The All-Star Game

The National League beat the American League 5-1 last night. Milwaukee's Prince Fielder hit a 3-run home run and was the All-Star Game MVP. He became the first Brewer to ever hit a home run in an All-Star Game, and the first Brewer MVP. The former is pretty surprising given Milwaukee's length of time in the league and its number of sluggers over the years. Apparently Arizona is now the only team to never hit an All-Star Game home run, but they've only existed since 1998.

LA's Andre Eithier and San Francisco's Pablo Sandivol also had RBI singles.

Boston's Adrian Gonzalez homered off of Cliff Lee for the American League's lone run.

The Washington Nationals' Tyler Clippard earned the win. Brian "The Beard" Wilson of San Francisco earned the save. CJ Wilson of Texas took the loss.

On the Tiger front Alex Avila was the starting catcher. He was 0-2. He threw out a runner trying to steal but allowed 3 stolen bases, 2 by the Cubs Starlin Castro, as the NL ran aggressively against American League closers. Avila also made a putout on a play at the plate.

Jhonny Peralta was 0-1, as was Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera left the game with an injury. I don't find any more information so it's likely that it was just the case of taking no chances at all in an All-Star Game. It doesn't seem to be serious.

Justin Verlander was not eligible to pitch since he pitched Sunday. Jose Valverde also didn't appear. It is likely that he was going to be the closer if the AL had the lead in the bottom of the 9th.

I think the AL had roster disadvantages. Justin Verlander, CC Sabathia, and Felix Hernandez were all unavailable to pitch due to the rule stating that Sunday pitchers can't pitch. Those are probably the three best starting pitchers in the league.

Josh Beckett of Boston felt a tweak in his knee while warming up to come in in the second inning and was scratched. Mariano Rivera didn't come to Phoenix to rest a forearm injury.

Miguel Cabrera also had to come out early due to injuries. Certainly that gave opportunities for more players to get into the game, but the NL got to play the players they wanted at the moments they wanted.

So for the second straight year, the National League team will have home field advantage in the World Series