78th All Star Game: AL wins 10th straight; Beckett gets the W

American 5, National 4
WP: Beckett
LP: Young

SV: F. Rodriguez

HRs: AL- Ichiro, V. Martinez, C. Crawford; NL-Soriano

Box Score

Shortly after Ichiro crossed home plate, the ball he bounced around AT&T Park was on its way to the Hall of Fame

Ichiro wins the MVP on the strength of his inside-the-park home run, the AL hangs on after a tense 9th inning, and Josh Beckett picks up the win in a thrilling edition of the Midsummer Classic

#1 STUNNER: Ichiro 3-3, 2R, 2BI, HR, MVP
Suzuki carved out three hits--including a history-making inside-the-park homerun in the fifth-- and drove in a pair of runs to rightfully earn the MVP award in his 8th All Star appearance.

PAN's FAUN: J.J. Putz 2/3IP, 2H, 2R, 1BB, 1K, 1HR
The Seattle closer, of whom AL manager Jim Leyland earlier said he would pitch him six innings if he could, almost blew the game for the AL with a horror-show 9th.

After recording two quick outs Putz gave up an infield single and then a homer to Alfonso Soriano that cut the score to 5-4; he followed that with a walk to J.J. Hardy, then he received a seat on the bench next to the manager who was slurping him a few innings earlier.

Say it with me now: "What a couple of putzes!"

RECAP:
Well that made up for the Home Run Derby.

On a night that hometown hero Barry Bonds was supposed to steal the show, along with the hearts of some fans across the country, a hitting machine of a different kind stepped in and turned the spotlight onto himself.

Ichiro Suzuki, the slight superstar who honed his skills in Japan and plays in the relative obscurity of the Pacific Northwest, unleashed his game on the rest of the world and dispayed what a dangerous, valuable--and soon to be exppensive--weapon he truly is.

The Mariners centerfielder had a historical night at the 78th Midsummer Classic, notching a record-tying three hits from the leadoff position and hitting the first indside-the-park home run in All Star game history en route to winning the MVP in what had to be one of the quickest votes ever.

Sox fans had reason to smile as well, and seeing as this is a Sox blog, I thought I'd better mention why. Josh Beckett (2IP, 1H, 2K) earned the win with two strong innings of work, Mike Lowell grabbed a base hit in his only at bat and rode home on Victor Martinez' 8th inning homer, and Jonathan Papelbon tossed a solid 8th inning (although he should've pitched the ninth--damn you Leyland!)

But not to be lost among all the stats and accolades is the fact that with its 10th consecutive win (not including the Selig Tie), the American League retains homefield advantage for the World Series, and not to be lost on RSN is that if the Sox just play...

...shit, I almost did it. Let me get back to the game.

Jake Peavy started for the NL and allowed Ichiro's first hit, a slap single to right, on his second pitch of the game. After Jeter grounded into a double play, Papi reached on a lazy error by Prince Fielder, but ARod grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first Smoky Jim Leyland's decision to start ERA leader Dan Haren instead of Beckett came back to bite him immediately as Haren gave up a run just minutes after taking the mound.

Lightning-quick catalyst Jose Reyes (3-4, R), who also had three hits from the leadoff position along with Ichiro, led off with a single on the second ball he saw from Haren, then stole second on a 1-1 pitch to Bonds. Lightning.

After Carlos Beltran struk out swinging, Ken Griffey, Jr., another "old timer" who was feted this weekend along with Bonds, lined a single to center that scored Reyes with ease and the NL had a 1-0 lead before anone had even recovered from that horribe Nation Anthem (Chris Issac? Really?!)

Brad Penny pitched a 1-2-3 second for the Nationals, and Haren worked around a leadoff walk to Prince Fielder in the bottom of the frame before exiting the game for pinch hitter Manny Ramirez in the third.

Yes folks, not only was Manny at the Home Run Derby, not only was he at the All Star Game, but he actually made an appearnce in the game and had an official at bat.

Unfortunately he flied out to right on two pitches.

But hey, at least he made it!

Following Manny's at bat Ichiro blooped his second hit of the game into leftfield and Jeter followed with a single, and look who was coming up to bat--Mr. Clutch himself, Big Papi.

