Dodgers All-Star reliever Hong-Chih Kuo: What, me worry?

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For two innings, it appeared Hong-Chih Kuo might have an unwanted new tag:

All-Star goat.

Not the nicest addition. Yet Kuo was being fitted for horns after his throwing error in the fifth inning led to the game’s first run Tuesday night.

The American League, already on a staggering 13-game winning streak, took its 1-0 into the seventh. The way things had been going for the National League, 1-0 must have seemed like Mt. Everest.

Kuo, who was one of the game’s best stories after overcoming four elbow operations to become an All-Star, was apparently unconcerned. Or so he claimed.

A regular Alfred E. Neuman. What, me worry? The rookie All-Star said he was completely unconcerned.

‘Nah, we’ve got a pretty good team,’ Kuo said.

Kuo was the first reliever to enter the game, coming in the scoreless affair to start the bottom of the fifth.

And immediately walked Evan Longoria.

Joe Mauer followed with a comebacker to Kuo, who fielded it on the third base side of the mound … and then threw it to San Diego.

The ball sailed over the head of first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

‘It happens sometimes,’’ Kuo said. ‘I hoped it would break like a curveball.’

Robinson Cano then lifted a fly to left, deep enough to sacrifice Longoria in from third.

It remained a 1-0 game until the N.L. rallied for three runs on Brian McCann’s double in the seventh. Kuo was off the hook.

Afterward, Kuo would admit to only a touch of butterflies.

‘It was just like a major-league debut,’ he said. ‘A little bit nervous, but it was fun.’

Particularly when it doesn’t end with you as the goat.

-- Steve Dilbeck