National League All-Stars vs. American League All-Stars – Match Review – July 14, 2010
The National League was pulled by one key swing by Brian McCann out of the All-Star shadows. In the seventh inning, McCann’s three-run double provided the NL all the offense it needed to capture its first Midsummer Classic. The team waited for the same since 1996 and now won it with a 3-1 victory Tuesday night.
Young starters David Price and Ubaldo Jimenez set the tone, in a year of dominant pitching and got even more help from the tricky shadows. For a twilight first pitch, nearly the entire field at Angel Stadium was bathed in odd patterns of sunlight, creating more awkward swings and misses than usual in baseball‘s annual talent show.
In this year’s World Series, the National League earns home-field advantage. Without some ninth-inning drama, AL did not go down, started by David Ortiz’s leadoff single. Helped by an alert play from right fielder Marlon Byrd and shaky base running by Big Papi, but Jonathan Broxton sealed it.
Ian Kinsler flied out and the NL had its win, with Alex Rodriguez standing on the steps in the AL dugout. When John Buck hit a blooper that Byrd scooped up and threw to second for a force-out on the slow-moving Boston DH, Ortiz was on first with one out. A-Rod never got in the game.
As the lone run in a game was Robinson Cano’s fifth-inning sacrifice, expected to be decided by the loaded pitching staffs on each side, until MVP McCann cleared the bases. McCann’s deep fly ball to the warning track in right gave the NL hope in the fifth.
After the death of longtime New York owner George Steinbrenner from a heart attack earlier Tuesday in Tampa, Cano and his fellow Yankees All-Stars wore black armbands. With runners on the corners and one out in the fifth, the NL squandered its best early opportunity. Corey Hart was struck out by Justin Verlander and got McCann on the long fly to right.
