2013 All-Star Game

The 2013 All-Star Game was played on Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at Citi Field in New York, NY. The American League defeated the National League, 3-0 to win the home field advantage for its representative in the 2013 World Series. The game was dominated by pitching, as the National League was held to only 3 hits; fittingly, pitcher Mariano Rivera received the Ted Williams Award as the game's Most Valuable Player, after pitching a perfect 8th inning and announcing that he would retire at the end of the season.

This was only the second edition of the All-Star Game to be hosted by the New York Mets; the first came in 1964 and coincided with the opening of Shea Stadium. Mets captain David Wright was named Major League Baseball's official spokesperson for the All-Star Game festivities, while three former Mets players, Edgardo Alfonzo, John Franco and Mookie Wilson were named as co-ambassadors.

The Teams[edit]

American League[edit]

Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers managed the American League team, with coaches Robin Ventura of the Chicago White Sox and John Gibbons of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Player	Team	Position	Selection	Notes
Grant Balfour	Oakland Athletics	P		Replaced Colon
Jose Bautista	Toronto Blue Jays	OF	Starter
Clay Buchholz	Boston Red Sox	P		Replaced because of injury
Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers	3B	Starter
Jason Castro	Houston Astros	C		Did not play
Robinson Cano	New York Yankees	2B	Starter
Brett Cecil	Toronto Blue Jays	P
Bartolo Colon	Oakland Athletics	P		Replaced Buchholz Replaced under Sunday Starter rule
Jesse Crain	Chicago White Sox	P		Replaced because of injury
Nelson Cruz	Texas Rangers	OF
Yu Darvish	Texas Rangers	P		Replaced because of injury
Chris Davis	Baltimore Orioles	1B	Starter	Top Vote-Getter
Steve Delabar	Toronto Blue Jays	P	Final Man Vote
Edwin Encarnacion	Toronto Blue Jays	DH
Prince Fielder	Detroit Tigers	1B
Alex Gordon	Kansas City Royals	OF
J.J. Hardy	Baltimore Orioles	SS	Starter
Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners	P
Greg Holland	Kansas City Royals	P		Replaced Verlander
Torii Hunter	Detroit Tigers	OF
Hisashi Iwakuma	Seattle Mariners	P		Replaced under Sunday Starter rule
Adam Jones	Baltimore Orioles	OF	Starter
Jason Kipnis	Cleveland Indians	2B
Manny Machado	Baltimore Orioles	3B
Justin Masterson	Cleveland Indians	P		Did not play
Joe Mauer	Minnesota Twins	C	Starter
Matt Moore	Tampa Bay Rays	P		Replaced Darvish
Joe Nathan	Texas Rangers	P
David Ortiz	Boston Red Sox	DH	Starter
Dustin Pedroia	Boston Red Sox	2B
Jhonny Peralta	Detroit Tigers	SS
Salvador Perez	Kansas City Royals	C
Glen Perkins	Minnesota Twins	P		Replaced Crain Did not play
Mariano Rivera	New York Yankees	P
Chris Sale	Chicago White Sox	P
Max Scherzer	Detroit Tigers	P		Starting Pitcher
Chris Tillman	Baltimore Orioles	P		Replaced Iwakuma Did not play
Mike Trout	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	OF	Starter
Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	P		Replaced under Sunday Starter rule
Ben Zobrist	Tampa Bay Rays	2B		Did not play

National League[edit]

Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants managed the National League team, with coaches Davey Johnson of the Washington Nationals and Terry Collins of the New York Mets.

Player	Team	Position	Selection	Notes
Pedro Alvarez	Pittsburgh Pirates	3B
Carlos Beltran	St. Louis Cardinals	OF	Starter
Domonic Brown	Philadelphia Phillies	OF
Madison Bumgarner	San Francisco Giants	P		Did not play
Everth Cabrera	San Diego Padres	SS		Did not play
Matt Carpenter	St. Louis Cardinals	2B
Aroldis Chapman	Cincinnati Reds	P
Patrick Corbin	Arizona Diamondbacks	P
Allen Craig	St. Louis Cardinals	1B
Michael Cuddyer	Colorado Rockies	OF
Jose Fernandez	Miami Marlins	P
Freddie Freeman	Atlanta Braves	1B	Final Man Vote	Replaced because of injury
Paul Goldschmidt	Arizona Diamondbacks	1B
Carlos Gomez	Milwaukee Brewers	OF
Carlos Gonzalez	Colorado Rockies	OF	Starter
Jason Grilli	Pittsburgh Pirates	P
Bryce Harper	Washington Nationals	OF	Starter
Matt Harvey	New York Mets	P		Starting Pitcher
Clayton Kershaw	Los Angeles Dodgers	P
Craig Kimbrel	Atlanta Braves	P
Cliff Lee	Philadelphia Phillies	P
Jeff Locke	Pittsburgh Pirates	P		Replaced because of injury
Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves	C		Replaced Freeman Did not play
Andrew McCutchen	Pittsburgh Pirates	OF
Mark Melancon	Pittsburgh Pirates	P		Replaced Locke Did not play
Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals	C	Starter	Top Vote-Getter in National League
Edward Mujica	St. Louis Cardinals	P		Replaced Wainwright Did not play
Brandon Phillips	Cincinnati Reds	2B	Starter
Buster Posey	San Francisco Giants	C
Sergio Romo	San Francisco Giants	P		Replaced Zimmermann Did not play
Marco Scutaro	San Francisco Giants	2B		Did not play
Jean Segura	Milwaukee Brewers	SS
Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies	SS	Starter
Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	1B	Starter
Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals	P		Replaced under Sunday Starter rule
Travis Wood	Chicago Cubs	P		Did not play
David Wright	New York Mets	3B	Starter
Jordan Zimmermann	Washington Nationals	P		Replaced because of injury

The Game[edit]

Giant flag unfurled before the game.

