Pittsburgh ? Phil Garner managed an All-Star game in Pittsburgh the same way he played in the city a quarter-century ago. His NL players got their uniforms dirty, ran the bases aggressively, even pushed each other out of the way to get to popups.

The man once known as “Scrap Iron” was tired of hearing how the AL had a tremendous advantage in talent and motivation, and he pushed nearly every button possible to try to squeeze out a surprise win.

It almost worked, too, until what appeared to be his top asset, his late-inning bullpen, failed him with the NL within one strike of winning.

Michael Young’s two-run triple in the ninth off Trevor Hoffman gave the AL a 3-2 victory Tuesday night and extended the NL’s winless streak to 10 games, including the tie in 2002.

“It looked like we had it all locked up,” Pirates outfielder Jason Bay said. “It looked like it was over. It looked like it was done. But that triple just sucked the air right out of us. That burst our bubble, especially when Mariano Rivera came out of the bullpen.”

And especially when Hoffman, who is closing in on the career saves lead, blows a save opportunity for only the second time all season.

“I couldn’t have scripted it any better,” said Garner, the Astros’ manager. “We had the lead. You’re going to turn it over to Trevor Hoffman, who has been golden over the years.”

Living up to his promise to bring back the aggressive style that the NL was known for back in the days it dominated the All-Star game – remember Pete Rose running over Ray Fosse at the plate? – Garner managed the game like it was the World Series, not an exhibition.

Maybe it was having his old manager, Chuck Tanner of the 1979 World Series champion Pirates, by his side as a special coach, but Garner set the tone early after the AL’s Vladimir Guerrero and the NL’s David Wright each hit solo homers in the second.

In the third, Alfonso Soriano stole second immediately after he singled, taking advantage of Garner’s decision to allow his players to run on their own. Garner also told them during his pregame talk that after so many years of AL dominance, this was their game to shine.

Reflecting that aggressive tone, NL third base coach Jerry Narron, the Reds manager, sent Soriano home on Carlos Beltran’s single, and Soriano was thrown out at the plate on center fielder Vernon Wells’ strong throw.

But that allowed Beltran to take second, and he then pulled off the first steal of third base in an All-Star game since 1998.

That put Beltran in position to score on Roy Halladay’s wild pitch, a manufactured run if ever there was one. The NL’s problem was it didn’t get any more runs.

“I just went in there and told him he managed a great game,” said Tanner, who stood at Garner’s side throughout the game after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. “What a great job. He did everything he could to win that game.”

Garner didn’t let up as a pitching staff that lacked the AL’s big names – guys like Brian Fuentes, Bronson Arroyo, Brandon Webb, Derrick Turnbow – pitched shutout inning after shutout inning.

“We did have something to prove,” said Turnbow, the Brewers’ closer. “We played our hearts out.”

Rather than designating which inning a pitcher would go beforehand, as is often done in All-Star games, Garner tried to gain favorable matchups with each reliever he brought in.