ALL-STAR GAME : Glavine, NL Are Thrown for a Loop

Tom Glavine had not lost in nearly two months. On Tuesday, he was beaten after 20 minutes.

Bob Tewksbury had not issued a walk in nearly a month. On Tuesday, he threw four consecutive balls in his second inning.

Doug Jones, well, OK, so he was hit hard last weekend against the New York Mets.

In that game, he most certainly did not nearly fall off the mound.

That is what happened in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s All-Star game while Jones was delivering a 1-and-2 pitch to Ivan Rodriguez.

Jones stumbled, found his balance just before landing in the dirt, and managed to throw a ball that landed in the catcher’s outstretched mitt.

“I was lucky I didn’t hit anybody,” said Jones, who pitches for the Houston Astros. “I was lucky I didn’t hit the backstop.”

The National League’s 13-6 loss left its pitching staff feeling lucky to find the parking lot.

“After a while, it was getting spooky,” Jones said after giving up three runs in one inning. “It was like, ‘Let’s get out of here.’ ”

When they finally did leave, in their wake were bruised egos and fresh records.

The American League set a record for most hits with 19. Glavine set a record for most hits (seven) allowed by one pitcher in one inning and most hits (nine) allowed in a game.

The National League set a record for most earned runs allowed in a game with 13.

Glavine was so distracted by it all, while he was on the mound Roberto Alomar set the record with two stolen bases in one inning.

“By the time I got to bat (in the second inning), I was exhausted,” the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Andy Van Slyke said.

And to think that the majority of the American League’s runs were scored off the National League’s wins leader (Glavine), earned-run average leader (Tewksbury) and third-best reliever (Jones).

“Figure that one out,” said Tewksbury of the St. Louis Cardinals, who had walked nine batters in 134 2/3 innings. “I mean, I’ve only thrown four consecutive balls once this year.”

Glavine of the Atlanta Braves, who allowed five runs in the first 1 2/3 innings, tried to look at the bright side.

“If I can start an All-Star game every year, then have somebody tell me I stink, I’ll take it,” he said.

The National Leaguers knew they were in trouble when none of the AL’s seven hits in the first inning were hard. Nothing was smashed, in fact, except four AL bats.

“I think they (AL) were playing closest to the pin,” Van Slyke said after watching five of the seven hits drop in front of him in center field.

“The groundskeeper here is going to have a tough job with a two-foot square piece of grass out there,” Van Slyke added. “I swear, every ball hit the same exact spot. I was going to ask for a caddie.”

And just what did Glavine, coach Leo Mazzone and catcher Benito Santiago talk about during a first-inning visit conference on the mound?

“We laughed,” Santiago said. “We knew there was nothing we could do.”

Glavine agreed that he laughed, but said it wasn’t that funny.

“One guy would get a bloop hit and I would say, ‘OK, let’s get the next guy,’ ” he said. “But the next guy would hit it even softer. Here I was, all worried about giving up home runs, and they are getting broken-bat singles.”

Glavine shook his head. “From the Braves’ standpoint, this is a good thing. Maybe I will get this out of my system before the second half.”

Even though they were trailing, 6-0, there was still some drama left when Tewksbury took over it the fifth inning. He retired the side in his usual fast manner, but then allowed a leadoff double to Ken Griffey Jr. in the sixth.

Two outs later, he allowed consecutive doubles, a single, and his rare walk. And that was to a player making his All-Star debut no less, Travis Fryman of the Detroit Tigers.

“He didn’t even mix in a strike,” Van Slyke marveled.

After a celebrated first half, Tewksbury shut his arm down after pitching last Thursday against the Dodgers.

“I had not even thrown on the side during that time, I think I was mechanically off,” he said. “But I went into this knowing it would not be the highlight of my season.”

His teammates went into this knowing that they had not yet won an All-Star game under NL President Bill White, who is retiring after this year. That was mentioned during a pregame meeting, and Gary Sheffield of the San Diego Padres wondered if everyone didn’t think about it too much.

“I think we pressed, we had not won in a while and we tried too hard,” he said. “They were relaxed and swinging.”

And swinging. And swinging.

Jones thought about it a second while cooling off in front of his locker, then offered what became the most logical NL explanation.

“I think the American Leaguers were mad because their clubhouse was not air-conditioned,” he said.