Milwaukee's Fernando Vina is tagged out at home by Cleveland's Sandy Alomar, Jr. in the eighth inning of the 69th annual All-Star game at Denver's Coors Field, Tuesday, July 7, 1998.AP Photo/Mark Duncan

Alomars get a repeat MVP

Web posted July 8, 1998

Associated Press

DENVER -- First Sandy, now Roberto.

The All-Star game's MVP award is becoming the Alomar family's personal property.

Roberto, disparaged throughout baseball since his spitting incident with an umpire two years ago, went 3-for-4 with one of the game's three home runs as the American League outlasted the National 13-8 Tuesday night at Coors Field in the highest-scoring All-Star game ever.

He singled in the first inning, popped out in the third and walked, loading the bases in the fourth. Then in the seventh, he connected off Trevor Hoffman with a 375-foot drive that put the AL ahead 9-6.

Last year, it was Sandy who was the star, doing it before the hometown fans in Cleveland. The elder of the two sons of former major league Sandy Alomar hit a two-run homer off Shawn Estes to give the AL a 3-1 win at Jacobs Field.

``It's real nice,'' Roberto said. ``Last year, my grandmother died and Sandy won it. This year, I won it.''

Sandy had felt he had begun to redeem the family name with the big game last summer.

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``They're a very talented duo,'' said AL manager Mike Hargrove, Sandy's manager in Cleveland. ``I don't think anything they do should surprise us.''

The Alomar reputation had been spotless before Roberto spit on umpire John Hirschbeck during the final weekend of the 1996 season.

``We're a good family,'' Sandy said then. ``We're a baseball family.''

It hasn't gotten any easier for Roberto since then. Baltimore, the favorite in last year's AL playoffs, was eliminated by Cleveland, then spun to a 38-50 record in the first half of this season.

Baltimore owner Peter Angelos has threatened to trade away his stars if the Orioles, 26 games out of first and in fourth place, don't start to turn their season around.

``I don't think anybody on our team is happy with the way we're playing,'' Alomar said. ``There's going to be some good times and some bad times. You have to take the good with the bad.''