Homer king Abreu starts off hot, never cools down

"Unbelievable. He made it look it like it's too easy getting the ball out of this park," Red Sox captain Jason Varitek said.

Representing his home country of Venezuela in baseball's new international format, Abreu stopped twice to tip his cap to the chanting crowd of 41,004 -- and once when Rodriguez, the lone All-Star for the host Tigers, brought him something to drink at home plate.

"Looked like he could have hit homers all day. He had a groove, just looked really smooth," said Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, who hit his own famous homer in Detroit during the 1971 All-Star Game at Tiger Stadium. "I wish they would have had this when I played."

When Abreu broke Tejada's mark, Johan Santana and Miguel Cabrera were among the All-Stars who ran to the plate to drape the slugger in a large Venezuelan flag.

Santana said he placed a call back home to his father, who told him the country was "paralyzed."

With water fountains shooting high into the air in center field after each long ball, it was an awesome display by one of the most underrated stars in baseball -- and maybe a bit intimidating for the other competitors. The next batter, Jason Bay of Canada, was shut out.

"Didn't make it any easier," Bay said.

Boston's David Ortiz of the Dominican Republic put on an impressive show as well, also surpassing Tejada's record with 17 home runs in the first round. But Ortiz was overshadowed -- and eliminated when he connected only three times in Round 2.

In the semifinals, Abreu picked up right where he left off, connecting on his first two swings. He finished with six in that round, including three when he was down to his final out, which was good enough to advance.

When they got to nine outs, players were tossed special gold baseballs - much like the red-white-and-blue basketballs used for the final shot on each rack during the NBA's 3-point shootout.

"I had fun, and I made it farther than I expected to, so I'll take it," Rodriguez said. "Bobby started off very hot, hitting long bombs, and he just kept doing it all night."

Milwaukee's Carlos Lee of Panama was knocked out in the semifinals. Also eliminated in the first round were Dodgers first baseman Hee-Seop Choi of Korea, Texas' Mark Teixeira of the United States and Atlanta's Andruw Jones of Curacao, who has 27 homers -- tied with Cubs slugger Derrek Lee for the major-league lead.