Celebs pepper All-Star festivities

By Scott M. Johnson and Kirby Arnold

Herald Writers

SEATTLE — While the Seattle Mariners were 1,500 miles away beating the Los Angeles Dodgers, Safeco Field wasn’t without recognizable names Sunday.

In preparation for Tuesday’s All-Star Game, Safeco played host to a celebrity softball game prior to Sunday’s Futures Game. Some of the big names on hand included Survivor 2 winner Tina Wesson, Robert Wuhl of the television show "Arli$$", singer Meatloaf and former Miss America Vanessa Williams. Some of the sports stars participating included Don Mattingly, Steve Garvey and Rick Fox.

Former football player Howie Long accounted for the game’s biggest highlight, hitting a towering three-run homer to centerfield to lead his team, the Espressos, to an 8-6 win over the Lattes.

Mattingly, Garvey and Fred Lynn also added homers.

The biggest cheers came for former Mariners Harold Reynolds and Alvin Davis. By the reaction of the fans, Davis hasn’t lost his title as Mr. Mariner. He homered in his only at-bat Sunday.

Among the other observations from the game:

X Soft-throwing James Van Der Beek couldn’t hit Dawson’s Creek if he fell out of a boat.

X Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament had two errors on one play, and wasn’t much better at the plate. He failed to reach base, meaning Pearl Jam still hasn’t had a hit since 1992.

X Child star Jonathon Lipnicki hasn’t changed at all since 1997’s "Jerry McGuire," making him the celebrity version of Eddie Gaedel.

While the game had its unsightly moments, the players and fans certainly had fun.

"The stadium is great," Meatloaf said. "I drove into town and thought the (Seahawks) stadium next door was the ballpark. I thought this was a big shipment yard. It’s retro, man. It’s like an old ballpark, but it’s new. It looks like something built in the 20s."

Walker hurting, but expects to play for NL team: A sore elbow won’t keep Larry Walker from playing in the All-Star Game. In fact, the Colorado Rockies outfielder expects to be in the starting lineup. An MRI exam on Walker’s inflamed right elbow Sunday showed only swelling, clearing him to play in his fifth All-Star Game Tuesday.

Walker, hitting .343 with 27 homers and 83 RBI, said he plans to start as the National League’s designated hitter. New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine will make that decision as the NL skipper.

Last-minute addition: The facade of the upper deck at Safeco Field features the name of each All-Star, although it took some ingenuity on Sunday to include Mike Cameron.

Cameron, the Seattle Mariners center fielder, was named to the American League team Sunday afternoon when Greg Vaughn pulled out because of an injury.

The crowd of 40,850 broke into a huge ovation when Cameron’s appointment was announced, but it also created an obvious blank spot on that upper-deck list of names.

About an hour later, some Mariners employees hung a somewhat crude banner with "CAMERON" written in green letters. When it was shown on the video screen, the crowd roared again.

Changing faces: Major League Baseball went all-out to transform Safeco Field into a place of honor for all of its stars and not just the Mariners who occupy the ballpark the rest of the season.

Outside the stadium, near the left-field corner entrance, huge posters of Mariners stars Edgar Martinez and Jamie Moyer were taken down and replaced with images of the leading vote-getters from each league. It still had a Mariner look, however, with M’s leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki pictured alongside an image of San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds.

Marlins’ Floyd added to NL roster: Florida Marlins outfielder Cliff Floyd, bypassed for the NL team when Bobby Valentine announced his reserves last week, was added Sunday as a replacement for New York Mets pitcher Rick Reed, who has a stiff neck and back.

Valentine’s original decision set off several days of sniping between the Mets manager and Floyd, who said he was so certain that he was on the team after talking with Valentine by telephone that he purchased $16,000 worth of plane tickets for family and friends.

"Floyd was No. 31 the entire time," Valentine said. "I need No. 31. He’s on the team."

Floyd said he regretted an injury created the opening. "I pray for nobody to get hurt, but maybe it was meant to be. I’m definitely going to enjoy it," Floyd said. "All the stuff is behind us. I’m going to have a blast. It’s a good ending to a bad beginning."

Earlier this season, Floyd called Valentine a "stupid manager."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.