Sacrifice fly gives relief to AL in 15th

NEW YORK – Nothing like a disgraceful bit of provincialism to ruin a grand evening.

This should have been a glorious farewell to Yankee Stadium, to the ballpark Commissioner Bud Selig calls “the most famous sports cathedral in the world.” This should have been a night to celebrate greats past and present, from New York and beyond, from Yogi Berra and Hank Aaron to Derek Jeter and Josh Hamilton.

But a New York newspaper and the Yankee Stadium fans conspired to tarnish an otherwise spectacular event, with Jonathan Papelbon of the rival Boston Red Sox enduring a ridiculous amount of abuse.

The provincialism was long forgotten by the time the longest game in All-Star history was decided, when Michael Young of the Texas Rangers delivered a sacrifice fly in the 15th inning to give the American League a 4-3 victory over the National League on Tuesday night.

Young became the second AL player to end an All-Star game by producing the walk-off run. Hall of Famer Ted Williams won the 1941 game with a home run. The game lasted four hours and 50 minutes, breaking the record by more than an hour. The 1967 game at Anaheim Stadium – the only other 15-inning game in All-Star history – lasted three hours and 41 minutes.

The American League extended its All-Star game unbeaten streak to a record 12 games, securing home-field advantage in the World Series.

Brad Lidge, the last available NL pitcher, took the loss. Scott Kazmir, the last available AL pitcher, worked one inning for the victory, after making 104 pitches Sunday.

The AL survived a hail of missed opportunities. In the 10th inning, the AL had the bases loaded with none out and did not score. In the 11th, center fielder Nate McLouth threw out the would-be winning run at the plate, with Russell Martin expertly blocking the plate to prevent his predecessor as Dodgers catcher, Dioner Navarro, from scoring. In the 12th, the AL had a runner at third base with one out and did not score.

Papelbon, the Boston closer, gave a perfectly reasonable if not entirely modest answer during Monday’s interview session, to the question of which AL closer should work the ninth inning Tuesday.

“If I was managing the team, I would close,” he said. “I’m not managing the team, so it doesn’t matter.”

This was not considered an appropriate answer, since Papelbon said something other than the ninth inning in Yankee Stadium should be left to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, so the New York Daily News labeled him “PAPELBUM” on its back cover Tuesday, in big letters.

Rivera, as it turned out, did pitch in the ninth inning, and the 10th too. He would have been the winning pitcher had the AL not blown that bases-loaded, none-out opportunity in the bottom of the 10th, with three ground outs, including two force plays at home.

Papelbon told reporters he was taunted and threatened during Tuesday’s All-Star parade in Manhattan. He entered the game in the eighth inning, to loud boos, with the score tied, 2-2.

He gave up a flare single to Miguel Tejada, and a sellout crowd announced at 55,632 viciously mocked him by chanting “over-rated, over-rated!” Tejada scored the run that gave the AL a 3-2 lead, but the run was unearned, after he stole second, took third on a throwing error by Navarro and scored on a sacrifice fly by Adrian Gonzalez.

Papelbon was booed off the mound. His line: One inning, one unearned run, two strikeouts.

The AL got Papelbon off the hook – in the box score, anyway – when Evan Longoria’s two-out double in the bottom of the eighth tied the score, 3-3.

The NL dispensed with the usual custom of offering an inning apiece to as many pitchers as possible, in search of victory and in part because so many starting pitchers supposedly were unavailable. Brandon Webb, Ryan Dempster and Tim Lincecum all pitched Sunday, and Lincecum did not make it to the stadium after a case of flu and dehydration sent him to the hospital Tuesday.

So the NL used three starters for two innings each, with Ben Sheets, Carlos Zambrano and Dan Haren combining for six shutout innings and six strikeouts. But Webb and Dempster each were used for an inning.

 bill.shaikin@latimes.com