World beaters

PITTSBURGH -- They came within one pitch of putting to rest, for at least one night, this business of American League superiority.

The setting couldn't have been any better in the 77th All-Star Game, the nation getting a glorious view of PNC Park and the Roberto Clemente Bridge, bearing the name of this city's most famous player who embodied everything good about the National League -- proud, fierce, and ultracompetitive.

The circumstances could not have been more favorable, either. Two weak outs in the ninth inning on tappers back to the mound, no one on base, and Trevor Hoffman, the Padres' venerable closer who has saved more games than anyone in baseball history except Lee Smith, trying to apply the finishing touches to the victory that would shatter an inferiority complex.

``When I saw my first two guys, they went out real quick, I turned to my coach and I said, `Why me? Why do I have to lose this game?' " said Ozzie Guillen, manager of an American League team that hadn't lost in nearly a decade.

And it wouldn't lose last night, either, striking with a stunning swiftness against Hoffman with a rally that began with a single by one of Guillen's seven White Sox All-Stars, Paul Konerko, continued with a ground-rule double by Blue Jays slugger Troy Glaus, and concluded with a triple into the gap in right-center by Michael Young on an 0-and-2 pitch.

Young is the Texas Rangers shortstop who entered the game out of position, replacing Red Sox second baseman Mark Loretta, and wound up All-Star Game MVP after his hit made 3-2 winners of the American League.

The American League is unbeaten in the last 10 All-Star games, including the 7-7, 11-inning tie in 2002, and will give the AL representative the home-field advantage in the World Series for the fourth straight season.

``I told Michael a month ago in Texas, you're going to be on my team, no matter what your average is," Guillen said. ``I don't care if he's hitting .220. I love the way the kid plays the game."

The win was not assured until Yankees closer Mariano Rivera got past Ryan Howard, the young Phillies slugger who had won the previous night's Home Run Derby, with the tying run on base. Carlos Beltran, the Mets outfielder who played all nine innings, had reached on an error by third baseman Jose Lopez of the Mariners.

On Monday night, Howard had driven balls into the Allegheny River. Last night, against Rivera's immortal cut fastball, Howard mustered only a ground ball to second for the second out. Carlos Lee of the Brewers then popped out to Young in shallow right to end the game.

Red Sox David Ortiz and Loretta both went 0 for 2, Ortiz called out on strikes and fouling to third while Loretta was erased on two defensive gems -- Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols barehanding his bad-hop bouncer in the third, and hometown favorite Freddy Sanchez, the former Sox prospect, leaping to spear his liner to shortstop in the fifth. Both players were gone when the clubhouse opened after the game ended.

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon did not get into the game.

The win went to Toronto closer B.J. Ryan, who pitched a scoreless eighth. Rivera now has three All-Star saves, matching Dennis Eckersley's All-Star record.

``Two quick outs, I couldn't have scripted it any better," losing manager Phil Garner said. ``You've got to turn it over to Trevor Hoffman, who's been golden over the years. It's unfortunate. He's a great closer. If we had the same situation tomorrow night, we'd do it again. No regrets there."

But Garner, whose Houston Astros were swept by the White Sox in last year's World Series, was left to live with another defeat, this one crafted by the bat of Young.

``That game was flying by," said Young of a 2-hour-33-minute contest that was the lowest-scoring since the AL's 4-1 victory in Seattle in 2001. ``But I wasn't surprised by the pitching. In a game like this, it usually goes one way or the other. Their pitching was excellent, but so was ours."

Brad Penny was not the winning pitcher, but with a head-high, 99-mile-per-hour fastball to American League posterboy Derek Jeter, the game's second batter, the Dodgers righthander let it be known that the National League wasn't inclined to succumb quietly.

It didn't hurt that at 6 feet 4 inches and 260 pounds, Penny is roughly the same size of the man who followed Jeter to the plate, Ortiz, who waved in disgust and flipped his bat after Penny blew a 98-m.p.h. fastball past him for a called third strike, ending a sizzling top of the first in which Penny fanned all three hitters. (Almost overlooked was that Ichiro Suzuki, the AL's leadoff hitter, had whiffed only 39 times in 376 at-bats this season.)

Exhibition? Penny doesn't sound the type to take anything in stride. He made headlines earlier this season when he yelled at Dodgers manager Grady Little when Little came to get him in the fifth inning of a game that Penny was within two outs of qualifying for a win.

Penny couldn't pound his fastball past everybody -- although Vladimir Guerrero may be the only guy on the planet who could send a shoulder-high fastball 3 inches off the plate over the right-field fence, which is what the Angels outfielder did in the second inning.

But a succession of National League pitchers took their cue from Penny and proceeded to make swift work of what Alex Rodriguez called the most loaded lineup he's ever played on in these affairs. Until the ninth.

The National League scored its first run when Mets wunderkind David Wright took Kenny Rogers of the Tigers deep in the second inning. They made it 2-1 in the third, though they might have had a bigger inning if Alfonso Soriano of the Nationals had not run through a stop sign on Beltran's single and was thrown out at the plate by AL center fielder Vernon Wells. Beltran moved to second on the throw, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch by Roy Halladay.

STAR GAZING

For a gallery of photos from last night's All-Star Game, go to www.boston.com/redsox