Crawford, Bullpen Lead AL to 4-3 All-Star Win

Carl Crawford's glove and one of the great bullpens in All-Star history helped save the American League's winning streak last night at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Crawford pulled back a home run with a leaping grab an inning before Curtis Granderson tripled and scored the tiebreaking run in the eighth, giving the AL a 4-3 victory.

"It was definitely probably the best catch I ever made," said Crawford, the MVP. "I didn't think it was going to carry that far, but it carried and I just had to find the wall, make the adjustment and make the play on it." The AL 12-0-1 since its 1996 defeat at Philadelphia,  the longest unbeaten streak in All-Star history. Not even President Barack Obama's ceremonial first pitch helped the NL, which had been 4-0 previously when sitting presidents threw out the first offering. The NL scored all its runs in the second inning, and 22 of its last 24 batters made out. AL manager Joe Maddon credited his bullpen "stallions" of Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Nathan and Mariano Rivera. (More All Star Game stories.)