Baseball
In his final All-Star Game, Cal Ripken provides a dramatic highlight

By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service

After an ovation from the fans, Cal Ripken tipped his cap, got in the box, and blasted the ball over the left-field wall. Associated Press photo

From the first inning when he returned to his old home at shortstop – compliments of the class of Alex Rodriguez – to the home run he hit in the third inning, Ripken gave an MVP goodbye last night in the All-Star Game.

The 4-1 American League win came on a night of multiple plot lines, three AL home runs and virtually no National League offense. But there was reason for everyone to go home happy.

All of baseball could be content that Ripken, in his 19th and final All-Star Game, said a proper farewell with his shot off Chan Ho Park.

"That's the kind of magic Cal brings to the field," NL starting pitcher Randy Johnson said. "That he's brought to the field for 20 years or however long he's played."

"I felt," Ripken said, "like I was flying around the bases."

Seattle could be blissful that all eight Mariners played. From Japanese rookie sensation Ichiro Suzuki — whose first All-Star at-bat was an infield single — to Mike Cameron's double to reliever Kazuhiro Sasaki's perfect ninth inning, as the last of nine AL pitchers who combined to allow only three hits and two men past first base.

"I've watched a lot of All-Star games on TV but cannot feel it," Suzuki said. "But today, being in the game, I got a lot of feeling with the whole of my body."

Derek Jeter and Magglio Ordonez could be tickled with back-to-back homers off Jon Lieber in the sixth, which opened up a 4-1 AL lead, on its way to a fifth straight victory.

Tommy Lasorda, an honorary coach for NL manager Bobby Valentine, could be glad he wasn't skewered when he was hit by Vladimir Guerrero's broken bat while working the third-base coaching box in the sixth inning. He plopped to the turf like a bag of overcooked pasta, but popped up quickly.

And the pitchers could be absolutely joyous this game started in the late afternoon in the West, where the shadows made Safeco Field a nightmare for hitters.

Especially the NL hitters.

All in all, then, it was a cheerful night – including when the game was stopped before the sixth to honor the retiring Ripken and Tony Gwynn, with awards from Commissioner Bud Selig.

Ripken's homer came on the first pitch he saw from Park, after he had to step out to acknowledge a standing ovation. He tipped his cap, got in the box, and blasted the ball over the left-field wall. At 40, he is the oldest man to ever hit an All-Star home run.

"I went up there and said, 'God, it's hard to see,' " Ripken said. " 'Let me just keep things short and put the ball in play.' I just saw the first pitch, swung at it, put a nice swing on it ... It was a shot of adrenaline and then the curtain call. It was just a continuation of those goose bumps. I still have them right now thinking about it."

The AL added an unearned run in the fifth when John Olerud reached second on Jeff Kent's throwing error, and Ivan Rodriguez followed with an RBI single.

Kent doubled and scored on Ryan Klesko's sacrifice fly in the sixth to cut the lead to 2-1. But Jeter and Ordonez answered in the bottom of the sixth, the fifth time for back-to-back homers in an All-Star Game.

Beginning with two perfect innings from AL starter Roger Clemens, the NL batters were in trouble. Their only baserunner in the first five innings was Luis Gonzalez with a single in the fourth. Kent's double and Lance Berkman's single in the sixth were the only other hits.

But it was a night laden with stories, if not baserunners.

Original NL starter Curt Schilling, who pitched last Sunday, decided he would not be ready to go for the Diamondbacks Friday if he worked in the All-Star Game.

"I know it's a cliche," Schilling said, "but the team really did come first."

And it allowed Johnson not only to pitch in front of his old fans, but also to start the AL first inning with a juicy matchup – facing Suzuki, who wears Johnson's old No. 51 Mariner uniform.

Suzuki promptly reached base on an infield single to first, beating Johnson to the bag.

The evening included one great idea; Alex Rodriguez, the AL's elected shortstop, asking a surprised third baseman Ripken to trade places in the first inning, so Ripken could play his old position one last time, not having been there since 1997.

Ripken hesitated, looked at the dugout to find manager Joe Torre waving him over, and relented.

"I came out there and thought, 'This isn't the time or the place to go back to short. I haven't played it in so many years," Ripken said. "He said 'No, everybody is expecting you to do it, so go on over there.' It was fun to go back there and get that look."