| SEASON | CAREER |
| W9 | 78 |
| L3 | 75 |
| G17 | 220 |
| IP120.1 | 1430.0 |
| BB24 | 494 |
| SO118 | 1197 |
| SEASON | CAREER |
| W9 | 116 |
| L5 | 62 |
| G18 | 217 |
| IP132.2 | 1448.0 |
| BB30 | 440 |
| SO128 | 1343 |
Down 7-5, Bryce Harper vowed to teammate Brandon Crawford to hit a game-winning home run.
"I'll drop a bomb and walk off the field, tell them we own this place," Harper said. "I promise you I'm going to hit a jack right here. I swear on everything." "Yeah, OK," Mike Trout told him in disbelief.Trout led off with a single, Scottsdale got another hit with one out and Harper followed with a home run to right-center off Jeff Inman.
"Everybody ran inside the clubhouse," Harper said. "It was a great moment."Still tied together, baseball's youthful dynamic duo will be watched by millions on Tuesday night as the All-Star game returns to Kansas City and beautiful Kauffman Stadium for the first time since 1973.
Just 19, Harper is the youngest position player in All-Star history and a key part of the Washington Nationals ' emergence as a first-place team. Trout, a year older, is leading the American League in hitting and helping the Los Angeles Angels turn around their season after a sloppy start.
Coincidentally, both came up to the majors leagues on April 28, Harper for his debut and Trout for his return following a pair of stints last year. They are among a record five rookie All-Stars, joined by Texas pitcher Yu Darvish , Oakland closer Ryan Cook and Arizona pitcher Wade Miley .
In a room full of baseball's best, even the veterans are taking notice of Harper and Trout.
"Speed. Power. Excitement. Youth. Energy," Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson said. "If they are able to stay healthy, they can completely transform the game as they get, five, 10, 15 years of big league time."For now, both will start Tuesday night's game on the bench.
With the result determining home-field advantage in the World Series for the 10th straight year, the AL manager Ron Washington will start reigning MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander . The NL's Tony La Russa, the first inactive All-Star manager since the AL's Bob Lemon in 1979, chose San Francisco's Matt Cain - coming off a perfect game last month - over knuckleballer R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets .
Trout was on a flight from Salt Lake City to Cleveland when he saw on Twitter that Harper was being called up the same day. Trout hadn't let many people know he was joining the big league team.
"Knowing he was getting called up that same day was pretty funny," Trout said.A son of former Minnesota minor league infielder Jeff Trout, Mike was taken by the Angels with the 25th pick on the first round of the 2009 amateur draft. Idolizing Derek Jeter , he played shortstop at Millville Senior High in New Jersey until he was moved to the outfield in his senior year. He understands why he lasted so late in the first round.
"A lot of risk. East Coast kid. Didn't play all year," he said. "You look at the teams in Florida and California, they've got perfect weather all year. They can play all year."Harper had the greater renown, on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was just 16 with the headline "CHOSEN ONE." With sunglasses hanging from the top of his shirt and a neatly cropped beard, he has the big league look. A hint of acne reveals he's still a teenager."So much pressure - no, I'm just kidding," he said, joshing with the media.Joining a Nationals team that already has a top youthful star in ace pitcher Stephen Strasburg , Harper has a .282 batting average with eight homers and 25 RBIs in 63 games. The only younger All-Stars were Bob Feller in 1938 and Dwight Gooden in 1984, both closer to their 19th birthdays than Harper.
"I still feel like I have that kid inside me that wants to play the game of baseball every single day," Harper said. "I got love and that passion for the game and, hopefully, I can keep it going. I hope I'll be able to play for the Nationals for a long time and be able to play in the big leagues for a long time because that's the dream."While Harper is polished following years of interviews, Trout projects a golly-gee demeanor, with close-cropped hair and a beaming smile. After he twice crashed into the center-field fence at Denver's Coors Field last month, teammates Jered Weaver and Dan Haren suggested he turn down the enthusiasm by a few notches.
