It might have been the strangest ending in the history of the All-Star game.
The ninth inning had nothing to do with a dramatic home run or an incredible catch. It was all about the fans at Camden Yards and their feelings toward the rival Toronto Blue Jays.Six of the seven Toronto players helped the American League beat the National League 9-3 Tuesday night. The home crowd should have been happy, but instead they spent much of the night booing AL manager Cito Gaston and his Blue Jays.
Toronto reliever Duane Ward entered the game in the ninth to a chorus of boos. The fans wanted to see Orioles right-hander Mike Mussina close out the game.
The boos got even louder when Gaston left his ace reliever in to get the last out of the game as Mussina continued to warm up in the bullpen.
Ward closed it with a strikeout - his second of the inning - and the booing got even louder. The reliever walked a few steps off the mound and stopped. Everyone seemed uncertain.
No one on the AL team ran to congratulate Ward - or each other. They heard the final score on the public address system and ran for the safety of the clubhouse.
Weird.
"I don't know why they booed us," Toronto outfielder Devon White said. "If it was the fact that there were seven Blue Jays, we were world champions or we were a division rival, there is nothing you can do about it but have a good time. Cito did a good job getting everyone in the game. I was happy that the Blue Jays did a good job and that we won."
Toronto second baseman Roberto Alomar tied the score 2-all in the third inning with a home run, White scored a run and drove in another with a double, Joe Carter had a single and Ward tossed perfect relief. Even former Blue Jays pitcher Jimmy Key got into the act.
In the starting introductions, Gaston and all four Toronto players in the starting lineup were jeered.
That seemed to be just a friendly little jab, but by the end the boos were clearly landing on the Blue Jays' chins.
"I was voted in by the fans," an almost defensive Alomar said. "I came here with my teammates to win. If they want to boo us it's no big deal to me."
Maybe things would have been different if Mussina was in the game at the finish. The fans chanted "We want Mike, We Want Mike!" and rooted for the NL to get something going against Ward.
"I'm disappointed," Orioles vice president Frank Robinson said. "No excuse for actions like that. It should be we're all one team . . . no reason to act like that."
Gaston said he didn't use Mussina because the pitcher was rested and might have been needed if the game went into extra innings.
"I told him that's what we were going to do," Gaston said. "We did what we had to do."
Detroit manager Sparky Anderson, a coach on the AL team, actually thought Gaston did the Orioles a big favor.
"Now they can pitch a rested Mussina on Thursday," Anderson said. "These two teams are fighting for first place, but fans also think they know how to manage better."
For his part, Mussina wanted to be in the game. "Sure I'm disappointed. He did what he thought he had to do to win the game."
One player who is always cheered - no matter where - is All-Star MVP Kirby Puckett. He had a home run and a double.
"The guys come here to win and they make it known," Puckett said. "We've got to go out there and do the best we can."
The AL clinched its sixth straight All-Star game by scoring three runs in the fifth inning off loser John Burkett and three more in the sixth.
With the Blue Jays bringing seven players to the game and the Atlanta Braves five, it seemed a little like another 1992 World Series game. The result was the same, too.
Right fielder David Justice made an error to help the NL build a run in the fifth, and Steve Avery and John Smoltz had their problems, too. Avery gave up three unearned runs in the fifth and two wild pitches by Smoltz allowed two runs to score in the sixth.
"I can't accept losing," Tony Gwynn of the Padres said. "Granted it's an All-Star game and a showcase, But it doesn't matter. I want to win."
The AL, meanwhile, got great relief pitching from Randy Johnson, winner Jack McDowell, Key, Jeff Montgomery, Rick Aguilera and, of course, Ward.
Starter Mark Langston gave up a two-run homer in the first inning to Gary Sheffield. But Puckett got the AL going with his homer in the second off NL starter Terry Mulholland.
"You have to understand that we both have been in pennant races for the last three or four years," Gaston said of the booing in Baltimore. "I guess I should get out of town."
The fans in Baltimore apparently wanted to make sure he got a message before jumping on his flight home.
See you again in September, Cito.
*****
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
All-Star blowouts
The largest margins of victory in All-Star game history:
1946 - American 12, National 0
1983 - American 13, National 3
1992 - American 13, National 6
1969 - National 9, American 3
1944 - National 7, American 1
1973 - National 7, American 1
1976 - National 7, American 1
1960 - National 6, American 0
1993 - American 9, National 3