American League dominating NL these days in All-Star game

Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron and Willie McCovey topped the 1966 National League batting order, and Gaylord Perry got the win in relief of Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning and Juan Marichal.

And, most significantly, the NL was in the midst of winning nine straight All-Star games and 19 of 20.

When San Francisco's Tim Lincecum throws the first pitch to Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki on Tuesday at the new Busch Stadium — after President Barack Obama's ceremonial toss to Cardinals star Albert Pujols — the NL will be seeking its first win in 13 years.

“At some point this streak's going to end,” Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said, “but we just don't want it to be this year.”

Welcome to one of the most one-sided rivalries in sports, what's become the American League's annual domination of the NL.

Even a pregame pep talk by Ernie Banks didn't help the NL last year at old Yankee Stadium, where Michael Young's sacrifice fly at 1:37 a.m. gave the AL a 4-3, 15-inning victory.

Now 11-0-1 since its 1996 defeat at Philadelphia — the longest unbeaten streak in All-Star history — the AL has cut the overall gap to 40-37-2 and hasn't lost in six meetings since the winning league started receiving home-field advantage in the World Series.

“We would love to be able to snap that streak,” said Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard, a St. Louis native. “It always seems like they kind of pull it out towards the end of the game but, you know, hopefully this year it will be different.”

Even when the All-Stars aren't playing in a stadium filled with crimson-colored seats, NL players seem to see red more often than not when they meets their AL counterparts. Since interleague play began in 1997, the AL had a 1,673-1,534 advantage, according to STATS LLC. This year's season series went 137-114 to the junior circuit, its sixth straight winning record and ninth in 13 years.

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