"It's a long year. We're going to need you," Trout remembered them telling him.He's hitting .341 with 12 homers, 40 RBIs and 26 steals in 29 chances.
"I was just telling Jete, I've never seen a player hit a triple to left field, down the line," Yankees ace CC Sabathia said. "Raul (Ibanez) plays it off the wall, and he's standing on third. That's just fun to see. What he's doing is amazing."While Trout was an All-Star shoo-in, La Russa appeared reluctant to select Harper and added him on Saturday as a replacement when Miami's Giancarlo Stanton got hurt.
Even the 67-year-old La Russa, who managed his first World Series champions before they were born, appreciates the focus on the new stars.
"It would be nice to put the National League phenom against the American League phenom," he said.When discussing Trout, Harper sounds like a fan.
"He's fun to watch. I get pumped to watch him," Harper said.They hope this is just the first of many All-Star appearances. For every Willie Mays , who played his 24th and final All-Star game in Kansas City, there is a Gooden, who was selected in four of his first five seasons and then flamed out because of injuries and drug use.
Harper and Trout know what they can become. They are the next generation, playing alongside the present.
"I think certain guys who have been introduced to the game of baseball early on in life," said 40-year-old Chipper Jones , who is retiring at the end of the season. "Travel ball has accelerated so much for the development of young players these days. Back when I played, we played 30 games a year, and I'd move on to football and basketball, and run a little track."Yes, much has changed. But much is the same.
Harper wants to become just like Jones, a perennial All-Star respected by his peers.
"Any time I can do that and be that guy that's the face of baseball, I think that would be great, to be able to do that, to be able to play the game for a long time and respect everybody around me and respect the league," he said. "That would be a lot of fun."NOTES: Detroit's Prince Fielder became only the second player to win multiple titles in the Home Run Derby, thrilling a crowd of 40,351 with eight splash shots into the right-field fountain and beating Toronto's Jose Bautista 12-7 in the final round. Ken Griffey Jr. won it three times.
AVG
HRRUNSSBSOBBOBPSLGOPSKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Melky Cabrera , Pablo Sandoval and Matt Cain helped the National League to a Giant blowout in the All-Star game.
After all the talk about AL dominance during an offseason when Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder switched leagues, the NL romped to an 8-0 victory over the American League on Tuesday night.
The World Series will start in the city of the NL champion for the third straight year.
"It's a nice edge," the NL's Tony La Russa said after his final game as a manager.
Flashing their bright orange spikes and booming bats, the San Francisco sluggers keyed a five-run blitz against Justin Verlander in the first inning.
Cabrera homered and won the MVP award in the ballpark where he played last season, and Cain got the win in the NL's most-lopsided All-Star victory.
"I didn't come to win an MVP. That's just a surprise," the former Royals outfielder said, his mother and grandmother next to him.
"The same opportunity that Kansas City gave me last year is the same opportunity that San Francisco is giving me every day to showcase my talent."
Chipper Jones singled in his final All-Star at-bat at age 40. Ryan Braun , an All-Star again after his drug suspension was overturned last winter, doubled, tripled and made a fine catch in the outfield to help give the NL its first three-game winning streak in two decades.
Teen sensation Bryce Harper had a shaky All-Star debut with a walk, strikeout and missed catch. Fellow rookie Mike Trout , only 20, showed off his dynamic skills.
Cain combined with Stephen Strasburg , R.A. Dickey, Aroldis Chapman and the rest of a lights-out staff on a six-hitter.
The game was pretty much decided a few moments after it started.
Sandoval hit the first bases-loaded triple in All-Star history off Verlander, who couldn't control his 100 mph heat. Cabrera singled and scored the first run, then hit a two-run homer against Matt Harrison in a three-run fourth.
"I don't get many triples," said the slow-footed Sandoval, known as Kung Fu Panda. "We had some fun with that in the dugout."
