AL wins All-Star Game, 5-3. Derek 2 for 2 in last ASG.

The AL will have home-field advantage for the World Series after winning the All-Star Game 5-3.

Derek Jeter, in his final All-Star Game, went 2 for 2 with a double and a single. In his career, Jeter—against the best in the other league—went 13 for 27.

Mike Trout of the Angels, arguably the best player in the game today, won the All-Star Game MVP.

The Yanks’ Dellin Betances didn’t get into the ballgame.

Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers had a 2-run HR, and his teammate Max Scherzer got the win.

The Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig had a forgettable night. 0 for 3, 3 strikeouts.

Game 77. Yanks end skid with 5-3 win.

The Yanks snapped their four-game losing streak by beating Toronto 5-3 Wednesday night.

The win puts the Yanks at 40-37, keeps them in third in the AL East, 2 1/2 back of Toronto, 1 behind Baltimore. They are one game out of that last WC spot.

Mark Teixeira homered and drove in three runs, Hiroki Kuroda went 6 1/3 innings for the win and David Robertson picked up a five-out save.

Kuroda’s first pitch of the game was hit for a HR by Jose Reyes.

The Yanks came back with four in the third. Johnson walked, Cervelli doubled him home, and after two out, Ellsbury singled in Cervelli and Teix hit his 14th HR of the year (355 career).

Ex-Yankee Melky Cabrera has been a thorn in the Yanks’ side this year in these games vs. Toronto, and he was again in the fifth, driving in two to cut the lead to 4-3.

A walk, HBP, walk and SF by Teix gave the Yanks an insurance run in the seventh.

Kuroda went 6 1/3 (W, 5-5, 4.23), 3 R, 8 H, 2 walks and 4 K.

Kelley 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 0 K. 3.98.

Thornton 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 0 K. 2.87.

Warren 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 0 K. 2.85.

With an off-day today, the need for a win after a four-game losing streak, and the fact that Robertson didn’t pitch in a week, Girardi went early to Robertson for the five-out save.

Robertson 1 2/3, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 3 K. Save #18. 3.08.

Jeter got hit #3388.

Earlier in the day, Tim Lincecum of the SF Giants threw a no-hitter against the Padres. It was the third no-hitter this season, following ones by the Dodgers’ Josh Beckett and Clayton Kershaw. It was the second of Lincecum’s career—both against SD. The only other pitcher to have two no-hitters, with both coming against the same team, was HOF Addie Joss of the Cleveland Indians, who did it against the Chicago White Sox in 1908 & 1910. Joss tore a ligament in his elbow a few months after his second no-hitter and died at the age of 31 in 1911 of a form of meningitis. Joss was a forgotten great who died much too soon. Lincecum became the second Giant to throw multiple no-hitters, the other being HOF Christy Mathewson.

Game 71. Yanks sweep Toronto with 6-4 win. Close to 1 1/2.

The Yanks swept the Blue Jays tonight, closing the sweep with a 6-4 win. The win put the Yanks at 38-33 and closed the gap to 1 1/2.

Toronto has now lost 16 in a row at Yankee Stadium.

David Phelps (W, 3-4, 4.13) pitched a strong 7 innings, and his only mistake was a 2-run HR he gave up to Melky.

7 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 2 walks and 7 k.

Shawn Kelley made things tight, giving up a 2-run dinger to Juan Encarnacion. 2/3 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 1 walk and 0 K. 4.58. He’s been shaky since his return from the DL.

Matt Thonton 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 0 K. 3.21.

Adam Warren the save, his second. 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 0 K. 2.04.

The Yanks got off to a quick lead, scoring in the first on a double by Gardner, a single by Jeter (2 hits tonight take him to 3385) and a SF by Ellsbury.

Ellsbury (20) and Roberts (6) each stole two bases tonight.

Kelly Johnson had a SF in the second to make it 2-0, but couldn’t tack on as Jeter struck out with the bases loaded. In the third, Phelps gave up Melky’s game-tying HR.

The Yanks got it back in the bottom of the third on a SF by Beltran. At this point, it appeared the Yanks were getting sac flies (which was good) but not getting that big blow to break the game open. They were 3 for 14 with RISP and left 11 on. The margin of victory could have been bigger. For a while, you wondered if they were doing enough. Turns out, they were.

Beltran got a ground-rule double in the fifth to make it 4-2. Roberts 2 SB in the sixth led to an RBI groundout by Jeter to make it 5-2.

In the seventh, Solarte walked with the bases-loaded to force in a run. 6-2. Then Kelley gave up the 2-run HR in the 8th for the final score of 6-4.

A great sweep by the Yanks to cut the margin from 4 1/2 to 1 1/2 on Toronto. Now to separate themselves from Baltimore this weekend by winning two of the three or sweeping the series.

