NL USES POWER SURGE TO LIGHT THE CELL
Furcal Named ASG MVP

CHICAGO, July 15 (AP) - The National League, behind five home runs, scored early and often and then held on for a 9-5 victory in the 2003 Major League All-Star Game played before a sell-out crowd at U.S. Cellular Field.  Rafael Furcal of the Atlanta Braves led off the game with a home run and singled and scored another run in the second inning and was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

The National Leaguers jumped all over AL starter Barry Zito of the Oakland A's for four first inning runs.  After Furcal put the NL in front, Zito retired Marcus Giles and Barry  Bonds, but Albert Pujols made it 2-0 with a long ball of his own and Todd Helton, who entered the break on a 20-game hitting streak, singled.  That brought Jose Guillen of the Cincinnati Reds to the plate and he unloaded on a Zito offering, belting it over the left-center field wall for a two-run homer and a 4-0 NL lead.

The AL got a run back in the home half of the opening frame off Jason Schmidt of the San Francisco Giants when Trot Nixon of the Boston Red Sox hit the game's fourth first inning home run.  The one-out solo shot cut the NL lead to 4-1, but that was as close as the AL would ever get.

In the top of the second, facing Pedro Martinez, Furcal singled with one out and advanced to third on Giles' double.  Martinez then uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Furcal to make it 5-1, and advancing Giles to third.  Barry Bonds then drove a Martinez fastball halfway up the right field stands for the NL's fourth home run of the game and a commanding 7-1 advantage.

The National League all but put the game away in the top of fifth.  Facing Tim Hudson, Preston Wilson singled leading off the inning and, after Adam Dunn popped to third, Brian Giles forced Wilson at second.  But Jim Thome crushed the fifth and final NL home run of the game into the bleachers in right-center field for an insurmountable 9-1 lead.

The AL tried to fight back.  With Carl Pavano on the mound for the NL in the sixth, Alfonso Soriano reached on a one-out infield single and scored when Bill Mueller doubled.  Alex Rodriguez singled Mueller to third and Jorge Posada followed with another base hit, scoring Mueller and advancing Rodriguez to second.  Russ Ortiz replaced Pavano and retired Nomar Garciaparra on a deep fly to right, which allowed Rodriguez to take third.  On the very first pitch to Derek Jeter, catcher Mike Lieberthal was crossed up and allowed the ball to go to the backstop for a passed ball, scoring Rodriguez.  The AL had tallied three runs but still trailed by five.

The American Leaguers drew a bit closer in the eighth.  With John Smoltz on the hill for the NL, Manny Ramirez singled to left and advanced to second when Jason Varitek walked.  Smoltz then fired a wild pitch, allowing both runners to advance 90 feet.  Rodriguez struck out and Desi Relaford of the Kansas City Royals lofted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Ramirez and cutting the deficit to 9-5.  Joe Randa grounded out to end the inning.

Both teams were retired in order in the ninth and the NL wrapped up its win.  Both managers worked every active player on their respective rosters into the game.  The lopsided score assisted in that regard, as neither club felt the need to hold players in reserve in case the game reached extra innings.
7/15/2003, NL03-AL03, U.S. Cellular Field
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
2003 NL All-Stars      4  3  0  0  2  0  0  0  0     9 11  0     4  0
2003 AL All-Stars      1  0  0  0  0  3  0  1  0     5 10  0     7  0
 
NL All-Stars         AB  R  H BI   AVG    AL All-Stars         AB  R  H BI   AVG
Furcal            ss  2  2  2  1 1.000    Bradley           lf  2  0  0  0  .000
 Aurilia          ph  2  0  0  0  .000     Wells,V          cf  1  0  0  0  .000
 Gonzalez,A       ss  1  0  0  0  .000     Jeter            ph  2  0  0  0  .000
Giles,M           2b  2  1  1  0  .500    Nixon             rf  1  1  1  1 1.000
 Vidro            ph  2  0  0  0  .000     Jones,Jac        lf  1  0  0  0  .000
 Gonzalez,L       lf  1  0  0  0  .000     Mora             cf  2  0  0  0  .000
Bonds             dh  3  1  1  2  .333    Tejada            ss  2  0  1  0  .500
 Rolen            ph  2  0  0  0  .000     Salmon           rf  3  0  0  0  .000
Pujols            lf  2  1  2  1 1.000    Giambi,Ja         1b  2  0  0  0  .000
 Wilson,Pr        cf  1  0  1  0 1.000     Lee,T            1b  1  0  0  0  .000
 Kendall          ph  2  0  0  0  .000     Delgado,C        ph  1  0  0  0  .000
Helton            1b  2  1  1  0  .500    Boone,B           2b  1  0  0  0  .000
 Dunn             rf  1  0  0  0  .000     Soriano,A        ph  2  1  1  0  .500
 Durham           ph  1  0  0  0  .000     Ramirez,M        lf  1  1  1  0 1.000
Guillen,J         rf  2  1  1  2  .500    Blalock           3b  1  0  0  0  .000
 Giles,B          lf  1  1  0  0  .000     Mueller          ph  2  1  2  1 1.000
 Lee,De           ph  1  0  0  0  .000     Varitek          c   0  0  0  0  .000
Berkman           cf  2  0  1  0  .500    Thomas,F          dh  2  0  0  0  .000
 Thome            1b  1  1  1  2 1.000     Rodriguez,A      ph  2  1  1  0  .500
 Wilkerson        cf  1  0  0  0  .000    Beltran           cf  1  0  0  0  .000
Lopez,JT          c   2  0  0  0  .000     Posada           ph  2  0  1  1  .500
 Ensberg          3b  2  0  0  0  .000     Relaford         2b  0  0  0  1  .000
Lowell            3b  2  0  0  0  .000    Pierzynski        c   1  0  1  0 1.000
 Lieberthal       c   0  0  0  0  .000     Garciaparra      ss  2  0  1  0  .500
 Burroughs        3b  0  0  0  0  .000     Randa            3b  1  0  0  0  .000
                     38  9 11  8                               36  5 10  4
 
