SPORTS ADVISORS
ALL-STAR GAME
American League vs. National League
The American League looks to continue its dominance of the All-Star Game when it battles the National League in the final mid-summer classic ever played at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Cleveland?s Cliff Lee (12-2, 2.31 ERA) will start for the American League opposite Brewers ace Ben Sheets (10-3, 2.85), who becomes the first Milwaukee hurler to ever start an All-Star Game.
The A.L. has won five consecutive All-Star games and is on a 10-0-1 run in the annual midsummer exhibition, with seven of the 10 victories coming by more than one run. However, the past two contests have been one-run affairs, including last year at AT&T Park in San Francisco, where the American League got home runs from Ichiro Suzuki, Carl Crawford and Victor Martinez and held off a ninth-inning rally to win 5-4. The N.L. entered the ninth trailing 5-2, then scored two runs and had the bases loaded when the final out was recorded.
The N.L. still leads the all-time series 41-35-2, but the senior circuit has been on the losing end in 18 of the last 25 contests, plus one push in 2002. In fact, going back to 1988, the A.L. is on a 15-3-1 run in this contest. Prior to this current drought, the N.L. had won 19 of 20 meetings from 1963-82, including a record 11 straight from 1972-82.
In addition to the All-Star Game, the A.L. has dominated interleague play the last three years, holding advantages of 154-98 in 2006, 137-115 in 2007 and 149-103 this year.
Yankee Stadium has hosted the All-Star Game three times previously. The American League prevailed 3-1 in 1939, but the National League took the last two by scores of 6-0 in 1960 and 7-6 in 1977.
Sheets is making his fourth All-Star appearance. In the previous three, he has pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings. The right-hander is 6-1 with a 2.78 ERA in 11 road starts this year, although this is the first time in his career that he?ll take the mound at Yankee Stadium.
Lee, who wasn?t even assured of making the Indians? roster out of spring training after spending a portion of 2007 in Triple-A, is in his first-ever All-Star Game, and he?s the fourth Indians pitcher to get the starting nod. Lee is 7-2 with a 2.77 ERA in 11 road outings this year, but in four career starts at Yankee Stadium, he?s 2-2 with a 5.91 ERA.
The last two All-Star games have stayed under the total, snapping a four-game ?over? streak in the midsummer classic. Also, the under is 8-3 the last 11 times the game has been played in an American League ballpark, though the last two in A.L. yards ? at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago in 2003 and Comerica Park in Detroit in 2005 ? were double-digit shootouts that flew over the total.
ATS ADVANTAGE: AMERICAN LEAGUE and UNDER