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MINNEAPOLIS -- Mike Matheny had quite the choice for the National Leagues All-Star starter. There was his own Adam Wainwright, the St. Louis Cardinals ace with a 12-4 record and a 1.83 ERA. And there was the Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw, 11-2 with a 1.78 ERA and fresh off a 41-inning scoreless streak that ended last week. He chose Wainwright, who will start Tuesday night at Target Field against the Seattle Mariners Felix Hernandez. "Its going to be great catching them," said Milwaukees Jonathan Lucroy, the NL starter behind the plate. "A lot more fun than facing them." When baseballs elite met at Citi Field last year, NL batters managed just three hits in a 3-0 loss. A year earlier in Kansas City, the AL had just six hits in an 8-0 defeat. Never before had consecutive All-Star games ended in shutouts. "Guys are throwing harder. Guys have more pitches," said Philadelphia second baseman Chase Utley, making his sixth All-Star appearance and first since 2010. The big league batting average is at a 42-year low. Strikeouts are at an all-time high. Wainwright and Kershaw are on track to become the first pair of qualifying pitchers in one league with a sub-2.00 ERA since the Mets Dwight Gooden and the Cardinals John Tudor in 1985 -- the last time Minnesota hosted the All-Stars. "Aside from having the ability to win two World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals, I think this has to be one of the highlights of my baseball career to this point," Wainwright said. "One of the coolest things I can say I did is to start a big league All-Star game." Kershaw understood Mathenys decision. "If Im him, Im probably going to pick Adam, too. Its his guy and he had the best half," Kershaw said. Hernandez, the first Venezuela pitcher to start for the All-Stars, also has sterling credentials: an 11-2 record with a 2.12 ERA. He described his task pretty simply: "Just throw zeroes out there and get my team to win. Thats all I got to do," he said. Back in the great pitching era of the 1960s, the game was different. Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal expected to finish what they started. Now, flame-throwers come out of the bullpen in the middle of games. "Youre not getting three, four at-bats off of the starter unless youre in trouble and youre losing the game," said Baltimores Matt Wieters, elected as a starting catcher but sidelined following elbow surgery. "I think for a while it was trying to get the starter out of the game so you can get to that fifth, sixth, seventh-inning guy. And now those fifth, sixth, seventh-inning guys are throwing upper 90s with a good breaking ball." In addition to pitchers, the spotlight will be on New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter. The shortstop, who turned 40 last month, is playing his final season and was selected for his 14th All-Star game. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera got an emotional sendoff last year, the All-Stars giving him a solo bow. When Rivera entered in the eighth inning all other players left him the field to himself. Cal Ripken Jr. was given a tribute at the start of the 2001 game at Seattles Safeco Field when Alex Rodriguez told Ripken just before the first pitch to switch positions and move from third base to shortstop, where the Baltimore star spent most of his career. The 40-year-old Ripken then homered in the third inning. And two years ago, Atlantas Chipper Jones was feted with a standing ovation at Kauffman Stadium when he pinch hit in the sixth inning and singled. What will Jeters All-Star finale be like? "I dont go into things with expectations," he said. "Im looking forward to playing the game. Ive pretty much stopped it right there." The game is being played in Minneapolis for the third time, following the NLs 6-5 win at Metropolitan Stadium in 1965 and a dull 6-1 NL victory indoors at the Metrodome in 1985. Oakland, a big league-best 59-36 at the break, has seven All-Stars for the first time since 1975. It got another win on Monday night when Yoenis Cespedes beat Cincinnatis Todd Frazier 9-1 in the final round to become the first repeat champion of the Home Run Derby since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1998 and 99. The Athletics have some incentive for an AL victory in the All-Star game; since 2003, the winners league gets to start the World Series at home, and 23 of the last 28 titles were won by teams scheduled to host four of a possible seven games. "I dont think you can ever underestimate the home-field advantage in a post-season," said AL manager John Farrell, who led Boston to a six-game win over St. Louis last year. "To have that final game potentially in your home ballpark, that goes a long way to affecting the outcome." Anthony Rizzo Jersey . "Im not even that added up," the 39-year-old Australian replied. 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Pospisil has now established the year-end World Tour Finals as the benchmark for a breakthrough season, with Pospisil and Sock provisionally standing ninth.NEW ORLEANS -- Andre Drummond grabbed everything in sight, even that MVP trophy that came apart. Drummond had 30 points and a Rising Stars Challenge-record 25 rebounds, leading Team Hill to a 142-136 victory over Team Webber on Friday night. Coach Nate McMillan said general manager Grant Hill talked to his team before the game about performing like Denvers Kenneth Faried, who had 40 points and 10 rebounds while winning MVP honours last year. The message got through to Drummond, who grabbed 14 offensive rebounds. "Drummond had in his mind that he was going to go out and play the game hard," said McMillan, an assistant to Indiana coach Frank Vogel. "Every rebound that came off the board, he wanted. A few of them he took from his teammates, but I liked his aggressiveness." Besides an impressive tally of dunks and rebounds, Drummond even managed to make his free throws. A 41 per cent shooter during the regular season, the Detroit forward went 6 for 8, including a pair with 29 seconds left after chasing down Bradley Beals missed free throw to give his team a five-point lead. He eventually got to hoist the MVP trophy, though not before it fell to the court when a representative from game sponsor BBVA tried to hand it to him. It comes in two pieces, a star on top of the base, and the presenter was apparently unaware when he grabbed it by the top. "It happened last year, too, so I wasnt expecting anything less," Drummond said. "Usually a slip-up happens every year with the trophy. So I wasnt too shocked about that." Clevelands Dion Waiters had 31 points, mostly coming during a 1-on-1 duel with New Yorks Tim Hardaway Jr. in the second half. Beal finished with 21 for Team Hill, picked by former NBA star Hill. Hardaway scored 36 points and made seven 3-pointers for fellow former Michigan star Chris Webbers squad. Philadelphia rookie Michael Carter-Williamms had 17 points, nine assists and six rebounds.dddddddddddd Portlands Damian Lillard had 13 points, five rebounds and five assists in the victory, making him 1 for 1 during the busiest All-Star weekend ever. Last seasons NBA Rookie of the Year will take part in five events, three more on All-Star Saturday and the All-Star game on Sunday. All-Stars such as Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard and Kyrie Irving watched the game, with Irving leaping to his feet at one point after watching Waiters, his Cavaliers teammate, try to take over the game with about 8 minutes to play. Waiters had two baskets and then two 3-pointers, one of them when he stepped back after faking a move to the basket that made Hardaway lose his balance. Hardaway answered back with two 3-pointers of his own as the crowd roared. "We were just trying to do a great job of just getting the fans involved," Hardaway said. "It was kind of dead in there and we just wanted to just start something, a little 1-on-1 battle here and there, and it was great." Waiters then clinched the duel when he knocked the ball free for a rare defensive highlight in the game, nailing his second straight 3-pointer to give team Hill the lead for good at 126-124 with 2:44 left. Drummond followed with a dunk for a four-point advantage, and Team Webber could never catch up. The game that began as a matchup of top rookies and later turned into rookies against second-year players now mixes the rosters. Thats probably a good thing, since this years crop of kids is so underwhelming. Only two of the top 10 picks in the 2013 draft, which has been hindered by injuries, were invited to this game, No. 2 Oladipo and No. 9 Trey Burke. Players were picked to play on Team Hill and Team Webber, which they wore under their numbers on the back of their jerseys. Drummond 16 points and 10 rebounds in his first 10 minutes and shot 12 of 21 for the game. ' ' '