Cutter to the chase: Enter Sandman, exit NL hopes for a win

The pageantry in St. Louis was fantastic and the starting pitchers shaky. President Obama didn't throw a strike (what was up with the Fox cameras, by the way?), and the AL relievers threw many.

Yet the moment I'll remember from this All-Star Game - yet another one-run win by the American League, 4-3, in a game that became a relief pitcher's duel - wasn't game MVP Carl Crawford's game-saving catch in the seventh inning. It was the Yankees' Mariano Rivera saving yet another AL victory.

It was his record fourth save in the All-Star Game, all coming during this 12-0-1 streak by the AL that's put a stranglehold on home-field advantage in the World Series in the junior circuit's camp. The NL hit Jonathan Papelbon and Joe Nathan hard in the seventh and eighth, but didn't score. Then came the hammer in the ninth.

I made a case a couple of weeks ago that we shouldn't call Rivera the best closer of all-time quite yet, out of respect to Trevor Hoffman. And Hoffman also threw a scoreless inning Tuesday. But Rivera is at his absolute best in the All-Star Game because there's nobody who pitches like him, and no pitch like his nasty cut fastball. In the ninth, Justin Upton grounded out weakly. Brad Hawpe was mesmerized by that inside cutter, then fooled badly on the outside corner. And Miguel Tejada, the one guy who had seen him before, popped out to end the game.

Teams that see Rivera a lot are pretty much the only ones with a chance, with veteran hitters. And late in an All-Star Game, who is typically at the plate? All-Star reserves, who are usually young and haven't seen that cutter before. They know it's coming, yet can't touch it. It has them beaten mentally before they even get in the batter's box. Just listen to Hawpe himself:

"What a treat," Hawpe said, about facing Rivera after the game, to MLB.com. "I talked to [Miguel Tejada] before, and he said about the cutters that if it looks like it's going to be a strike, it's not. He's obviously unbelievable."