Boxscore

The Reds launched the start of the second half of the year with a loss. So things weren’t really all that different for them.

One thing that was new was the team battled back from deficits multiple times. The most exciting was when Javier Valentin pinchhit with the bases loaded. He launched a double into the outfield that cleared the bases. I haven’t seen Great American Ball Park that excited in some time. Glad to see the LLM get some love, even when it’s not latin.

Of course, the game didn’t end there. The Reds headed to the 9th with a 2-run lead, so they trotted out their expensive closer, Francisco Cordero. As he started pitching, the TV announcers, Jeff and George for those of you keeping track at home, gushed about how he’d been better than expectations and well worth what it took to bring sign him. Really?

Before last night’s game, Cordero had blown 4 saves in 23 chances this year. That’s a success rate of 82.6%. Last year, David Weathers blew 6 saves in 39 chances for the entire year. That’s a success rate of 84.6%.

Weathers earned $2.25 million last year. Cordero is earning $8.625 million this year. Well worth it, indeed.

So the All Star break is over as of today. I, for one, enjoyed it. It’s always nice to pause and take a breath in the middle of a marathon. Get some water or Gatorade to drink, too, to replenish the fluids. Did you see that Powerade now has a zero calorie energy drink? It’s a little light, but not bad. I think it’s about time that the energy drinks got on the same caloric level as water.

But I digress.

The unofficial second half of the season starts today, and the Central’s looking much better than anyone predicted. The Cubs, Brewers, and Cardinals are all solid and looking to improve, while the Reds show promising talent but disastrously inept management. The Astros have fallen and the Pirates have a chance to improve.

So what do the bloggers of these teams think? Let’s find out.

Houston Astros

• The Crawfish Boxes sets some modest goals for the rest of the Astros season. Strangely, no choking of any kind is mentioned. Perhaps that should be the goal for the Cubs.
• Meanwhile, the Astrocast seems to be coming to grips with the teams’ suckage.

Milwaukee Brewers

• Milwaukee’s actually in a good spot for the second half, having replaced their worst starter with a recent Cy Young award winner. Still, Brew Crew Ball examines the team and thinks that there is room for improvement at second base. After his 3-error performance in the All Star game, my vote would be for Dan Uggla. Now there’s a winner!

St. Louis Cardinals

• There’s a lengthy post at Viva El Birdos (Wordy? Viva El Birdos?! Never!) arguing that the team should sign Barry Bonds to help the offense. That certainly wouldn’t bring back all the steroid-type allegations the team has faced over the past year. And we’ve seen how Rick Ankiel handles pressure.

Chicago Cubs

• After having 8 players be named All Stars, I don’t see a whole lot of trade rumors for the Cubs. Goat Riders writer Colin crunches some numbers and determines how awesome he thinks the Cubs players are. It’s nice that Cubs fans will always have that excellent first half to look back on.
• View From the Bleachers makes some fearless predictions about the Central race in the second half of the season. Strangely, he has the Cardinals choking and not the Cubs. I really can’t think of any better way to celebrate 100 years than that.

Pittsburgh Pirates

• The poor, lowly Pirates. They have a new GM this season, but so far he hasn’t done much noteworthy other than release Matt Morris. On the plus side, he’s not been fleeced in trades like his predecessor, but then he hasn’t really made any trades. Bucs Dugout picked up a quote from Huntington that indicates that might change soon.
• Pittsburgh Lumber Company looks at whether Jack Wilson should be traded. The answer is yes, yes, a million times yes.
• And Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke? presents some dream trades for the Pirates this year. Is there a more optimistic lot than Pirates fans? I want to see the team succeed, but after so many years of incompetent losing, I would find it hard to see a silver lining.

Cincinnati Reds

• The Reds are kind of in limbo. Everyone knows they should fire Dusty Baker if they want to actually capitalize on their talented youngsters, but there’s not much talk about it. It’s probably too depressing. The owner has hitched himself to Baker for several years, after all. Things could be turning around, though, assuming the Reds play basketball in the second half.
• And beat writer John Fay suggests the Reds should use a six-man rotation. Hey, if it’s a gimmick that sells tickets, I say go for it.

Boxscore

Holy crap, was that a long game. The longest All Star game ever, if MLB’s game wrap is to be believed.

Of course, the National League was on the losing end of things, as they have been since Bill Clinton’s first presidential term. You know, back when the economy was rocking along without a .com bubble popping in site.

Now that I think about it, it’s probably all the American League’s fault that the bubble did burst, not the wild speculation on a new way of doing things that didn’t make any fiscal sense whatsoever. No, not that. It was the evil, evil DH.

But back to the game. It was a low-scoring affair, as is often the case when the best hitters meet the best pitchers. Pitchers rule, hitters drool, as they never say.

The National League did take an early lead, scoring runs in the 5th and 6th, but the Reds’ Edinson Volquez promptly gave them up. The Astros Miguel Tejada scored on a sacrifice fly to return the lead to the National League, but it was the last run they’d score.

Billy Wagner came in and allowed a tying run to score, which plunged the game into extra innings. The Pirates’ Nate McLouth extended the game by throwing out the winning run at the plate in the 11th, but there were no more runs in the National League’s bats. Probably the fault of the maple tree.

In the bottom of the 15th, former Astro Brad Lidge came on. Although he’s no longer broken from that Albert Pujols home run so many moons ago, he did lose the game. Justin Morneau scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Young, and the National League extended its winless streak to 12 years.

There’s always next year.

Despite not really much caring about the game leading up to it, I’m shocked at how vivid my reception of it is now. It’s so clear that this is the game I want to be watching. I’m so involved, it’s like I’m there.

Or maybe that’s the new LG 37″ t.v. we just got. Compared to the 1987 monstrosity we had sitting on our cabinet previously, this is the freaking television walls from Fahrenheit 451.

Right now, he’s about to break the record for the number of homers hit in the first round of the Home Run Derby, and he still has two outs to go.

The old dude pitching to him has GOT to be tired.