9th Inning

You can almost taste it. The NL has to get 3 more outs to win the All Star Game. It's been a long time.

After a quiet top half of the inning, the bottom half explodes when David Ortiz singled sharply to start. Right away we wonder if A Rod will come off the bench. No. Adrian Beltre stands in, strikes out and sits down. Pitcher Jonathan Broxton, whose facial hair reminds me of old Dodger Mike Marshall (right), gets Buck to dink one into right. Byrd comes in but can't catch it. Ortiz had to wait to see if it was caught, gets thrown out at second by Byrd. What a big play. Probably turned the inning around. Ian Kinsler flies to center and it is over.

Your All Star Game winner is the National League and it's about time.

I haven't seen the results but my guess would be that Brian McCann is the MVP.

I'm going to bed.

8th Inning

Scott Rolen hit again this inning. Man, I miss him, what a terrific hitter. There's a reason why those Cardinals of '04 and '06 won two pennants and a World Series while having a dangerous offense. A big part of that reason is playing third base for the Cincinnati Reds these days.

NL 3, AL 1

7th Inning, Wainright Edition

I forgot to report on the bottom of the 7th, but this will just give me an opportunity to highlight St. Louis' Adam Wainright who pitched it.

He came in blazing, striking out Nick Swisher on a sharp curve. He looked to be 'on' tonight from what I could see. John Buck hit a deep fly that went off Holliday's glove in left - probably should have been caught. I wondered if this was going to come back to bite the NL. Kinsler next, walks, bringing up Vernon Wells. Oh boy . . . .

Wells grounds slowly to short and Kinsler is forced at second.

Torii Hunter strikes out, and that's all she wrote. Good job out of Wainright.

NL 3, AL 1

6th Inning

One of the reasons that I'm so far behind the game is that the Pregame entry took so long to write. Too many commercials that didn't last very long and too much time taken on things I didn't really want to write about.

The sixth is pretty uneventful. Adrian Gonzalez' swing reminds me of Keith Hernandez.

I've got TV issues. The picture is going out I think. It's been acting up all weekend. I've only had this one 10 years or so. We used to have 20 and 30 year old TVs just go and go. This one is a Panasonic and is pooped after 10. I'm just glad I didn't pay for it.

AL 1, NL 0

5th Inning

I understand that somebody's giving me grief on Facebook because I'm about three inning behind the game on my Live Blog. All I can say is you can't rush quality.

National League lets a scoring opportunity get by after two hits gave them runners on first and third with one out. The Giant Leprechaun swings and misses a ball outside for the second out and Brian McCann flies to right to end it.

The AL takes advantage when Longoria walks and the Twins Joe Mauer chops one to the pitcher who promptly threw it to Disneyland putting runners at first and third. Robinson Cano hits a sacrifice fly to left and the AL is on the board.

AL 1, NL 0

4th Inning

Pujols had another at bat, but came up empty, striking out.

In the bottom of the fourth, Ryan Braun makes a tremendous diving catch in left. It was the kind of catch that a guy might back off of in an exhibition game. Good for him.

0-0

3rd Inning

Milwaukee's Corey Hart, who looks like a giant leprechaun, strikes out in this inning against Andy Pettite.

Yadier Molina, who is struggling offensively this year, rips a single up the middle. Cardinal hitting coach Mark McGwire is no where in sight.

0-0

2nd Inning

In the twilight the pitchers have the advantage as the ball is hard to see. So, not much offense.

Evan Longoria of the Rays gets a ringing double to left, but he's stranded. Still no score.

0-0

1st Inning

The National League has not won this game since 1996. It would be nice if that changed, but these things go in cycles.

Albert Pujols will hit this inning. He wound up scorching one to right where Ichiro caught up with it.

Bottom of the first a very nice touch having a recording of longtime Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Shepherd introduce Derek Jeter. Shepherd passed away over the weekend and Jeter has requested that a recording of Shepherd introducing him be played for the rest of his career. Fox Sports announcer Tim McCarver on the deaths of Steinbrenner and Shepherd, "Rest assured there will be two more monuments added to Monument Park (in Yankee Stadium)."

0-0

Pregame

I fixed my supper during the All Stars Among Us nonsense. I suppose it's nice, but it really interrupts the flow of the game presentation.

I got just a bit frustrated when the All Star players came and showered love on these people. Why? This love was denied to Stan Musial last year in St. Louis. Musial, overshadowed in his career by Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio early on and Willie Mays later, was reduced to ferrying the baseball for President Barak (I've Written Two Autobiographies) Obama for the first pitch. Would have liked to have seen Musial get the attention Williams did in Boston a while back. This clip is from the day Williams died, but has a bit at about 1:38 from that All Star Game. Good for him. Too bad Stan didn't get some.

Very nice with a moment of silence for George Steinbrenner who passed today. Probably the greatest sports owner of all time, at least that's what they are saying. He frustrated those of us who rooted against him because he came out on top so often. But that's the point, right?

And very cool to have Rod Carew throw out the first pitch, which I anticipated. He played in Anaheim from 79-85 or so, after beginning his career in Minnesota. The player who caught the first pitch? Tori Hunter, who began his career in Minnesota and is now playing for Anaheim.

2010 All Star Game Live Blog

Here comes a live blog of baseball's All-Star Game. It's actually going to be quasi-live as I will post during commercials. Who knows how this will go?