The following entry comes from Tyler Maas

With half the season in the books and the All-Star break within a stone's throw, it's almost acceptable for baseball fans to begin their other pastime - scoreboard watching.
 
Sure, there are already five teams with double-digit deficits in their respective divisions, and players on the Mariners and Nationals can safely begin making non-occupational plans for October. But as a whole, one great or terrible week of play against a divisional foe could do volumes to catapult a cellar-dweller within grasp of the division lead or topple a leader’s likelihood of maintaining its first place standing.
 
This week, the first full week of the season’s latter half, three division leaders will face off against their closest competition in the standings.
 
Tampa Bay vs. Boston
The surprise Rays and defending champ Red Sox have been taking turns holding the AL East torch all season. With Tampa again in the driver’s seat, Justin Masterson and the Wild Card leader BoSox hope to vanquish the half game margin Monday, and reclaim the lead as the series wraps up Wednesday.
 
Masterson will face off against James Shields Monday. Tim Wakefield and Matt Garza will battle it out Tuesday and Daisuke Matsuzaka takes on Scott Kazmir in the series finale.
 
Los Angeles vs. Oakland
After dropping two straight to the Giants this weekend the Athletics travel to Anaheim looking to shorten the 4.5 game gap that now separates them from the Halos.
 
Greg Smith and Jon Garland go in the first game Monday, Ervin Santana and the red hot Rich Harden take the rubber Tuesday. The series wraps up Wednesday with Oakland’s Dana Eveland and AL win leader Joe Saunders.
 
St. Louis vs. Chicago
On the National League side of things, the Wild Card-leading Cardinals host the Central leader Cubs in a three-game weekend series. Both teams have scuffled of late, due primarily to injury and an exit from their previously cushy schedules.
 
Braden Looper and Carlos Zambrano, who looks to bring fireworks in his July 4th return from a shoulder injury, will set the series in motion Friday. Kyle Lohse and Ted Lilly go Saturday, while Todd Wellemeyer and ex Cardinal Jason Marquis round out the series on Sunday.
 
There’s a lot of season left, but each game that elapses en route to season’s end means exceedingly more – especially when the teams competing sit one and two in their division.

For those of you that haven't heard anything about the Twins since this winter's Johan Santana trade or Torii Hunter's departure, allow me to get you up to date; they're currently playing the hottest baseball in the majors. The same mid-market team that all but mortgaged this season before it even began currently sits in second place of a competitive American League Central, has won eight of its last 10 games, including six consecutive wins - the longest present streak in all of baseball.

As Detroit’s assemblage of players that were widely favored to take over the world has only recently began to overcome the humanity and under-achieving that has plagued much of its early season, as Cleveland is playing their stars out of town, as the White Sox fall prey to their National League neighbor, and as Kansas City… is, ummm, classic Kansas City – the Twins have quietly snuck up the standings and set themself within reasonable striking distance of the division lead. More impressive than the Twins driving headlong into one of baseball’s most respected divisions is the Twins driving headlong into one of baseball’s most respected divisions with the players they have on the roster.

Never renowned for name (excluding the countless forged in the Humphrey Dome now playing for bigger market teams), the Twinkies have relied on some fairly unrecognizable names to help them get to their current position. Case in point, Nick Blackburn. A player who no casual non-Twins fan could’ve named two months ago – if even now – has won his last two starts (both of which occurred during this 8-2 span) that found him going 13 combined innings, surrendering only three runs and a mere 10 hits combined. 

Brian Buscher and his 43 career games (10 this season) has also player huge since seeing time as response to Mike Lamb’s overall ineffectiveness at the plate. The utility infielder is hitting .353 with 12 hits and 12 RBI in 35 plate appearances this season, much of which has come during the recent 6-0 homestand.

Players that have been seemingly written off are pitching in and finally fitting their intended roles. Delmon Young has at least one hit in all but one of the Twins last 10 games and has pitched in a multitude of RBI to account for his absence of homeruns. Livan Hernandez has been resurrected on the field turf, also a winner his last two starts – each to the tune of one run over seven innings. And players kept in the Twin Cities because of their past prowess, like Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are again playing in their All-Star forms of old. Morneau has registered a hit in each game of the 8-2 run - 14 hits, 12 RBI, a .350 average and just three strikeouts in frame.

The scalding Twins look to build off their six game winning streak as they travel to face a Padres team that has struggled to win this season and then hosting a (also in their own right) hot Brewers team for another three game set. Then it’s Detroit for and important divisional match up, one that could very well find them building off a first place standing in a division nearly no one predicted them to remain in the conversation, let alone tear through, at this point. It might be obscured by the outdated dome, their unique accumulation of widely-Canadian unknowns, or their manager that doesn’t teem for the media spotlight like so many others in the Midwestern baseball spectrum, but as it stands, the Twins are to be reckoned with… whether you’re aware of it or not.

