DETROIT - An All-Star game with the same old winner had a most odd ending: A Boston Red Sox manager called on the New York Yankees' closer to get the final out.

After the National League closed with two runs in the ninth inning, American League manager Terry Francona brought in baseball's best reliever, Mariano Rivera, who ended the AL's 7-5 victory Tuesday night by striking out Morgan Ensberg for his second All-Star save.

"I heard Johnny Damon say something like, 'Come on Mo,'" Francona said, referring to the Yankee reliever. "I looked at him and I said, 'I bet I never would have heard you say that.' It was OK. You know what, for one night, it was pretty cool."

The AL made it 3-0 since the change in 2003 that gave the All-Star-winning league homefield advantage in the World Series.

"We hope we make it this year," said Baltimore's Miguel Tejada, who was selected the game's MVP after homering and driving in two runs.

Rivera would prefer the Yankees, who wasted a 3-0 lead against Boston in last year's AL championship series, host the World Series opener on Oct. 22.

"Everything's possible," he said.

Old stars, young studs, it doesn't make a difference. When it comes to All-Star games these days, the AL always wins.

Tejada homered off John Smoltz to start the scoring in the second inning, Teixeira added a two-run drive off Dontrelle Willis in the sixth and the AL overcame Kenny Rogers' bumpy inning to gain its eighth straight win, a streak that wraps around the 7-7, 11-inning tie at Milwaukee in 2002.

"Tejada got us off to a great start and we were able to just go with it from there," said AL catcher Jason Varitek, one of four players in the starting lineup from the Red Sox, coming off their first World Series title since 1918.

Varitek's teammate, Matt Clement, pitched the fifth inning in the AL's victory. The Butler native gave up no hits, struck out one and walked one.

Pittsburgh's Jason Bay didn't play for the National League.

Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox got the victory, striking out three during two scoreless innings. The AL had a shutout going into the seventh, when Rogers gave up a two-run homer to Andruw Jones, prompting more boos for the Texas lefty, who's playing while appealing a 20-game suspension.

Tejada, Teixeira and Buehrle were among 13 players getting their first All-Star starts in a game nothing like the famous 1971 classic about 2 miles away at Tiger Stadium. Eighteen future Hall of Famers played in that one, and six of them homered - including Reggie Jackson, who hit the stunning shot off the light tower on top of the roof.

The most famous player in this one was Houston's Roger Clemens, who, a month shy of his 43rd birthday, pitched a perfect fifth inning, retiring David Ortiz, Garret Anderson and Tejada. The Rocket entered and exited to hundreds - if not thousands - of flashing camera bulbs aimed at him by the crowd of 41,617 in the wide, cavernous ballpark, which opened in 2000.

"To see the guys here for the first time was great," said Clemens, an 11-time All-Star first selected in 1986.

The most infamous player was the 40-year-old Rogers, who was booed loudly when introduced and tipped his cap to the crowd as he looked ahead stone-faced.

"I don't hold anything against anyone," he said.

Rogers was penalized by baseball commissioner Bud Selig for an outburst last month that sent a television cameraman to the hospital and prompted a police investigation.

"I wanted to pitch," Rogers said. "I didn't pitch last year in the game, and I think at this stage in my career it's something that's not expected from me."

Francona didn't hesitate to use him.

"Kenny made a mistake," Francona said. "I'm not supposed to sit in judgment."

Smoltz dropped to 1-2 in All-Star play, tying the record for defeats - he lost in '89 and got the NL's last victory in '96. Overall, the NL leads 40-34-2.

"This was certainly a fun one that I'll remember forever - to go out there in front of friends and family, in my hometown," Smoltz said. "I wanted to have fun - I wasn't going to get caught up in results."

There were an All-Star record five double plays, including three turned by the AL. After Bobby Abreu, the record-setting winner of Monday's Home Run Derby, opened the game with a single, Tejada made a fancy flip to second base on Carlos Beltran's grounder to shortstop that started the first double plays.

"They made the pitches, made the plays," said the NL's Tony La Russa, who dropped to 3-1 as an All-Star manager. "To me, that's the difference in the game."