All-American: Texas' Young earns Most Valuable Player honors with game-winning triple in the ninth

PITTSBURGH — No matter who's on the mound, the National League can't find a way to close out an All-Star game.

With the AL down to its final strike, Michael Young hit a two-run triple off Trevor Hoffman for a 3-2 victory Tuesday night that kept the Americans unbeaten for the past decade.

Behind David Wright's homer and some daring, old-style baserunning at picturesque PNC Park, the NL took a 2-1 lead into the ninth and brought in Hoffman to try to finish it.

But the San Diego Padres' reliever, closing in on the career saves record, failed to put this one away. He gave up a two-out single to Paul Konerko, who was replaced by pinch-runner Jose Lopez.

Then the NL nearly caught a break — it hasn't had many since its last victory in Philadelphia in 1996.

Troy Glaus' smash bounded over the left-field fence for a ground-rule double, perhaps preventing Lopez from scoring. He was held at third, but Young made that moot.

The Rangers' underrated shortstop lined an 0-2 pitch into right-center and slid into third with what was probably the biggest All-Star game hit since Texas teammate Hank Blalock's go-ahead homer off Eric Gagne in the eighth inning in 2003.

Young took home the MVP award — and the AL won the home-field edge in the World Series for the fourth straight year, with some help from Vladimir Guerrero's early home run.

"I'm not going to lie. This is a pretty big highlight in my career," Young said. "No one's really giving huge rallying calls to getting home-field advantage in the World Series, but we're all aware of how important this game is."

Said Glaus: "Nobody wants to make the last out of anything, whether it's a regular season, World Series or an All-Star game."

Mariano Rivera worked around Lopez's error at third base in the bottom half for his third All-Star save, tying Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley for the career mark since the stat became official in 1969.

Old reliable for the New York Yankees, Rivera retired Milwaukee slugger Carlos Lee on a popup with a runner on second to end it — making the AL 9-0-1 in this summer showcase over the past 10 years.

The NL's best result was a tie in 2002 in Milwaukee.

In fact, the AL has dominated year-round lately, sweeping the last two World Series and winning a whopping 61 percent of interleague games this season.