National League

AMERICAN LEAGUE Orioles 8, Rangers 1 Yankees 14, White Sox 3 Blue Jays 7, Mariners 6, 14 inn. Red Sox 7, Athletics 0 Tigers 6, Royals 0 Twins 6, Indians 2 Angels 9, Devil Rays 2 NATIONAL LEAGUE Pirates 7, Nationals 6 Cardinals 2, Dodgers 1, 10 inn. Cubs 9, Mets 2 Phillies 14, Giants 6 Astros 12, Marlins 0 Reds 3, Rockies 2 Diamondbacks 8, Brewers 1 Braves 11, Padres 3 PGS 8-11D

PITTSBURGH -- If conventional wisdom had prevailed, the 77th All-Star Game would have been a slugfest won by the ever-so-dominant American League. Balls would have been flying out of PNC Park and names like Ortiz and Rodriguez and Pujols would have been slowly circling the bases at will, spinning the scoreboard the way it had been done the past four years. Once again, though, baseball threw convention a curve. Pitchers ruled until the ninth inning, when possibly the sport's most unheralded hitting star tripled with two outs and two strikes to give the AL a 3-2 win and extend its All-Star unbeaten streak to 10 games.

Phil Garner is plenty aware of the recent dominance. The American League has won 10 of the past 14 World Series. The AL is 8-0-1 in the past nine All-Star games. This season, it dominated interleague play with a 154-98 record (.611 winning percentage). "The American League has sure whipped up on the National League," said Garner, the manager of the defending NL champion Houston Astros who leads the NL team into Tuesday's 77th All-Star Game in Pittsburgh. "We're hoping to stop all this talk about [how]

At some point, right about the time the war on drugs morphed into a war on baseball, a hole in logic grew to such Ruthian proportions that it's come to obscure rational thought. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chased history. Barry Bonds chased immortality. Rafael Palmeiro chased a lie. And the feds chased them all. Lost in the whole mess is a basic question: What kind of effect have steroids really had on what takes place on the diamond? The theory that performance-enhancing drugs have severely hurt the game's numbers has become more juiced up than any inflated slugger.

Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo said his team's pitching struggles can't continue without ramifications to the makeup of his staff. "I think eventually you'll come to a time where you're going to have to say, `That's it, guys, jobs are in jeopardy,' " Perlozzo said. The Orioles have allowed more walks and more runners per inning than any other team in the American League. They have the second-worst ERA behind the 10-27 Kansas City Royals. Perlozzo bemoaned his staff's lack of control after Tuesday night's loss to the Boston Red Sox, saying he couldn't afford to keep using four or five relievers a night.

It took him three nights and 11 plate appearances in a home run park, but San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds delivered last night in Philadelphia with his 713th career homer. Facing Phillies right-hander Jon Lieber with two outs in the sixth inning, Bonds crushed a 2-1 fastball that bounced off the McDonald's sign on the third-deck facade above right field at Citizens Bank Park. It traveled roughly 450 feet. With the shot, Bonds moved one away from tying Hall of Famer Babe Ruth for second place all-time.