Time has passed National League in national pastime

DETROIT – Paging Pete Rose. Calling Willie Mays. This message urgent for Steve Garvey and Gary Carter and all the other National Leaguers who used to own the All-Star game and eagerly spoil the party for the other side.

Got any ideas?

The senior circuit, it might be noticed, is none too senior these days. Let’s put it this way. Put the two leagues on a scale right now, and it’s a cement bag on one side and tea bags on the other.

Or at least it looked that way in Tuesday night’s annual whipping at the All-Star Game. A 7-5 American League victory in which the only thing the Detroit crowd had to boo was Kenny Rogers. And the Yankees, of course.

That makes it 8-0-1 for the A.L. since 1996. The last time the National League won, Mike Piazza was named the game Most Valuable Player … representing the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A lot of peanuts have been shelled since then. The past year has been particularly lopsided against the National League, which has been treated like a pine tar rag.

•The American League blew away Roger Clemens for six runs in his own hometown in last year’s All-Star Game in Houston.

•Boston swept St. Louis in four games last October.

•The American League just went 136-116 in interleague play.

Now this. It was 7-0 after six innings. The National League hit into three double plays to tie a record.

So its clear inferiority is showing, right?

“You can go with that if you want,” American League manager Terry Francona said. “I’m not going there.”

“We understand that we haven’t won in a long time,” National League manager Tony La Russa said. “Doesn’t look to me like a frustrated club. Just got beat.”

Whatever, it’s a lousy time to go bust, what with home-field advantage in the World Series now on the table.

This one counts, as the marketing mantra goes. The American League must think it’s a great idea.

“We’ve got to take it seriously,” said Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees. “We saw how much it meant last year.”

He meant the Red Sox, who used frenzied Fenway Park to win the first two games and put St. Louis into a fatal plunge.

“I think if we forget who is getting home-field advantage,” Francona said, “it’s a big mistake.

“I think that’s what Major League Baseball wanted, was to have this game mean more. You know what? It did.”

It makes for strange partnerships. When Yankee reliever Mariano Rivera was dispatched to close the door in the ninth, none other than Boston’s Johnny Damon sat in the dugout pleading, “Come on, Mo.”

La Russa even had his infield in a shift against Boston’s David Ortiz in the first. Infield shifts are about as common in the All-Star Game as .230 hitters.

Come October, some A.L. team can thank game MVP Miguel Tejada. The Baltimore shortstop drilled a 436-foot homer in the second inning, drove in another run in the third with a fielder’s choice, and turned a Carlos Beltran hot shot in the first inning into a double play. The tone was set.

The shutout ended in the seventh with Andruw Jones’ two-run homer against Rogers, who was booed during introductions and again when he came into the game.

By the time Jones’ 420-foot blast landed in the left-field stands, it was entirely possible to feel sorry for Rogers.

Rogers has been open in his regret the past few days. Enough of the condemnation. Let the man be suspended in peace.

While we’re dispensing sympathy, is there any left for Mays’ and Rose’s old league? These days are dark.