MINNEAPOLIS, MN. -- They got a big crowd for the celebrity softball game, and they got another big crowd despite a nasty rain storm for the Home Run Derby. They also got large crowds at the Minneapolis Convention Center for Twins Fest, and the various pregame ceremonies were all appreciated -- from the flyover by the six-fighter-jet formation of the Air Force Thunderbirds, who prepped for the job by parking at the Duluth Airport, to Rod Carew throwing the ceremonial first pitch.

But all of the pre-game buildup was, for once, just preliminary to the main event -- the Major League Baseball All-Star game.

Everything worked out to perfection for the 41,048 fans at Target Field, where weeklong scares that Minneapolis would face its coldest July 15 in history dissolved in sunny, 72-degree perfection. The American League beat the National League 5-3, which secures home-field advantage for the designated-hitter league in the World Series.
Beyond that, all the storybook stories that had been foretold, were told again at game time.

First up for story lines, there was the incomparable Derek Jeter who is taking a break in his final season before retirement to start at shortstop in his final All-Star game. He led off the last of the first inning by stroking Adam Wainright’s fastball down the right field line for a double. Jeter added a single in his second time up, before being ceremoniously replaced in the field to prolonged ovations.

Second, there was big Mike Trout, the Angels monster talent who is seen as the likeliest player to supplant Jeter as baseball’s primary ambassador. He followed Jeter’s leadoff double by blasting a triple off the right-center-field wall to send Jeter home with the game’s first run. With one out, Miguel Cabrera stepped in and laced a Wainright pitch into the left-field stands to make it 3-0 in the first.

Trout later also hit a double, and wound up as the game’s most valuable player, which meant he got to choose between Chevrolet’s twin killings, the 2014 car and truck of the year: The new Chevrolet Corvette and a new Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. Big Mike chose the Corvette Sting Ray.

The other big story lines included the local guys. Twins closer Glen Perkins made his first All-Star team in 2013, but when the game ended, he was in the bullpen, the only player who didn’t get in the game. He had another chance this time, and new Twins catcher Kurt Suzuki was also a spare on the A.L. team. Sure enough, when the Americans held their 5-3 lead in the top of the ninth, the big crowd roared when Perkins came jogging in from the bullpen.

American League manager John Farrell of the Boston Red Sox made a great move when he also inserted Suzuki as the last-inning catcher. Bing, bang, boom, Perkins induced a fly to center, struck out Josh Harrington, and ended the game with a harmless grounder to second. Perfect save for the hometown, and home team, closer.

Perkins fared better than Pat Nesheck, the submarine-throwing reliever released by the Twins when he had some problems in 2010. After a couple other failures, and the tragic death of his new baby, Neshek toyed with leaving the game. But he and his wife Stephanie had a new baby, just as Neshek picked up the pieces this year in the unlikely location of St. Louis, where the Cardinals are pitching rich. Neshek worked his way to the position of set-up man, which means he pitches an inning or two of relief to pave the way for the closer to finish off foes. Neshek is 4-0 and hasn’t allowed an earned run since sometime in April. With a few scratches on the National League pitching staff, Neshek was a late addition to the staff.

When Neshek, a Brooklyn Park native and former Park Center high school star, came in for the N.L. in the fifth inning of the All-Star game, the crowd gave him an appreciative ovation, even though the Nationals had just tied the game 3-3. Neshek was greeted by a flurry of unfortunate singles, and didn’t survive the inning, yielding two runs -- the difference in the game.

Even then, there were enough big hits, great defensive plays, strong pitching, and quality play from the well-known starters through the little-known subs to make it a very entertaining All-Star

John Gilbert has been writing sports for
over 30 years. Formerly with the Star Tribune and WCCO. He currently hosts a daily radio show on KDAL AM.

After the American League won Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Target Field, there was the rumbling of controversy that was overdone by the media looking for a free feeding frenzy.

Everybody paid tribute to Derek Jeter, the retiring New York Yankees icon, who started at shortstop for the American League and led off the batting order. In the top of the first inning National League leadoff man Andrew McCutcheon smacked a hard ground ball toward center field, but Jeter raced to his left, dived to spear the ball in his glove, then got up and threw to first. Now it wasn’t a bullet throw, like Jeter might have fired five years ago, but it was accurate. In a very close play, McCutcheon was called safe, although the American League escaped any damage.

In the last of the first, 6-foot-7 St. Louis ace Adam Wainright fired a fast ball and Jeter hit it up the right field line, where it richocheted through the corner for a double. That sparked a 3-run American League first inning, and afterward, when the media caught Wainright, he said, readily, he intended to fire a couple fastballs “down the pipe” to Jeter. The media frenzied, claiming that Wainright was admitting he was going to groove some pitches as a tribute to Jeter.

Wainright tried to counter the impression later, and he shouldn’t have needed to.

Wainright is a fastball pitcher, and one of the beauties of the All-Star Game is that a pitcher will try his strength against the strength of a prized opponent. The media who say Wainright set Jeter up apparently watched too much of Monday night’s home-run contest, where pitchers lob perfect deliveries to batters who have selected those pitchers.

Jeter’s leadoff double was interesting, because if he was being set up, one of the game’s greatest hitters barely got around on Wainright’s fastball. There are those times when a hitter “goes the other way” on an outside pitch, and there are times when a fast pitch almost gets by the hitter, and he reacts late, but just in time to hit the ball fair to the opposite field. This was a case of “B.”

On the National League side, Milwaukee’s impact was impressive. Third baseman Aramis Ramirez led off the second with a single, and after Chase Utley doubled home a run, Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy doubled home another run to make it a 3-2 game. It became 3-3 in the fourth when Utley was hit by a pitch and Lucroy hit another double to drive him in.

The whole show was a lot of fun, very entertaining, and not only put Target Field on the map among Major League visitors, but gave Minneapolis the chance to show off all its great restaurants and hospitality features.