NL All-Stars                     INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Schmidt                          2.0  2  1  1  0  2  32  20  4.50
Brown,K          W 1-0           1.0  1  0  0  1  2  21  12  0.00
Sheets           H 1             1.0  1  0  0  0  0  13   8  0.00
Prior            H 1             1.0  1  0  0  0  1  12   9  0.00
Pavano           H 1             0.1  4  3  2  0  0  22  14 54.00
Ortiz,Ru         H 1             0.2  0  0  0  0  0   9   5  0.00
Benitez          H 1             1.0  0  0  0  0  2  12   7  0.00
Smoltz                           1.0  1  1  1  1  1  23  13  9.00
Wagner,B                         0.2  0  0  0  0  1  14  10  0.00
Gagne                            0.1  0  0  0  0  1   4   3  0.00
                                 9.0 10  5  4  2 10 162 101
 
AL All-Stars                     INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Zito             L 0-1           1.0  5  4  4  0  1  25  15 36.00
Martinez,P                       1.0  4  3  3  0  3  29  21 27.00
Moyer                            2.0  0  0  0  0  1  25  16  0.00
Hudson,T                         1.0  2  2  2  0  0  22  13 18.00
Colon                            1.0  0  0  0  0  2  11   7  0.00
Sabathia                         1.0  0  0  0  0  2  12   9  0.00
Mulder                           0.2  0  0  0  1  1  12   5  0.00
Percival                         0.1  0  0  0  0  0   3   2  0.00
Mussina                          0.2  0  0  0  0  2  12   8  0.00
Rivera,Ma                        0.1  0  0  0  0  0   3   2  0.00
                                 9.0 11  9  9  1 12 154  98
 
NL : Aurilia batted for Furcal in the 4th
     Vidro batted for Giles,M in the 4th
     Aurilia moved to ss in the 4th
     Vidro moved to 2b in the 4th
     Wilson,Pr inserted at cf in the 4th
     Dunn inserted at rf in the 4th
     Giles,B inserted at lf in the 4th
     Thome inserted at 1b in the 4th
     Ensberg inserted at 3b in the 4th
     Lieberthal inserted at c in the 4th
     Rolen batted for Bonds in the 6th
     Kendall batted for Wilson,Pr in the 7th
     Durham batted for Dunn in the 7th
     Lee,De batted for Giles,B in the 7th
     Gonzalez,A inserted at ss in the 7th
     Gonzalez,L inserted at lf in the 7th
     Kendall moved to c in the 7th
     Durham moved to 2b in the 7th
     Lee,De moved to 1b in the 7th
     Wilkerson inserted at cf in the 7th
     Ensberg moved to rf in the 7th
     Burroughs inserted at 3b in the 7th
AL : Soriano,A batted for Boone,B in the 4th
     Mueller batted for Blalock in the 4th
     Posada batted for Beltran in the 4th
     Wells,V inserted at cf in the 5th
     Jones,Jac inserted at lf in the 5th
     Salmon inserted at rf in the 5th
     Lee,T inserted at 1b in the 5th
     Soriano,A moved to 2b in the 5th
     Mueller moved to 3b in the 5th
     Posada moved to c in the 5th
     Garciaparra inserted at ss in the 5th
     Rodriguez,A batted for Thomas,F in the 6th
     Jeter batted for Wells,V in the 6th
     Jeter moved to ss in the 7th
     Mora inserted at cf in the 7th
     Ramirez,M inserted at lf in the 7th
     Varitek inserted at c in the 7th
     Relaford inserted at 2b in the 7th
     Randa inserted at 3b in the 7th
     Delgado,C batted for Lee,T in the 7th
     Delgado,C moved to 1b in the 8th
 
2B-Giles,M(1), Mueller 2(2). HR-Furcal(1), Bonds(1), Pujols(1), Guillen,J(1),
Thome(1), Nixon(1). RBI-Furcal(1), Bonds 2(2), Pujols(1), Guillen,J 2(2),
Thome 2(2), Nixon(1), Mueller(1), Posada(1), Relaford(1). K-Giles,M, Helton,
Guillen,J, Lowell, Vidro 2, Rolen 2, Durham, Lee,De, Gonzalez,L, Wilkerson,
Bradley 2, Tejada, Thomas,F, Jones,Jac, Salmon 2, Rodriguez,A, Jeter,
Delgado,C. BB-Burroughs, Nixon, Varitek. SF-Relaford. HBP-Lieberthal.
PB-Lieberthal. HB-Colon. WP-Smoltz, Martinez,P.
GWRBI: Furcal
Temperature: 76, Sky: clear, Wind: in from left at 12 MPH.
Attendance: 45,802
Game Time: 3:43

On roster but injured and unable to play:  NL: Patterson
                                           AL: Bard