Beltran had 2 rbi. Jeter, Ellsbury & Teixeira, 2-3-4 in the lineup, each had two hits. As mentioned above, both Ellsbury and Roberts stole two bases.

Baseball awards.

Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and Max Scherer of the Tigers won the NL CYA and AL CYA respectively.

MVPS went to Andrew McCutcheon of the Pirates (NL) and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (AL), respectively.

The Yankees’ Robbie Cano finished fifth for the AL MVP.

There could be snags in the posting of Masahiro Tanaka of Japan.

Game 116. Gardner saves Mo, 5-4.

For the first time in his career, Mariano Rivera has blown three straight save opportunities. Miguel Cabrera became the first to hit three HR off of Mo during Mo’s career—-and the last two came on successive at bats, also a first.

Andy Pettitte is having a lot of difficulty in tying ex-NY Giant great Carl Hubbell on the all-time list with 253 wins. Andy is stuck on 252.

Today, he went just 4 1/3, 1 R, 8 H, 3 walks and 3 K. 13 outs, 11 baserunners. A struggle. ERA 4.62. Once again, he had the first-inning blues, giving up a run.

A-Rod tied it in the 2nd with HR #648* (asterisk intended). Nunez made it 2-1 in the same inning with a sac fly. The HR was, of course, A-Rod’s first of the season.

A-Rod’s single made it 3-1 in the 3rd. This RBI was #1952* in his career, passing the great Stan Musial on the all-time list.

Alfonso Soriano hit his 20th HR of the season, #392 of his career, in the  fourth to make it 4-1. The hit was the 2000th of Soriano’s career.

Then it got interesting.

Kelley 1 1/3. 0 R, 1 H, 1 walk and 2 K. 3.48.

Logan 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 1 K. 1.95.

Robertson gave up a HR in the 8th. 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 walks and 0 K. 1.84.

Then Mo gave up a HR to Cabrera to lead off the 9th. 4-3. Fielder lined out. Victor Martinez hit a HR off Mo (3 hr given up by Mo in his last 2 appearances) to tie the game. Mo rebounded with a groundout and flyout and eventually won the game.

Rivera (W, 3-2, 2.44) 1 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 0 walks and 0 K. His ERA has gone from 1.56 to 2.44 in his last three outings.

With two out in the 9th, Gardner, who made a great catch that went for a DP earlier, homered (8) to win the game.

A-Rod, others suspended

Some dozen players were suspended for 50 games, basically the rest of this season, while Alex Rodriguez got 211 games— the rest of this season and all of 2014— for links to PEDS.

One player receiving 50 games was Yankees C Francisco Cervelli, who because of a broken hand and other ailments has played in just 17 games this year. He did have a surprising 3 HR in those 17 games. Maybe now we know why.

Others included Fernando Martinez at AAA S/WB, just picked up by the Yanks for minor league depth a few weeks ago, ex-Yankee prospect Jesus Montero, now with Seattle, Nelson Cruz of Texas, Everth Cabrera of SD (who just killed the Yanks this weekend), Jhonny Peralta of the Tigers, Bastardo of the Phils and Valdespin from the Mets.

Ryan Braun ‘fessed up a couple of weeks ago and got a 65-game ban.

Players like Bartolo Colon and Melky Cabrera were already nabbed and won’t face double jeopardy.

All these players accepted their suspensions except for A-Rod. A-Rod is appealing his suspension and will be allowed to play while he’s appealing.

Frankly, I don’t like that at all. Unfortunately, that’s the way it works. One huge distraction. I kind of want the Yanks to win, but Alex to go 0 for 4 with 4 strikeouts. I feel dirty having him on the field right now.

If I were an opposing pitcher, I sure as hell would look to deck Alex.

A-Rod apparently got 211 games for obstructing the investigation, looking to destroy evidence, repeated violations of the PED policy and allegedly recruiting others into Biogenesis.

Frankly (again), I’m tired of A-Rod. $275 MM talent. 10 cent head. At this point, I wish he’d just go away.

MVPs to Miggy, Posey

Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown season (the first in MLB in 45 years) won him the A.L. MVP award today. Cabrera hit .330-44-139 with an OPS+ of 165.

Buster Posey won the award in the NL with a .336-24-103 mark, OPS+ 172. His OPS+ was the best in the majors. He led the majors in batting average (after Melky disqualified himself after having been nabbed for PEDs).

Robbie Cano of the Yanks finished 4th in the MVP voting, Derek Jeter 7th. In the past three years, Cano has finished 3rd, 6th and 4th.

For Jeter, it was the eighth time in his career he finished in the top 10 for MVP.

Rafael Soriano finished 2oth in the balloting, and someone (?) actually gave a 10th place vote to Raul Ibanez (.240-19-62, OPS+ 104), who finished 24th.

Meanwhile, if you didn’t already hear, the Yanks’ AAA franchise in Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre has a new nickname: the RailRiders.