Mike Hargrove, who will manage the Cleveland Indians when the real season resumes Thursday in Chicago, had to laugh.
“Two-run lead in the ninth, closer comes in-bang,” said Hargrove, one of the American League coaches in the All-Star Game. “That’s the way it’s been in the American League this year.”
Except it hadn’t been happening to Lee Smith.
Tuesday night, in one of the more action-packed of history’s 65 All-Star Games, it happened to Lee Smith.
Then it sort of happened to Jason Bere.
And that’s how the National League, with a rally-filled 8-7 victory at Three Rivers Stadium, ended the American League’s six-year stranglehold on these midsummer celebrations.
“God,” said Ozzie Smith, “it’s been a long drought.”
A single by Tony Gwynn and a double by Moises Alou-both off Bere-won it for the Nationals in the 10th inning after Fred McGriff’s pinch homer off Lee Smith with one out and a man on in the ninth tied it.
“The way guys were jumping up and down in here,” David Justice said in the NL clubhouse, “you would’ve thought we’d won the World Series or something.”
There have been nine extra-inning All-Star Games. The National League has won all nine.
None, start to finish, could have been wilder than this one.
The finish first.
“I was a little nervous,” said Bere, in his All-Star debut, “but I was ready to pitch when I was out there.”
Gwynn greeted him with a bouncing single to center field. Up came Alou, who drilled one to the wall in left-center. Albert Belle chased it down and fired to Cal Ripken, whose relay to Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez was right there.
But so was Gwynn, who somehow wedged a foot between Rodriguez’s shinguards just ahead of the tag.
“It was a bang-bang play,” said Rodriguez. “I saw the re play. It was very close, man. Very close.”
It wouldn’t have been necessary if Smith had shut down the Nationals in the ninth. But there had to be a feeling among the remnants of the 59,568, a Pittsburgh baseball record, that this game couldn’t end without one more lead change.
Because this one was out of control from the beginning.
The teams traded runs in the first off starters Greg Maddux and Jimmy Key. The NL would take a 4-1 lead off David Cone.
The AL would come back to tie against Doug Drabek. The NL would take another lead, the AL would retake the lead-and then would come the ninth.
With a 7-5 lead to protect, in came Smith.
“The key guy I wanted to get was the leadoff guy,” said Smith.
That was Marquis Grissom. Smith walked him.
Craig Biggio forced Grissom, and up came McGriff, batting for the Cubs’ Randy Myers.
McGriff had been sitting, waiting, for eight-plus innings. Waiting-and thinking.
“I was thinking I could’ve been playing golf these three days,” semi-joked McGriff, who was named the game’s MVP.
“Seriously, I was just hoping that Jim (Fregosi, the manager) would find a way to get me in. I’m just glad he did.”
Not so was Smith, who fed McGriff a fastball away and watched it fly over the wall in left-center.
“He just went down and got it,” Smith said, who tried to dismiss this as an exhibition but finally couldn’t.
“I don’t like losing,” he said, “whether it’s a baseball game or whether I’m shooting marbles on the corner with the kids.”
The mind boggles at that image . . . but the homer set up the finish.
Other than Bere, the local representation was flawless. Wilson Alvarez threw a perfect eighth, and Myers a one-hit ninth. Frank Thomas was typical Frank Thomas: two hard singles around a walk.
“The first two innings, I was really nervous,” said Thomas. “The butterflies were there, and that’s the first time I’ve had ‘flies in a long time for a game.”
In real life, Fregosi is manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. There are easier jobs these days than managing the Philadelphia Phillies.
This figured to be one of them.
“What we’d really like to do,” he had said as he relaxed before the game, “is win the game.”
And as manager of the National League’s All-Stars, he shared that desire with his temporary help.
“That’s what I told them,” he said. “I’d love to win the game. I think it’s important to have pride in the league that you represent.”
Which, maybe, hasn’t always been the reality of things.
“Maybe,” the AL’s Wade Boggs had said, also beforehand, “we take the game a little more seriously than they do.”
Not Tuesday night.
Ozzie Smith had suffered through five of the six straight National League losses.
“They have some talented guys in the American League,” said “the Wiz,” whose diving stop on Chuck Knoblauch’s hot smash in the seventh was classic. “We know that. We knew we had a job to do. We worked hard and won.
“It was a long time coming.”
How they scored
AL FIRST-With one out, Boggs singled. Griffey doubled, Boggs stopping at third. Thomas singled, Boggs scoring. One run.
NL FIRST-Jefferies doubled and took third on Gwynn’s grounder to first. Bonds hit a sacrifice fly, Jefferies scoring. One run.
NL THIRD-Cone pitching. With one out, pinch-hitter Bagwell singled. Jefferies was hit by a pitch, Bagwell to second. Gwynn doubled into the right-field corner, scoring Bagwell and Jefferies. After Bonds struck out, Piazza singled, scoring Gwynn. Three runs.
AL SIXTH-Alomar singled. Boggs struck out. Alomar stole second. Griffey singled to center, scoring Alomar, but Griffey was caught in a rundown between first and second, Grissom to Bagwell to Smith. Thomas singled. Carter grounded to Williams, whose throw to second for a force on Thomas sailed over Garcia’s head for an error, Thomas scoring and Carter going to third. Puckett singled, Carter scoring. Hudek pitching. Three runs.
NL SIXTH-Johnson pitching. With one out, Grissom homered to right. One run.
AL SEVENTH-Rodriguez singled. Pinch-hitter Tettleton walked. Knoblauch hit into a force, Tettleton out at second, Rodriguez to third. Jackson pitching. Cooper doubled, Rodriguez scoring, Knoblauch stopping at third. Lofton singled to left, Knoblauch and Cooper scoring. Three runs.
NL NINTH-L. Smith pitching. Grissom walked. Pinch-hitter Biggio hit into a forceout at second. Pinch-hitter McGriff homered, scoring Biggio ahead of him. Two runs.
NL 10TH-Bere pitching. Gwynn singled to center. Alou doubled to left-center, scoring Gwynn. One run