Unfortunately he lined out to right on four pitches to end the inning.

But hey, at least he helped Vlad Guerrero win the Derby. Okay, I'm reaching.

Beckett got a good dose of Reyes when the Mets speedster bounced a routine grounder to Alex Rodriguez at third, but the ball took a tricky hop off the lip of the infield grass and bounced away from ARod and in the blink of an eye Reyes was on second base with no outs.

Gulp.

And Bonds was up next.

Gulp. Fuck!

Beckett ran the count to 1-1 before making a mistake that Bonds nearly hit out of the park to the opposite field, but as he did a Sosa-like bunny hop out of the box, the ball drifted and landed in leftfielder Magglio Ordonez' glove, and a disappointed Bonds and his fans had to settle for a long, loud out instead of a historic memorable moment.

After getting Beltran to ground out, Beckett fanned Griffey (1-2, 2BI) on a nasty 1-2 slider and the AL escpaed the jam with the 1-run deficit intact.

The score would remain that way until Ichiro entered the history books in the fifth by striking a ball of the oddly angled rightfield wall and racing for the downs.

Brian Roberts drew a leadoff walk from Padres ace Chris Young (we remember him), then Young got Georgie Posada to fly out to center to bring Ichiro to the plate.

After two pickoff attempts by Young over to his brawling buddy Derek Lee at first, Ichiro smacked a low and away offering from the 6' 10" righty and drove it at the jutting bricks out in deep right.

As Griff tracked the ball, it took an unethical bounce at a right angle from the point of impact and headed straight back towrds the infield, and in the opposite direction of Junior.

It then became a race against Seattle Mariner time--the older, creakier, and surgically repaired Griffey against the younger, swifter and fast as a cheetah Suzuki-- to see who would make the bigger play.

Griffey would eloquently state after the game, "I tried to make a good throw to the cutoff man and hoped that he would fall down."

He didn't.

Ichiro raced around the bases and scored without hardly breaking a sweat, and even though he got fanned with a towel by his new BFF Manny in the dugout following the run, my buddy Butch & I noted that he didn't even appear winded after that stroll into the record books.

In the long and storied history of the Midsummer Classic, not one player had ever hit an inside the parker until now.

Which is what makes watching baseball great--the possiblilty of seening history being made at any given moment.

With a 2-1 lead in hand the AL pitchers set out to preserve the lead and the important homefield advantage for the Fall Classic, and when Carl Crawford of all people added a solo shot off Francisco Cordero in the 6th, and then Cleveand catcher Victor Matinez nailed a two-run shot in the 8th to make the score 5-2 Americans, it looked as if the win was in the bag.

Especially with guys like Okajima, Paps, Putz and K-Rod left in the pen.

Paps struts off the field after another terrific outing

Papelbon did his part when he got the call in the bottom of the 8th. After allowing a leadoff single to Lee, he set the next three batters down in short order, fanning Orlando Hudson and Aaron Rowand and getting former Sox prospect Freddy Sanchez to fly out to Ichiro to end the inning.

Well done. Now it was up to Leyland's personal favorite Putz to close the door.

Except Putz lost his edge after retiring Matt Holliday and Brian McCann to start the ninth. That's because ppinch hitter Dmitri Young hit a routine grounder to second that Roberst had in his glove but it bounced out, allowing Young to reach on a questionable hit and the inning to continue.

Unfortunately the next batter, Alfonso Soriano, made the AL pay for the mistake when he blasted a two-run shot to right to cut the lead to 5-4, and just like that the easy victory had turned into a nailbiter.

When Putz walked Hardy (there were so many Js out there I thought a band had roamed in from Haight/Ashbury), Leyland went with Rodriguez, and although K-Rod made things exciting with by walking Lee and O-Dog to load the bases, he got Rowand to fly out to right with a steaming Albert Pujols sitting on the bench, and the AL had its 10-game winning streak.

It was an exciting end to an exciting game, and one that had the best results for Red Sox nation.

A win for our starter, and the potential to host the first game of the World series at Fen...

There I go again.

Congrats, Beckett and the American League, and let's bring that advantage home to Boston, boys!