Young’s sac fly gives the American League the win after a brutal 15 innings

Michael Young, and the American League weren’t about to squander yet another scoring chance, and they didn’t. Young’s sacrifice fly drove in Justin Morneau, who slid just underneath the tag, lengthening the AL’s dominance over the National League with a 4-3 victory in such a wild game. Though the score might not show it, the game was incredible. The first four innings went by very quickly, prompting announcer Joe Buck’s astonishment that not only no one had scored, but that the farewell to Yankee’s stadium could be over quite abruptly. What Buck didn’t no that there were 10 more innings to play.

Matt Holliday’s homer and Lance Berkman’s sac fly gave the NL a 2-0 lead. A lead that held until the 7th inning. J.D. Drew, the MVP of the game, hit a two-out two-run homer to tie the game. The great thing about Drew stepping up for the AL was that he did so in Yankee’s stadium. The fans, a majority of which were Yankees, seemed confused once Drew rounded the bases after his shot cleared the fence. There was a moment in which the fans found themselves in a conundrum: should we applaud Drew, even though he is a member of the Red Sox, because he, in the end, could have helped give the Yankees home field advantage in the World Series (that’s if they make it to the playoffs, and actually go deep into the postseason), or should we boo him because he is a Red Sox player? They decided to do half and half: many applauded, some booed. This started a very exciting, if not remarkable, final 8 innings.

The battle that the game had become went back and forth in the eigth. The National League struck first, on a Adrian Gonzalez sac fly, off of Jonathan Papelbon, the Red Sox closer. Papelbon was booed throughout his outing, not only because he is a member of the Yankees hated rival, but because of his remarks about Mariano Rivera. Once the AL came to bat in the bottom of the frame, his outing was an afterthought.

The inning didn’t start out well for the American League as Brian Wilson got the first two outs of the inning with ease. Then once he was replaced by Billy Wagner, the real fun started. Grady Sizemore knocked a two out single, bringing up pinch hitter Evan Longoria. Sizemore stole second without a throw, and then touched the plate for the tying run after Longoria’s clutch rbi-double was roped down the left field line. Longoria’s hit gave the AL life, in a game that the NL had controlled up to that point.

Rivera got out of a jam in the ninth, only to see Ryan Dempster strike out the side in the bottom of the frame, sending the game to extras. The NL got to Rivera in the 10th, putting runners on first and third for Dan Uggla. This was just the start of Uggla’s nightmare, as he quelled the rally by grounding into a double play. What happened next for Uggla was not only unorthodox by his standards, but horrible to watch, no matter who you were rooting for. He started the bottom of the tenth by botching a ground ball, allowing Michael Young to reach first base. To Uggla’s credit, the ball did take a tough hop, eating him up. There was no excuse for what happened next. Carlos Quentin laced a ground-ball right to Uggla, who instead of turning a much needed double play, pulled a Bill Buckner and watched the ball go through his legs and into center field. With runners on first and third, and nobody out, there was no way the Al wouldn’t score, right? Wrong. Aaron Cook intentionally walked Carlos Guillen to create a force at every base. Cook got exactly what he wanted after that. Grady Sizemore hit a grounder to Uggla, who made sure he had control of it before throwing the runner out at home. One out. Evan Longoria, the next hitter, didn’t make up for Sizemore’s ineffectiveness, as Cristian Guzman gobbled up his ground ball (Guzman hadn’t played third base all year until this instance) and forced Michael Young out at home. Aaron Cook showed why he is an All-Star, getting ground-ball after ground-ball, but because of the errors by Uggla, the AL still had one more chance. Cook got Justin Morneau to ground out to end the inning on a spectacular play by shortstop Miguel Tejada, whose throw got him out by a step. Job well done by Cook, as he kept the game alive for the NL. Joakim Soria, a unheralded closer for the Royals, worked quickly in the top of the 11th inning after giving up a lead-off single to Adrian Gonzalez.

