NEW YORK -- The National League has signed a lifetime contract to turn over World Series home-field advantage to the American League.

Dan Uggla's awful night seems to typify the NL's midsummer futility since 1996. (US Presswire)

Yet, if the NL couldn't win this All-Star Game, it might be another dozen years before the junior varsity is even in position to win another, let alone -- ha ha ha ha! -- actually --- ho ho ho! -- do it.

The box score for this Yankee Stadium spectacular reads AL 4, NL 3, the winning run scoring in the bottom of the 15th inning when Minnesota's Justin Morneau slid home on Michael Young's sacrifice fly, a split-second ahead of Russell Martin's tag following Corey Hart's good, two-hop throw.

It brought to an end the NL's latest exercise in futility in the Midsummer Classic, this particular exercise lasting an All-Star record 4 hours and 50 minutes and no doubt testing the patience of all those Yankee Stadium ghosts. Surely, the 40-some Hall of Famers were tucked under their hotel room sheets and fast asleep when this baby ended at 1:37 a.m. ET.

"The city has a flair for the dramatic and the brilliant, and it did not disappoint," NL manager Clint Hurdle said.

Uh, no. But did it really have to keep everybody captive that long just for the same-ol', same-ol' result?

"I know in New York there are all these parties, and I could just see (night) club owners all over New York telling people, 'No, no, Jeter's coming. He promised,' " quipped Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster.

To get to nearly 2 a.m., the NL (11) and AL (12) ripped through a total of 23 pitchers. They equaled an All-Star Game record 15 innings, originally set in 1967. They combined to go 3-for-29 with runners in scoring position. They combined for an All-Star record 33 strikeouts.

And still, the NL hasn't won one of these things since Philadelphia in 1996. And Tony Gwynn was on the roster then -- at least, he was until he had to bow out of the game with an injury. Tuesday night in New York, Gwynn was on the field for the pregame ceremony as a Hall of Famer. Generations are passing -- and still not an NL All-Star victory.

The AL is 11-0-1 since 1996, and a perfect 6-0 since baseball's suits attached World Series home-field advantage to the outcome.

So tack this one onto the AL's 149-102 edge in interleague play against the NL this year. Since 2004, the AL leads 826-641 in interleague play, is 5-0 in All-Star Games and is 13-4 in World Series games.

"I don't know, man; it's a good question," said Pittsburgh outfielder Nate McLouth, whose All-Star debut was spectacular if only for his on-the-money bullet from center field to nail Dioner Navarro at the plate in the 11th inning and give the NL more (false) hope. "You hear George Brett talking about all the times the American League lost when he was playing. Things change."

At least, the NL hopes they do.

"I was doing Chinese arithmetic from the sixth inning on," Hurdle said of managing his roster, particularly his pitching staff, as the game got deeper. "I felt like I was in algebra class.

"It got wild."

Through six innings, it began to look as if the NL’s 2-0 lead -- thanks in part to Matt Holliday's solo home run -- would hold up. Would have been rich, too, had it been enough. Because had it been the game-winning hit, it would have given the NL home-field advantage one year too late for Holliday's Colorado Rockies, who were swept by Boston last October in the World Series.

It wasn't enough, though, because the AL tied the game at 2 ... but the NL pushed across another run in the eighth when San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez launched a sac fly to left field.

Hey, come to think of it ... perhaps you can blame Gonzalez for the nearly five-hour, 15-inning marathon. He and his Padres so far this season have played a 22-inning game (against the Rockies) and an 18-inning game (against Cincinnati).

"I'm already leading the league in innings played -- now I've got a big-time lead," Gonzalez said.

Clowns to the left, jokers to the right ... the 4:50 game-time shattered the previous record of 3:51, also in that 15-inning game back in ’67.

At 12:45 a.m., Yankees president Randy Levine swooped through the press box and, almost giddy, exclaimed, "They don't want the stadium to ever close!"

For the NL, it's Groundhog Day -- same scene over and over again. Mets closer Billy Wagner blew the 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth (Evan Longoria's RBI double) and then the futility really started.

The NL had runners on first and third with one out in the 10th and failed to score.

Then it put a leadoff runner aboard in the 11th and left him at first.

Then it loaded the bases with one out in the 12th and couldn't score.

Then it put its leadoff man on in the 13th and didn't sniff home plate.

It was especially hard watching Uggla, a good player gone bad for only one night -- albeit one of the worst nights he could go bad. His three errors are an All-Star record, surpassing the previous mark of two held by Red Rolfe (1937), Eddie Mathews (1960) and Ken Boyer (1961).

Two of them came in the same inning, the 10th, but Colorado pitcher Aaron Cook squirmed out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam.

"You don't try and justify anything," Uggla said. "It is what it is. I didn't press. I was having fun. Even though the night went the way it was, I had a blast. I've made errors, and I'm going to make some more.

"My reputation is what it is, and one night is not going to change that."

Said Hurdle: "My heart goes out to the young man. He's such a good player, you know. Such a good player. Obviously, that's not the kind of night you want to have in an All-Star Game. You have that kind of night in the season, you get to play the next day."

But the All-Star Game? Why, it'll be another whole year until Uggla and his NL mates have another chance to top themselves with another way to present World Series home-field advantage to the AL.

"Guys all over the place were thinking about that," said Dempster, whose first-place Cubs have a very real chance to be directly affected by Tuesday's final score. "Guys in Arizona and Philly and New York ... everybody wanted to win this game because of the opportunity they have to play in October.

"You play that hard the whole way, it would be nice to come out on top."

Of course, that's what the NL guys said, too, in 2007. And in 2006. And in '05, '04, '03 ...