CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Home-field advantage in the World Series was decided by a player who will be watching it on television.

Pinch hitter Hank Blalock delivered a long two-run homer off Eric Gagne in the bottom of the eighth inning as the American League rallied for a 7-6 triumph over the National League in the 74th All-Star Game at U.S. Cellular Field.

Flagging TV ratings and last year's tie game had the World Series incentive linked to the midseason classic for the first time, which generated debate among players and fans.

The issue became even more heated when Blalock, whose Texas Rangers are in last place in the AL West, crushed a 3-1 pitch from the hard-throwing closer of the Los Angeles Dodgers .

"I don't consider myself a home run hitter," Blalock said. "I'm just a guy who goes up there and gets my hits. I'm just trying to set the table for the rest of the crew. I'm not a homer hitter and for something like this to happen is pretty rare."

"That hasn't been done a lot," NL manager Dusty Baker said. "Gagne's a great pitcher but they had some pretty great hitters. Any time you go out there and you have a three-run lead late in the game and you have (Billy) Wagner and Gagne and then (John) Smoltz ... Their bats came alive. I have never seen Gagne get hit like that."

The National League appeared to have a decided edge in the bullpen with star closers Wagner of Houston, Gagne and Atlanta's Smoltz. But Wagner surrendered a long homer to New York's Jason Giambi in the seventh and Gagne (0-1) was tagged for three runs in the eighth.

That prevented Smoltz from getting into the game. His Atlanta Braves have baseball's best record, and he had been one of the most outspoken critics of the game "counting."

"As a fellow closer you feel for him," Smoltz said. "But everybody has butterflies, especially when you consider who you are going to face. Absolutely (I'm disappointed). I was anticipating my inning but it didn't come. The other stuff can be addressed later."

The AL got stellar relief innings from Anaheim's Brendan Donnelly (1-0) and Oakland's Keith Foulke . The former Chicago White Sox closer got Atlanta's Rafael Furcal to fly to the wall in right field for the final out.

Anaheim's Garret Anderson , who captured the Home Run Derby title on Monday, went 3-for-4 with a double and home run and was named Most Valuable Player. He also ignited the eighth-inning rally.

"It's cool but I have to keep everything in perspective," Anderson said. "I'm not going to take it with me when my team travels to Baltimore (to begin the second half)."

Gagne has allowed just 23 hits and one home run in 45 1/3 innings in the first half of the season. He seemed to be in good shape after retiring Boston's Nomar Garciaparra to open the eighth.

But Anderson doubled and Baltimore's Melvin Mora came on to run. Gagne got Chicago's Carl Everett on a bouncer to first, but Toronto's Vernon Wells - one of 28 first-time All-Stars in the game - ripped a double to draw the AL within 6-5.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia sent Blalock, another first-timer, up to hit for Anaheim's Troy Glaus . The move paid off as the second-year third baseman crushed Gagne's fifth pitch for the decisive blow.

"I wanted to throw a strike but I threw it right down the middle, maybe a bit too high," Gagne said. "I don't worry that he beat me. He beat the National League, we are a team and you win as a team and you lose as a team. Everyone here is professional enough to say we lost the game, not Gagne lost the game."

"One of the reasons Hank appeared so late in the game was so that I could get him matched up against one of their other guys," Scioscia said. "It's not great being matched up with Smoltz or Gagne, but it's better than Wagner."

The win was the sixth straight in the series for the AL.

"When you see something like that happen, you just don't see that every day," Anderson said. "That is what is exciting about this game, never knowing what is going to happen. On paper, we were not supposed to score any runs off Gagne, and to do it in that fashion, definitely was very exciting."

"It was a terrific ballgame," Scioscia said. "No doubt about it. I think it was a terrific ballgame in that there were a lot of little subtleties that were working into the way the game swung. Our guys came up with some very big hits off some very, very tough relievers."

Last year's public relations disaster prompted many of the changes in the philosophy of this year's game. And through most of the contest, things could not have gone much better.

Both starting pitchers, Chicago's Esteban Loaiza for the AL and San Francisco's Jason Schmidt in the NL, were sharp and the game was scoreless heading into the third.

New York's Roger Clemens came on to start the third and breezed through the bottom of the NL lineup, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Philadelphia's Randy Wolf relieved Schmidt and surrendered a two-out RBI single to Toronto's Carlos Delgado that opened the scoring.

Seattle's Jamie Moyer cruised through the fourth and Cubs righthander Kerry Wood - greeted by boos - got through the bottom of the frame.

Scioscia turned to another Mariners pitcher, Shigetoshi Hasegawa , to start the fifth. The Japanese righthander had allowed just four runs all season but ran into immediate trouble by walking Atlanta's Gary Sheffield and surrendering a long home run to Colorado's Todd Helton .

Scott Rolen singled, but Hasegawa regrouped and got the next two batters before Atlanta's Rafael Furcal singled up the middle. Minnesota's Eddie Guardado came on, and Andruw Jones - another Brave - greeted the reliever with a double down the left field line.

A fan reached out and grabbed the ball, but plate umpire Tim McClelland eschewed the normal two-base runner movement and allowed Furcal to score. St. Louis Albert Pujols followed with a single for a 5-1 lead.

St. Louis' Woody Williams allowed a long two-run homer to Anderson in the sixth. But the NL got a homer from Jones in the seventh and seemed to be in good shape, holding a 6-3 lead with Wagner, Gagne and Smoltz still to come.

"It was a splitter, I just reacted," Jones said. "I felt good at the plate and hit it well."

Giambi, who was named to the team as an injury replacement for Kansas City first baseman Mike Sweeney , smoked a home run to right-center off Wagner in the bottom of the seventh to begin the comeback.