The American League had yet another chance to win the game in the bottom of the inning against Cook. Ian Kinsler started it off with a single, only to be called out trying to steal second base. It was a horrible call by the umpire as replays showed that Kinsler was easily safe. Despite the out, the AL was far from done. Dioner Navarro proceeded with a walk, as Cook, unlike the previous inning, wasn’t helping himself. J.D. Drew followed with a single, putting runners on first and second, giving the AL another excellent opportunity to put the game away. Michael Young did all he could do in his at-bat, lacing a single up the middle, now all the slow-of-foot Navarro had to do was score. Nate McLouth came up with the ball and made a strong throw to the plate. Catcher Russell Martin (so it seemed watching in real time) blocked the plate nicely, tagging out Navarro, keeping the NL afloat once again. As replays showed, this was another horrible call by the umpiring crew. Announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver praised Martin for his tremendous play until they saw the replay. Navarro’s foot clearly got through and touched the base before Martin applied the tag. Without instant replay (which I won’t like once instituted) set in baseball, the call couldn’t be reviewed, and the game carried on. Quentin ended yet another eventful scoreless inning by the American League by grounding out to Guzman.

The National League had their best chance in extra innings to pull through and take the lead, facing Soria in the top of the twelfth. Ryan Ludwick started it off with a single. McLouth came to bat thinking only one thing, get him over to second. He not only did that with his drag bunt, but reached first base after Morneau weakly lobbed the ball to Ian Kinsler. After an intentional walk to Tejada it was up to Uggla once again, who could erase the horror that had been his first all-star game. Instead, the nightmare went on, as he struck out, badly missing on three straight pitches. George Sherrill replaced Soria to face Adrian Gonzalez, who he struck out to end the threat.

The American League, once again, had another chance to end the game, but couldn’t. Carlos Guillen started the inning with a double, one that, off the bat, looked gone. Sizemore, grounded out, moving Guillen over to third, but the AL could do nothing with it. Evan Longoria struck out, and after Morneau was intentionally walked, Cook got yet another ground ball, a ground out to third to get out of the inning unscathed.

The National League might have pushed across a run in the top of the thirteenth if not for a heads up play by Sherrill. David Wright blooper dropped for a single. Guzman tried to move him over with a bunt, but hit it too hard, allowing Sherrill to get Wright out at second. Sherrill then easily retired Corey Hart by strikeout and forced Ludwick to fly out.

Another error by Uggla, his third of the game, nearly cost the NL in the bottom of the inning. After Navarro grounded out, J.D. Drew’s ground ball was booted by Uggla, allowing him to reach. Carlos Marmol proceeded to strikeout Michael Young, only to see Drew steal second on a close call. Now a runner was in scoring position for Quentin, who failed miserably, flailing at Marmol’s nasty assortment of pitches for back-to-back strikeouts.

Surprisingly enough, the fourteenth inning was very uneventful as both Sherrill and Brandon Webb (who was forced to pitch because of the lack of arms left, even though he threw 108 pitches on Sunday) got 1-2-3 innings. Webb didn’t look particularly comfortable on the mound, but still struck out two hitter, Sizemore and Longoria.

The top of the fifthteenth was only interesting because Terry Francona and the AL were down to their last pitcher, Scott Kazmir. The reason this was so enthralling at the time was because he was forbidden to pitch by orders of the Rays unless there was no one left. He too threw over 100 pitches in his outing on Sunday, so, he like Webb, looked quite uncomfortable pitching. Nonetheless, he pitched around a walk to David Wright, and threw a scoreless inning of work. Had this game not have ended on Michael Young’s sac fly in the bottom of that inning, would the game be called a tie, or would Kazmir have to pitch another inning, and therefore be overworked. In the olden days when pitchers were throwing complete games by the boatload and making 40-50 starts a year, this would not have been an issue. If Kazmir did pitch in the 1920-30’s he’d be expected, in this situation to pitch 10 innings if he had to. But in the modern days of fragile arms and million dollar payroll’s, his having to pitch was shocking, and nearly outrageous.

After all of the drama, excitement, and utter bewilderment, Brad Lidge, the last pitcher in either bullpen, was thrown to the wolves. He got hit hard in the inning, starting with a single by Justin Morneau. Ian Kinsler followed with sinking liner to left field. Ryan Ludwick took away a base hit with a face first dive, for the first out. Navarro then knocked a single, moving Morneau to second. Lidge walked J.D. Drew, setting up the inevitable. The AL wouldn’t collapse again with runners in scoring position? Right. Morneau raced home and beat Brian McCann’s tag on Young’s deep fly ball, sending the AL to an exhausting victory to win for the 11 time in a row. And that was that.