Time for some MLB All-Star Game Awards

After 15 innings, 23 pitchers, almost five hours, and a 4-3 win, the American League will once again have home-field advantage in the World Series. The 79th edition of the Mid-Summer Classic had plenty of memorable moments, heroes, and near-goats - enough to keep this guy up until 1:30am to see how it would end.

Below are a few awards I've decided to hand out, if for no other reason than I would like to think there was some purpose to being up that late to watch a non-playoff baseball game. Michael Young may have provided the winning sac fly, but it wasn't enough to earn him any hardware...

This is pretty much a no-brainer. Drew tied the game in the seventh inning with his two-run blast off of Cincinnati's Edinson Volquez. In all, the Red Sox right fielder went 2-4 with a walk, a stolen base and the two-run jack. He took home MVP honors, becoming the fourth Red Sox player to do so after Carl Yastrzemski (1970), Roger Clemens (1986), and Pedro Martinez (1999).

Tejada went 2-3 with a walk and scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth before New York Met Billy Wagner coughed up the lead in the bottom half. Tejada, the former AL MVP gets bonus points for the ridiculous defense he played all night.

Cook's workload was probably due in part to the fact that Clint Hurdle, his manager with the Rockies, was running the NL ship last night. Unafraid to abuse one of his own arms, Hurdle left Cook in for three pressure-packed innings. The righty gave up four hits, surrendered three walks, and got no help from his defense, but still held the American League off the board.

Sherrill is the Orioles' closer, and in an era when those guys only pitch about one innning per appearance, the big lefty's 2.1 shutout frames was Ancient-Roman-gladiator tough. The 31-year old gave up only one hit while striking out two, including a whiff on the first batter he faced, the Padres' Adrian Gonzales with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the 12th.

J.D. Drew's home run was big, but Longoria's hit came with his team down a run with only four outs left. Cleveland's Grady Sizemore singled with two down and then stole second, setting the stage for the Rays' third baseman. After being down in the count 1-2, Longoria golfed a nasty Wagner slider down the left-field line for a game-tying ground-rule double.

Sure the Michael Young game-winning sac fly was nice, but a sac fly as the play of the game? Not for this guy. Especially when any kind of real throw would have had the runner at home - Corey Hart, you and the eight million people that voted you on the team should be ashamed.

Granted, the runner they cut down, the Rays' catcher Dioner Navarro, isn't exactly Ricky Henderson on the bases, but he's not Cecil Fielder either. With Navarro on second and J.D. Drew on first with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning, Rangers shortstop Michael Young sent a grounder up the middle into center field. McClouth charged the ball hard and came up firing as Navarro rounded third as the potential game-winning run. Dodgers backstop Russell Martin did a beautiful job of blocking the plate and catching the ball on a short hop before applying the game-saving tag. (Replays showed that Navarro may have been safe, but in an All-Star game you have to give the defense the benefit of that call)

It's tough to pin this on the Rangers' second baseman, but I had to choose somebody. Kinsler went 1-5 with a strike out and left four runners on base, including two in the bottom of the 12th when he had a chance to win the game (Cook got him to ground out with men on second and third). He also got thrown out trying to steal second one inning earlier after his leadoff single - the next two hitters walked and singled, so chances are Kinsler would have scored the winning run if he'd stayed put.

How's that for 20-20 hindsight?

Uggla's performance was Ugg-ly. Three errors (although one grounder took a nasty hop and could have been called a hit), three strikeouts in four at-bats and six runners left on base. The Marlins second baseman almost single-handedly gifted the game to the AL in the tenth inning when back-to-back errors led to a first and third, no out situation for the home team. Only Aaron Cook's brilliant pitching bailed him out.

On a night when there was almost as much love for Yankee tradition as there were pitching changes, Terry Francona's usage of Mariano Rivera became one of the most important games within the game. The AL/Red Sox manager called upon the Yankees closer with one out in the ninth inning and a man on first. With his trademark "Enter Sandman" playing over the PA system, the game's greatest closer ran to the mound in front of a standing ovation in his home park. Rivera ended the inning on a strike-em out, throw-em out double play when he fanned the Cardinals' Ryan Ludwick, and Navarro gunned down the Nats' Cristian Guzman at second. Rivera gave up a pair of singles in the top of the tenth, but ended that frame with a double play as well.