San Francisco fans, who made a late voting push to elect Sandoval and Cabrera to starting spots, might really appreciate the victory come October. The Giants are a half-game behind the first-place Dodgers in the NL West.
Rafael Furcal also hit a three-bagger, making the NL the first league with three in an All-Star game.
As the All-Stars returned to Kansas City for the first time since 1973, La Russa bid farewell to the national stage in the city where he played for his first major league team.
Having retired after managing St. Louis to last year's World Series title, La Russa became just the fourth inactive manager to skipper an All-Star team and improved to 4-2.
"Just lucky, like I've been 30 years," La Russa said.
The NL boosted its advantage to 43-38-2 and won for just the third time in the 10 years the All-Star game has been used to determine home-field advantage in the World Series. La Russa's Cardinals benefited from last year's NL All-Star victory, with St. Louis winning Games 6 and 7 at home against Ron Washington 's Texas Rangers .
"It's very disappointing, because we're competitors and we want to win," said Washington, who lost for the second straight year. "They came out. They swung the bats. Once they got the lead, started bringing those arms in their hand, and they got the job done."
Jones, retiring at the end of the season, also had one last All-Star moment, pinch hitting in the sixth and singling just past second baseman Ian Kinsler and into right field. Jones chuckled as the ball rolled through.
La Russa asked Jones to address the team before the game and the Atlanta third baseman told players: "Whether you're 19 or 40, we are all equals here."
"I am not going out losing my last one. So, you with me?" he added.
At 19 the youngest position player in All-Star history, Harper had a shaky start when he entered in the fifth. The heralded rookie, wearing shiny gold shoes, didn't flash a Gold Glove and lost Mike Napoli 's routine fly to left in the lights, allowing it to drop behind him for a single.
Harper then caught Kinsler's bases-loaded flyball to end the inning, earning applause from the crowd of 40,933 at Kauffman Stadium, spruced up by a $250 million renovation that was completed three years ago.
Harper tagged up on a long fly after his walk in the fifth, but got himself hung up in a rundown and tagged out.
Trout, among a record five All-Star rookies, had a nice showing against two very different pitchers. The Angels outfielder singled and stole a base against Dickey's knuckleball, then drew a walk against Chapman and his 101 mph heat.
"I'm going to remember this the rest of my life," Trout said.
Cain pitched the 22nd perfect game in big league history last month. He didn't have to be perfect in this one, allowing one hit in two innings for the win.
"For those guys to go out and score five runs in the first inning was definitely a little more relaxing for me," he said. "But I still tried to stay focused."
Cain was followed by 10 relievers, with Jonathan Papelbon getting the last out with a runner on third base.
Verlander had a puzzling outing. In games that count, he hasn't allowed five runs in an inning since April 2010, according to STATS LLC. He became the first All-Star to give up a five-spot since Houston's Roger Clemens in front of his hometown fans in 2004.
"I know this game means something and you don't want to give up runs, but we're here for the fans," Verlander said. "I know the fans don't want to see me throw 90 and try to hit the corners."
In a 35-pitch inning, he threw five pitches clocked at 100 mph and another at 101.
"Hitting 100 in the first inning? Normally you see the guy throw 93, 94 in the first and then hit 100 in the eighth. We saw him hit 101," Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano said. "The funniest part was Fielder said to him, `Hit 101' and the next pitch he hit 101. Is it that easy?"
La Russa, usually serious and tense after games, was playful after his finale, chanting "Mel-ky! Mel-ky! Mel-ky!" as the MVP walked to the podium.
"If you're trying to win one game, there's not a better manager out there," Braun said. "It's only fitting that he went out with a win."
NOTES: The NL extended the AL's scoreless streak to 14 innings - its longest drought since 1995-97. ... The NL won for just the sixth time in a quarter-century. ... The NL had last won three straight in 1994-96. ... It was the first All-Star shutout since the NL's 6-0 win in 1996 at Philadelphia. ... The Giants' Barry Bonds was MVP of the '73 game.
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