits a weak grounder to fellow second basemen Martin Prado and is thrown out at first. On to the next inning where New York Yankee Andy Pettitte will enter the game.
Mauer quickly lines out to centerfield. Andre Ethier is out there when Corey Hart probably should be as at least Hart has played the position in the Majors before.
Evan Longoria smacks a double to left field and Jimenez is in trouble once again. Last year’s MVP Joe Mauer is up to try and break the scoreless tie.
Vlad Guerrero steps up to a nice ovation once again. The free swinging Guerrero chases a fastball in the dirt as Jimenez records a strikeout.
Bottom of the 2nd:
Ryan Braun just misses a double as the ball was foul by a few inches. Braun then grounds into a 5-4-3 double play as he breaks his bat and makes it an easy play for third basemen Evan Longoria.
Third basemen David Wright slaps a liner to second that eats up Robinson Cano once again. Cano couldn’t rebound as he did with Prado and Wright has the first hit of the day for the NL.
Ryan Howard opens up the second and whiffs against Price. No surprise really, Howard has struggled mightily against left-handers throughout his career.
Top of the 2nd:
Jimenez buckles down and gets ahead of Hamilton 0-2 before forcing Josh to ground into a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning. On to the top of the second.
Potential triple crown winner, Miguel Cabrera, steps up and bloops a single as Derek Jeter moves to third. First and third for the AL with Josh Hamilton coming up to the plate. Jimenez will have to wiggle out of this jam if he wants to match Price’s first inning goose-egg.
Jimenez brushes Jeter back on 2-0 and almost takes his head off, then walks him on six pitches. Jeter is the first batter on base today.
Ubaldo Jimenez steps up to the mound and quickly gets Ichiro to pop-up to Ramirez in shallow left field. The late Bob Sheppard announces Derek Jeter, awesome to hear his voice at this game.
Bottom of the 1st:
Albert Pujols was late on a fastball as well and roped one unto right-center, but the speedy Ichiro was able to track it down and take extra bases away from “The Machine.” Price looked good in the first, now it’s time to see the young Ubaldo Jimenez take the mound.
Prado slaps a liner to second base and ate up Robinson Cano, but it was hit hard enough to give Cano time to throw him out. Price’s fastball has had both hitters swinging through the zone later than they would like.
Price gets Ramirez to ground out as he was late on a high-90’s fastball. Price is obviously amped to be starting this game. Martin Prado up to bat now, the NL leader in batting average.
David Price pitches to Hanley Ramirez and officially becomes the first ever No. 1 overall draft pick to start an All-Star game as a pitcher.
Top of the 1st:
Rod Carew throws a strike for the first pitch, we’re ready to get the game going!
Coming up is a moment of silence for “The Boss.”
Very emotional moment as baseball honors the “All-Stars Among Us.”
The ovation for Vlad was incredible. They obviously love their former DH and miss him dearly. It’s great to see fans respect him despite moving to another team in their division.
Torii Hunter and Jered Weaver got a ton of applause in their home stadium while the Yankees got booed to death. There were some big cheers for certain players outside of Los Angeles such as Jason Heyward and Heath Bell, but Bell’s was probably due to plenty of San Diego residents hiking up to L.A.
The players are being announced, starting with the NL coaches and players. The NL team is very young, as Jayson Stark points out, all eight elected NL starting position players are under 30.
As the game goes on, I will update the lineup. Many players will be subbed in at different times and at different positions, so the lineups below will be altered throughout the night.
Lineups:
American League:
1. Torii Hunter, CF, SEA
2. Derek Jeter, SS, NYY
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B, DET
4. Josh Hamilton, RF, TEX
5. David Ortiz, DH, BOS
6. Adrian Beltre, 3B, BOS
7. John Buck, C, TOR
8. Ian Kinsler, 2B, TEX
9. Vernon Wells, LF, TOR
SP. Rafael Soriano, RHP, TB
National League:
1. Rafael Furcal, SS, FLA
2. Brandon Phillips, 2B, ATL
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, SD
4. Joey Votto, DH, CIN
5. Scott Rolen, 3B, CIN
6. Matt Holliday, LF, MIL
7. Andre Ethier, RF, LAD
8. Marlon Byrd, CF, MIL
9. Yadier Molina, C, STL
SP. Brian Wilson, RHP, SF
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