Annual Mid-Summer Classic is Tonight

Baseball's All-Star Game is being played this evening at Target Field in Minneapolis. The starting pitchers are Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals for the National League and Felix Hernandez of the Mariners for the American.

Hernandez, the first Venezuela pitcher to start for the All-Stars, is 11-2 with a 2.12 earned run average. He is just the second Seattle pitcher to start an All-Star game following Randy Johnson in 1995 and 1997. National League manager Mike Matheny of the Cardinals chose the ace of his own staff as Wainwright is 12-4 with a 1.83 ERA and three complete games in 19 starts. It will be the 11th All-Star start by a Cardinals pitcher.

Derek Jeter of the Yankees will be making his last appearance in an All-Star Game. The captain of the New York team is in his 14th All-Star game and is retiring at the end of the season.

The ceremonial first pitch will be tossed out by Rod Carew, an All-Star in all 12 of his seasons with the Minnesota Twins. Carew was an All-Star in the first 18 seasons of a 19-year big league career that started in 1967 and ended with the California Angels in 1985.