Effort to Land 2005 All-Star Game Fails

The Angels have lost their bid to bring the 2005 All-Star game to Edison Field, but team executives have not abandoned efforts to return the showcase to Anaheim for the first time since 1989.

The Detroit Tigers will be awarded the 2005 All-Star game, a high-ranking baseball source confirmed, with an announcement expected within the next month. By the end of the season, Commissioner Bud Selig could announce the hosts for the following three to five years.

The Angels and Dodgers have lobbied Selig to bring the All-Star game back to Southern California, but they are competing against teams that, like the Tigers, can offer shiny new ballparks. Those teams include the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks. Selig has said he would not necessarily maintain the tradition of alternating the All-Star game between American League and National League sites.

“It’s still of paramount importance to us,” said Kevin Uhlich, the Angels’ senior vice president of business operations. “We’ll do anything we can to host it. We’d like to showcase Edison Field.”

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The Angels have fallen to third in the AL in attendance, trailing the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners. Still, they anticipate selling out all three games of next weekend’s series against the Dodgers, and they’re on pace to draw a club-record 2.9 million fans this season.

But, with the Angels stuck in neutral and the Dodgers challenging for first place in the National League West, could all those casual fans who adopted the Angels during last year’s World Series championship run be jumping onto -- or back onto -- the Dodger bandwagon?

“What we accomplished last year was an accomplishment for our organization,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s not about comparing it, or tearing into the Dodger foundation and the Dodger fan base. It was for our fans. Anybody that’s been to our ballpark this year knows the electricity is alive and well.”

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Closer Troy Percival, working for the first time in eight days, threw as hard as 97 mph in earning the save Thursday. He shrugged off the rust and pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out two.

“I got three outs without anybody getting on base,” he said with a grin. “I don’t do that very often when I’m sharp.”