Matt Ortega

In the last twelve Major League All-Star Games, the American League is unbeaten.

Michael Young, Texas Rangers shortstop, hit a fly ball to right field with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 15th inning that scored Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau from third to put the A.L. over the top, 4-3.

With the call at home plate, Boston Red Sox and American League skipper Tony Francona was, perhaps, over jubilant.

Francona was spared from sending injury-prone Tampa Bay Rays ace, Scott Kazmir, back to the mound for another inning of work. Kazmir threw over 100 pitches on Sunday. To risk Kazmir’s health, and by extension, jeopardize the playoff hopes of a team that has finished dead last in nine of ten seasons in existence, Francona would be caught in a tough spot.

Only a few rows away from the field of play was MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, who, as the tonight’s game sank deeper into extra frames, undoubtedly recalled the 2002 fiasco that ensued after that year’s All-Star Game in Milwaukee ended in a 7-7 tie.

Both squads were immediately hampered by pitching staffs that threw long innings on Sunday. Arizona Diamondbacks starter Brandon Webb threw over 100 pitches on Sunday, and pitched a scoreless bottom-half of the fourteenth with two strikeouts. San Francisco Giants phenom young hurler Tim Lincecum, who won his eleventh game on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs, was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.

FOX Sports commentators Joe Buck and Tim McCarver questioned what further remedies may be in place before next year’s mid-summer classic, but for now, this one ended with a clear winner.