The 2006 All-Star Game - Another National League Loss

Hits were as hard to come by at the 2006 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh on July 11th as pictures of Tom Cruise's baby, at least until Trevor Hoffman of the Padres came into the game to ensure that the American League kept up its winning ways. The 3-2 AL win in the 2006 All-Star Game kept the NL's losing streak intact; the American side has won nine of the last ten with only the infamous "Milwaukee tie" of 2002 spoiling that skein. The National League still holds a 40-35-2 edge in these midsummer classics, but the way they lost the 2006 All-Star Game may haunt their World Series Representative come this fall.

Things started out well for the senior circuit in the 2006 All-Star Game when the Dodgers' Brad Penny, who looks like a professional wrestler, struck out the side in the first. Detroit's Kenny Rogers, who last year at this time was being vilified for his run-in with a cameraman as a member of the Rangers, stranded a runner at second when he fooled Pittsburgh's Jason Bay with a change-up on the outside part of the plate to get the Buc's outfielder swinging. Penny gave up an opposite field homer to free-swinging Vlad Guerrero of the Angels in the second, but Rogers reciprocated when he threw the Mets' David Wright a gopherball in the bottom of the frame. With the 2006 All-Star Game knotted at 1-1, each side changed pitchers.