ALL-STAR GAME : First-Round Knockout for AL : Baseball: American League gets four runs and seven consecutive singles in first inning and is never headed en route to a 13-6 victory.

By BOB NIGHTENGALE

July 15, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN DIEGO — The doors were closed. The voices were hushed. National League Manager Bobby Cox wanted everyone in the pregame meeting Tuesday to know how vital it was to win for outgoing league President Bill White.

Instead of soothing White’s feelings, the National League was shelled, 13-6, by the American League in the 63rd All-Star game, making only one of their former own feel better.

The National League’s worst pitching performance in All-Star game history left 59,372 fans at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium numb, but one viewer back in Knoxville, Tenn., was left quite exuberant.

His name is Atlee Hammaker, who nine years ago had the worst pitching performance in the history of the All-Star game.

Hammaker still will be remembered as the only pitcher in All-Star game history to give up a grand slam, but oh, how the National League made it easier for him to forget that 1983 night.

“It’s been nine years,” Hammaker said from his Tennessee home, “and people never did let me forget that game. People brought it up all the time to me. Every All-Star game, that’s all I ever heard about .

“It was my first and only All-Star game, and I’ve got to keep being reminded about it.

“Hopefully, that’ll now change.”

There will be plenty of memories for the rest of the National League gang now, who lost their fifth consecutive game. They surrendered an All-Star record 13 earned runs, a record 19 hits and a record 29 total bases.

Seattle Mariner outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. created the most havoc, going three for three with a home run and a double. He became the first Mariner in All-Star history to win the most valuable player award.

The game became so one-sided that American League Manager Tom Kelly ran out of hitters by the seventh inning and had no choice but to allow pitcher Charles Nagy to hit for himself in the eighth.

Considering the way the National League was pitching, maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Nagy borrowed a batting helmet and got the first hit of his career.

“The guys were just laughing and shaking their heads,” Nagy said, “saying, ‘Is it really that easy?’ ”

Said American League outfielder Joe Carter: “About the seventh inning, the guys in the dugout were saying, ‘Dream Team Who?’ Let’s go to Barcelona ourselves.”

The way the evening went for the National League, perhaps it was only fitting that they were left without any pinch-hitters during their final rally in the ninth. The game ended with Dennis Eckersley striking out Norm Charlton on three pitches.

“I think maybe now, people will have an idea what I went through,” Hammaker said.

Certainly National League starter Tom Glavine has a hint. He gave up an All-Star record seven consecutive hits in the first inning. He left the game having given up a record nine hits and five earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.

“There’s not much you can do about it,” Glavine said. “They hit a few pitching wedge shots, kind of broken-bat hits that just fell in. Things didn’t go well tonight, but when they get seven hits in a row, what are you doing to do?”

Hammaker, who perhaps can empathize with Glavine more than anyone, hopes Glavine can soon forget the embarrassment. Hammaker never has been able to.

Hammaker was 9-4 with a 1.70 earned-run average the first half of the season with the San Francisco Giants when he was selected to his first All-Star game. He came into the game in the third inning, and by the time he left two outs later, he had surrendered a record six hits and seven earned runs, including a grand slam to Fred Lynn.

Hammaker never was the same again. He won only one game the second half of the season, and went 37-51 after that, failing to win more than 10 games in a season.

“It’s nice my record’s finally broken and everything,” Hammaker said, “but I feel badfor him because I know what’s ahead.”

Glavine, who went 13-3 in the first half, certainly isn’t worried about his psyche. This, after all, is the same man who won last year’s Cy Young Award.

“I didn’t really have anything to prove here,” Glavine said. “I’ve established myself and have had a pretty good first half.”

It was a terrible night for Glavine almost from the outset. He opened the game by retiring Roberto Alomar on a grounder to second base, but spent the rest of the inning wondering if he would get anyone out.

Wade Boggs singled to center and Kirby Puckett and Carter did the same.

Mark McGwire, who hit 28 home runs in the first half, walked to the plate with the bases loaded and a pitcher on the ropes. He smacked a 1-0 pitch into center, scoring Ventura and Puckett.

And the rout was on.

Ripken continued by smacking a single into the right-field corner, scoring another run, but he made the mistake of misjudging Tony Gwynn’s arm. Gwynn made a perfect throw to shortstop Ozzie Smith, who tagged out Ripken for the second out.

It didn’t deter the American League. Griffey followed with a run-scoring single to center, and the crowd began booing Glavine. Third baseman Terry Pendleton, and pitching coach Leo Mazzone went to the mound.

The conversation ended, and Sandy Alomar Jr. singled to left for the American League’s seventh consecutive hit. Finally, mercifully, the inning came to a close when Glavine struck out starting pitcher Kevin Brown.

The rest of the game simply was a highlight reel for the American League to savor. Roberto Alomar, one of three former Padres who received a standing ovation before the game, stole two bases in the second inning for an All-Star record. It was the first time any player had ever stolen two bases in an inning, and only the third time any player had stolen two bases in a game.

Griffey homered off Greg Maddux in the third inning and doubled off Bob Tewksbury in the sixth. He left the game after the sixth without the opportunity of being the first All-Star to hit for the cycle.

The American League mounted a 10-0 lead through 5 1/2 innings. The Nationals scored five runs in the final two innings--including a three-run homer by Will Clark in the eighth inning--but it was much too late. Even President Bush had taken a hike before the seventh-inning stretch.

“The National League mystique has always seemed to hover over the American League,” Ripken said, “and I don’t know why. Now maybe we’ve changed that.”