The American League won the game, 3-0, as its pitching completely stifled the National League's bats. Local hero Matt Harvey, in his first full season with the New York Mets, was on the mound to start the game, but got off on the wrong foot as he allowed a lead-off double to Mike Trout and then hit Robinson Cano with a pitch; Cano immediately left the game with a bruise on his upper leg and was replaced by pinch-runner Dustin Pedroia. However, Harvey recovered from his early trouble by disposing of the three big boppers that came next: Miguel Cabrera struck out, Chris Davis flied out to center and Jose Bautista struck out to end the inning. Max Scherzer of the Detroit Tigers, who got the starting assignment after going 13-1 in the first half, was more expeditive, retiring all three men he faced in order. Harvey came back for a second inning of work and this time retired the AL in order. He would be the only NL pitcher on the night to go 2 innings, as manager Bruce Bochy then used a different pitcher for each of the last seven innings.

For the American League, Chris Sale succeeded Scherzer on the mound, and he would be the only man to go two innings for the junior circuit, retiring all 6 men he faced. The AL opened the scoring in the top of the 4th, as Cabrera greeted Patrick Corbin with a double. Davis singled to place runners on the corners and Bautista followed with a fly ball to center, scoring Cabrera. Corbin then induced David Ortiz to ground into a double play to end the inning. Felix Hernandez took over on the mound for the AL, and the National League finally got its first baserunner when Carlos Beltran singled after one out; he was replaced by pinch-runner Andrew McCutchen who promptly stole second base, putting him in scoring position. However, the next two batters, Joey Votto and David Wright, both grounded out, and McCutchen was stranded. As massive changes began to be made, Cliff Lee took the mound for the NL in the 5th, and he gave up a second run, once again allowing a lead-off double, this time to Adam Jones, followed by a single by Joe Mauer. A ground ball by J.J. Hardy scored Jones, after which Trout grounded into a double play.

The National League was unable to generate any offense, however. All it had to show for the next two innings was a lead-off walk by Michael Cuddyer in the 6th, but he did not even make it to second base. For the AL, Nelson Cruz drew a lead-off walk against Aroldis Chapman in the 7th, but he was erased when the next batter, Edwin Encarnacion, grounded into a double play. In the bottom of the 7th, the NL got its second hit as Wright hit a one-out single off Greg Holland. Manager Jim Leyland then decided to play the lefty-righty match-up game, bringing in a pair of hard throwers from the Toronto Blue Jays' bullpen, who both did their job: lefty Brett Cecil struck out Domonic Brown and righty Steve Delabar whiffed Buster Posey to end the inning. The AL then added a third run against Craig Kimbrel in the 8th: Salvador Perez and Jhonny Peralta started off the inning with back-to-back singles. Kimbrel induced Torii Hunter to ground into a double play, but Jason Kipnis hit an automatic double that bounced into the left-field stands and Perez scored the third run.

The game's most memorable moment came in the bottom of the 8th, when Leyland called on all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera, who had announced before the start of the season that this would be his last year, to come and pitch. The players from both teams stayed in their dugouts as Rivera entered to the strains of Metallica's Enter Sandman, his usual entrance music at New Yankee Stadium, and had the whole of Citi Field to himself as he warmed up to a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd. He then proceeded to do what he does better than anyone in the history in the game, mowing down the three men he faced in order - Jean Segura, Allen Craig and Carlos Gomez. The last inning was anticlimactic. The huge Prince Fielder hit a rare triple off Jason Grilli to lead off the top of the 9th, but the next three batters went out meekly, then Joe Nathan came to pitch the bottom of the inning. He struck out Matt Carpenter and McCutchen, then Paul Goldschmidt doubled for the third NL hit, and only its second runner to reach scoring position. However, Pedro Alvarez popped out to second to end the game.

Chris Sale appropriately received credit for the win and likely would have been named the game's MVP had Rivera's pitching appearance not been couched in so much history. Mo was named the recipient of the Ted Williams Award, a decision that really was a lifetime achievement award for him. The loss was charged to Patrick Corbin, who gave up the first of the three AL runs.

Starting Lineups[edit]

American League			Batting Order	National League
Player	Position	Team	Batting Order	Player	Position	Team
Mike Trout	CF	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	1	Brandon Phillips	2B	Cincinnati Reds
Robinson Cano	2B	New York Yankees	2	Carlos Beltran	RF	St. Louis Cardinals
Miguel Cabrera	3B	Detroit Tigers	3	Joey Votto	1B	Cincinnati Reds
Chris Davis	1B	Baltimore Orioles	4	David Wright	3B	New York Mets
Jose Bautista	RF	Toronto Blue Jays	5	Carlos Gonzalez	LF	Colorado Rockies
David Ortiz	DH	Boston Red Sox	6	Yadier Molina	C	St. Louis Cardinals
Adam Jones	CF	Baltimore Orioles	7	Troy Tulowitzki	SS	Colorado Rockies
Joe Mauer	C	Minnesota Twins	8	Michael Cuddyer	DH	Colorado Rockies
J.J. Hardy	SS	Baltimore Orioles	9	Bryce Harper	CF	Washington Nationals
Max Scherzer	P	Detroit Tigers	SP	Matt Harvey	P	New York Mets