Did a Drunk Zito Cause the 2002 All-Star Game to End Early?

Peter Gammons tossed out an interesting blind item in his ESPN Insider blog this weekend:

As it turns out, the reason the 2002 All-Star Game ended up tied was that a pitcher on one of the two teams was imbibing in the clubhouse and was not in condition to pitch, hence the game ended.

And that's how home-field advantage is decided in the World Series, not by regular-season excellence. But then again, what owner thinks about the guys who spend their money on tickets?

Interesting theory, and given Gammons' stature (if anyone is connected enough to know the whole back story, he's the guy) I'm willing to accept it as fact. I'm calling B.S. on his "not by regular-season excellence" assertion, though, since home-field advantage was never decided by a team's record but by alternating between leagues each year.

But still, just who was the player who single-handedly (or not -- maybe he was double-fisting?) gave meaning to the outcome of America's favorite exhibition game?

Every available pitcher on either roster got into the game, so if Gammons is correct, we're going to have to put the pieces together ourselves ... or let AOL Sports editor Andrew Johnson do it for us:

Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Matt Morris and Tom Glavine were the only pitchers selected that didn't appear in the game, however all four were injured and replaced on the roster, which leaves us with a couple of possibilities. Peter Gammons could be insane, or, one of the pitchers who appeared in the later innings was too drunk to do his job.

Vicente Padilla and Freddy Garcia finished the games for the NL and AL, respectively, but even though Garcia threw a wild pitch, he pitched two pretty clean innings, as did Padilla. Indeed, the most suspicious part of the box score is Barry Zito's 1/3 of an inning appearance in the bottom of the sixth. Zito faced one batter, Shawn Green, and then got yanked. He was replaced, by Eddie Guardado ... another left-hander, who then faced Andruw Jones and Jose Hernandez in succession to finish the inning.

It's pretty fishy that Joe Torre would pull Zito, a starter, after only three pitches, one out, one batter, and one actual strike, and furthermore replace him with another southpaw. So watch out, Hilary Duff, my expert whodunnitry has concluded that your latest flame is the type of guy who would get drunk in the clubhouse during an All-Star Game.

Given Zito's reputation as both an oddball and a guy who likes to party, this is actually quite plausible. Normally I wouldn't endorse the idea of a major league pitcher taking the mound while inebriated -- a misplaced 95 mile per hour heater could quite easily kill a man -- but Zito's fastball is among the slowest in the majors, and his slow curve seems like it'd be pretty harmless.