The game MVP was Steve Moss (Bridgeport). He went 2 for 2 with a 2 run homer.

Esposito with a 1-2-3 inning to close it out.  Liberty Division wins 7-1.Randy Leek (Long Island) the winner, and Jesus Sanchez (York) the losing pitcher. CLICK HERE FOR THE BOXSCORE

Local kid Joe Esposito (Long Island) in to close out the ballgame, still 7-1 Liberty

Seventh inning stretch includes all Atlantic League mascots dancing. Nothing better than mascots cutting a rug. Sources tell me the mascot race from earlier, where Ducks mascot Quacker Jack won, was fixed for the home team.

Heading to the top of the eighth still 7-1 Liberty.

Bottom of the Sixth: 2b Eric Monzon (Long Island) with an RBI double to make it 6-1 Liberty. DH Matt Craig (Southern Maryland) follows with a two out single to make it 7-1 Liberty.

Attendance just announced at 6,436 - a sellout crowd!

Bottom of the Fifth: DH Matt Craig (Southern Maryland) with an RBI single and RF Steve Moss (Bridgeport) with a 2 run homer to make it 5-1 Liberty.

Top of the Fifth: 2b Matt Hagen (Somerset) with an RBI Single for the Freedom division to cut the Liberty lead to 2-1.

After 4 innings: still 2-0 Liberty Division

Bottom of the Second: SS Travis Garcia (Southern Maryland) singles in a run. The Liberty now lead 2-0

Bottom of the First: 2b Casey Benjamin (Southern Maryland) leads off the bottom of the second with a homer 1-0 Liberty division.

Tonight’s Starting Pitchers: Randy Leek (Long Island) for the Liberty vs. former Mets farmhand Jesus Sanchez (York) for the Freedom.

Tonight’s Manager’s Are Butch Hobson (Southern Maryland) for the Liberty Division and Sparky Lyle for the Freedom Division. Yankees vs. Red Sox again 1978 style.

Rickey being Rickey: The year Rickey Henderson won the Atlantic League All Star Game MVP he had an OPS of 1.084 playing 56 games for the Newark Bears. In 225 plate appearances he hit .339, 8 homers, 33 RBI, and 9 stolen bases. His line was .339/.493/.591.

Atlantic League All Star MVP’s: The first Atlantic League All Star Game was held in 1998. That year former big leaguer Luis Quinones won the game’s MVP award. Other former big leaguer’s that won the award include: Rickey Henderson, Alex Cole, and Kevin Baez.

Random Fact: According to my count, 11 of the 44 Atlantic League All Stars have at least one day of service time in the big leagues.

Home Run Derby

The participants in the derby were Ian Bladergroen (York), Ray Navarrete (Long Island), Josh Pressley (Somerset), John Rodriguez (Long Island), Jason Perry (Lancaster), Brian Burgamy (Camden)

Pressley faced off against Navarrete in double sudden death to win 3-2. He was down to his final out (3 outs in sudden death versus 6 in regulation) when he hit the final two balls out of the yard, including a bomb to right field.

Former Mets are in full force as Bladergroen, Navarrete, and Rodriguez played for the Mets. John Rodriguez actually was in the Yankees organization last season playing for Scranton where he hit 14 homers, drove in 47 runs, and hit .261 with an OPS of .812. Why he is in the Atlantic Leauge and not in organized ball is beyond me.

Pre Game Info

I will be in attendance tonight for the 13th annual Atlantic League All Star Game that takes place at the Long Island Ducks home ballpark in Central Islip.

The home run derby begins at 5:30 PM, followed by the actual game. Some of the names that local fans recognize are Ross Peeples (won a title with the 2001 Cyclones), John Rodriguez (member of the 06′ Cardinals and played for both Mets and Yankees AAA clubs), Jesus Sanchez (Al Leiter deal), and Daryle Ward.

You can check out the entire roster here.

Follow me on Twitter as I give you some updates and I will work on a couple of stories to run on the site tomorrow.

Another cool tool is that ibnsports.com is going to be streaming the game in high definition.

Last year NYBD was in Newark for the game that saw former Mets pitcher Armando Benitez blow a save.

This thread will be updated throughout the night with highlights.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

Mike Silva

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Tags: Al Leiter, Armando Benitez, Atlantic League All Star Game, Brooklyn Cyclones, Daryle Ward, Florida Marlins, Jesus Sanchez, John Rodriguez, Long Island Ducks, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Ross Peeples, St Louis Cardinals