AL Is a Rocket Buster

HOUSTON —  These coronations don’t work out too well for Roger Clemens. For the second time in nine months, Clemens pitched in a sold-out stadium, with cameras flashing from every angle and opposing players pausing to applaud.

His team lost, again.

His team lost in Game 4 of the World Series in Florida last fall, when the Marlins and his New York Yankees saluted as he departed what was billed as his final major league game. And his team lost again Tuesday, although with only home-field advantage in the World Series at stake, after deferring his retirement to join the Houston Astros and earning the All-Star Game start in his hometown.

The “This Game Counts” hype was belied when play stopped after the fourth inning for an on-field ceremony to honor Clemens. The suspense already was over, with American League hitters pounding the distinguished honoree for six runs in the first inning of a 9-4 victory over the National League.

Clemens, the toast of Houston during All-Star festivities, delivered one of the worst pitching performances in All-Star game history. The first batter, Ichiro Suzuki, doubled. The next batter, Ivan Rodriguez, tripled. Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer and Alfonso Soriano a three-run homer, and Clemens was done after one inning on a night he was scheduled to throw two.

“I feel a little sorry, because he’s been nice to me all the time,” said Soriano, selected the game’s most valuable player.

For the first time in All-Star game history, a team hit for the cycle in one inning. Only once has a pitcher given up more runs in one inning of an All-Star Game -- Atlee Hammaker, in 1983.

The American League extended its unbeaten streak to eight. For the second consecutive season, the victory conferred home-field advantage to the AL in the World Series, although Mike Lowell’s Marlins won last year without it.

“It’s still an exhibition, I’m sorry,” Lowell said.

“If we go to the World Series, I’ll be upset about it,” Dodger catcher Paul Lo Duca said, jokingly.

Dodger closer Eric Gagne, who gave up a home run to Hank Blalock and blew the save in last year’s game, worked a scoreless ninth inning.

“We were laughing at home plate,” Lo Duca said. “He told me, I’m going to try to lower my ERA.”

Blalock was waiting. He got a first-pitch fastball and popped up.

“I had to face Blalock again and redeem myself,” Gagne said.

The evening was particularly special for Angel reliever Francisco Rodriguez, pitching in front of his grandmother for the first time. Rodriguez got the last two outs of the eighth inning, ahead of Yankee closer Mariano Rivera.

“It was an awesome experience, way better than I imagined,” Rodriguez said. “Setting up the greatest closer in the big leagues is amazing. I’m kind of shocked right now.”

The Astros shocked baseball last winter, luring Clemens after he said he was 99% set on retirement and excusing him from traveling to road games in which he was not pitching.

On Sunday, with the Astros playing at Dodger Stadium, Clemens made the rounds at a fan festival here. On Monday, he hopped onstage around midnight at the All-Star gala.

“I think Roger was gassed,” Ivan Rodriguez said. “He basically took the full event on his shoulders. He was running all over town.”

The game stopped for him, before the fifth inning. His family came onto the field and players applauded from each dugout as Commissioner Bud Selig honored him for joining Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton as the only pitchers with 300 victories and 4,000 strikeouts.

There might be another coronation in his future. After thanking everyone and expressing disappointment over his performance Tuesday, he indicated he might pitch beyond this year.

“I’m going to leave that percentage point open again,” he said.

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SOUTHLAND STARS

How the local representatives performed at the All-Star game:

Vladimir Guerrero, Angels: Started for the American League in right field and went one for four, singling and scoring in the sixth.

Francisco Rodriguez, Angels: Came on in the eighth with one out and got Moises Alou to ground out and Mark Loretta to pop out.

Eric Gagne and Paul Lo Duca, Dodgers: Came into the game in the ninth as the National League battery, with Gagne walking David Ortiz to open the inning before retiring three in a row, two on strikeouts.