Douglas Benton Even though the Pirates haven?t given the fans of Pittsburgh much to cheer about this season, PNC Park was still packed to capacity as the American League squeaked out a ninth inning comeback off of San Diego?s Trevor Hoffman to secure home field advantage for the league come October. Here are the top 10 moments of the 2006 All-Star game. 10. In a surprise to most people watching the game, Boston?s David Ortiz handled his work at first base Tuesday night with great ease, even making a few nice plays. Ortiz, the regular designated hitter for the Red Sox, was voted in by the fans to play 1st base and did an above-average job over there on the night. On one play when he had to adjust to an errant throw by New York Yankees? Alex Rodriguez, Ortiz showed good agility, prompting a celebration from fellow countryman and friend Miguel Tejada. 9. With a laser line drive down the leftfield line and over the short fence in left, New York Mets third basemen David Wright continued his great week in Pittsburgh and evened up the score with his second inning home run off of Detroit?s Kenny Rogers. Wright first wowed the fans with his impressive showing in the Home Run Derby Monday night and continued to grow his national reputation with his second inning blast. Already considered on of the kings of New York, Wright might find himself king of the baseball world very soon. 8. One of the hot topics in baseball this season has been the reemergence of the power numbers across the board in baseball. Some say it is a juiced ball, others that the players have beaten this new system, and still some who think it was the pitchers? who were the prime users of performance enhancing drugs. However, on Tuesday night, it was clearly laid out for a nationwide audience that it is a lack of pitching depth that should be blamed for an increase in power numbers. With the best pitchers on display in Pittsburgh, the top hitters in the game were held in check for nine innings, combining for 14 hits on the night. The old sang that good pitching beats good hitting rang true again Tuesday night. 7. Not to be outdone by his American League counterpart David Ortiz, St. Louis Cardinals? first baseball Albert Pujols turned one of the best defensive plays of the night with his barehanded snare in the third inning. Pujols caught the ball like one when playing handball and calmly took it over for the first out of the inning. Pujols, after moving around quite a bit in the field during the early parts of his career, has found a home over at first and has turned himself into an above-average defensive player over there. 6. It shouldn?t really surprise us anymore when Vladimir Guerrero hits a pitch around his eyes, but it still did after his second inning home run off of Los Angeles Dodgers? pitcher Brad Penny. Penny, throwing gas for most of his two innings of work, dialed up a high 90?s pitch around the eyes of Guerrero, who calmly took it the opposite way into the right field bleachers for the first run of the game. First, how does someone even think of hitting that pitch and two, how do you get your bat around on a pitch like that? Well, Guerrero has made a career out of doing things like that and should be a key factor for the Angels down the stretch. 5. With running almost dead in the game of baseball in regular games, you would be hard pressed to find it in an exhibition game. Well, in the third inning, the National League went on a stealing tear, first with Washington?s Alfonso Soriano stealing second and then New York?s Carlos Beltran swiping third. Beltran?s is the most impressive because stealing third base is one of the most difficult propositions in baseball, especially when you have a catcher like Detroit?s Ivan Rodriguez behind the plate. Beltran?s risky gamble paid off as he ended up scoring what looked like the winning run on a wild pitch by Toronto?s Roy Halladay in the bottom of the third inning. 4. Base stealing also provided another exciting play in Pittsburgh Tuesday night as Soriano was able to take second base and put himself in position to score on a single to center by the previously mentioned Beltran. However, even though Soriano was running hard to home, Toronto?s Vernon Wells calmly picked up the ball and fired a seed to catcher Ivan Rodriguez on one bounce, nailing Soriano at the plate. The play showed textbook running by Soriano, a great throw by Wells, and perfect execution of blocking the plate by Rodriguez and who said there are no fundamentals at an All-Star game. 3. In the top of the ninth, with Hell?s Bells still ringing throughout PNC Park, Trevor Hoffman quickly had two easy outs and was looking to do what he had done 460 times in his illustrious career, pick up the save. However, a single by Paul Konerko, a ground-rule double by Troy Glaus and an 0-2 triple by Michael Young ended the save opportunity and gave the American League their 10th straight Midsummer Classic without a loss. All-Star games are usually non-competitive by the seventh, but that wasn?t the case in Pittsburgh tonight. 2. While everyone always hopes for that competitive finish we saw Tuesday night, the majority of fans want to see something that you can?t see on a Thursday in May. That happened in the first inning Tuesday as Los Angeles? Brad Penny threw straight gas to the top of the American League order, striking out Seattle?s Ichiro Suzuki, New York?s Derek Jeter, and Boston?s David Ortiz. All three batters were late whenever they did make contact, which wasn?t very often, in the most energetic start by an All-Star starter since Pedro Martinez at Boston in 1999. 1. This one is a no-brainer choice as the ceremony honoring Pittsburgh?s fallen hero, Roberto Clemente before the fifth inning was touching and brought many in attendance to tears. One such person was American League manager Ozzie Guillen, who considered Clemente one of his idols. Clemente was one of the better players to ever put on a glove, but his actions off the field made his loved by people who knew him and the ones who didn?t. Baseball doesn?t get many things right today, but this was one thing they did right by reminding a generation that never saw Clemente that his box score only tells part of his story.