This week found the National League Central - the division I proclaimed to be in good standing only days earlier - falling on hard times. The Cubs, Astros, Cardinals and Pirates were all swept in interleague play, while the Reds were lost three games to the Dodgers.
 
Only the Brewers were able do their division justice in their sweep of the disheveled Blue Jays. As interleague play continues this weekend, here's what's in store for the largest division in the majors.
 
Cubs vs. White Sox
The Cubs host the cross-town rival White Sox in a highly publicized battle of first place teams. As mentioned, the AL Wild Card leading Rays recently swept the Cubs. The White Sox took three games from Pittsburgh.
 
Friday (already underway) Ted Lilly faces the Sox’s John Danks, who went six scoreless innings in his last start. Jason Marquis and Joe Contreras face off on Saturday and Ryan Dempster will try to keep the momentum from his last start going against Javier Vasquez and his Sox. The Southsiders venture North playing their best ball of the season, but the Cubs were once owners of the best record in the majors and, despite recent injury and losses, aren’t likely to roll over.
 
Brewers vs. Orioles
Milwaukee looks to obtain a winning record in interleague competition and get within striking distance of both the Wild Card and NL Central lead as they face the Orioles at Miller Park.
 
Friday Jeff Suppan takes on Baltimore’s Radhames Liz. Starter-turned-reliever- turned starter Seth McClung looks to continue the pleasant surprise he’s provided at the back end of Milwaukee’s rotation against Daniel Cabrera on Saturday. Manny Parra will try to give the home faithful something else to smile about on Polish Sausage bobblehead day in going for his sixth consecutive win against the Orioles’ Garrett Olsen.
 
Reds at Yankees
Cincinnati travels to the Bronx to face the surging Yankees. Edison Volquez and his MLB-leading 105 punch outs opposes veteran hurler and 10 game winner Mike Mussina in game one. Saturday in a battle of the lesser-known, Cincy’s Daryl Thompson faces off against Dan Giese. Johnny Cueto and Andy Pettitte will end the series.
 
St. Louis at Boston
Kyle Lohse and Tim Wakefield will take the rubber tonight. Mitchell Boggs will try to rain on Daisuke Matsuzaka’s parade as he returns from the disabled list. Joel Pinero and Jon Lester will go on Sunday. Lester has won his last three starts and only surrendered three runs in the time frame (20.1 innings).
 
Houston at Tampa Bay
The Astros couldn’t be colder coming off their throttling by Baltimore at the juice box. Conversely, the Rays recently vanquished the Cubbies at home in their own juice-related park.
 
Friday’s starter Roy Oswalt give Houston the best chance of getting back into the win column as he faces off against Matt Garza. Wandy Rodriquez and Brandon Backe finish off the weekend for Houston, as Edwin Jackson and unquestioned ace Scott Kazmir go for the Rays. After scuffling both figuratively and literally in Boston, the Rays seem to be back in their early season, dominant form. Carl Crawford is back from his four game suspension.
 
Pittsburgh vs. Toronto
The Pirates look to rebound against the fledgling Blue Jays. The Jays fired manager John Gibbons this morning following their sweep at the hands of Milwaukee, but surged late in Thursday’s game, scoring seven runs in the finals two innings. Both teams seem to be playing for the sake of their seasons this weekend.
 
Zach Duke faces off against the consistently amazing Roy Halladay Friday.  Paul Maholm squares off against Toronto’s Jesse Litsch Saturday and Sunday finds Ian Snell facing Dustin McGowan – who’s coming off a rough start in Brew City.

Beckett to Miss Start
 
Red Sox ace Josh Beckett will miss his only scheduled start this week.
 
The shakeup in the rotation is due Daisuke Matsuzaka's return from a shoulder injury and Bartolo Colon's placement on the disabled list Tuesday. Matsuzaka is slated to start Saturday's game. Jon Lester's start has been moved to Sunday and Beckett will start Monday against Arizona.
 
Sexson May be Released
 
Days after the Mariner’s fired GM Bill Bavasi, Richie Sexson may be the next to be sent packing.
 
The Everett Herald reports the lanky first baseman is likely to be released by the club, possibly as soon as the end of the week. Sexson, who is in the final year of a four-year/$50 M deal, has seen his numbers regress considerably since hitting 39 homers and driving in 121 during his first season with the Mariners.
 
This season, the former All-Star has posted nine homeruns, 23 RBI and a .219 batting average. The M’s recalled catcher Jeff Clement Tuesday to split time behind the plate with Kenji Johjima, who’s also struggled this season. Johjima has reportedly been taking pre-game reps at first base recently.

Today marks the twelve-year anniversary of the day the voice of the Yankees went silent. Mel Allen passed away on this date in 1996, but in his 83 years of life he was able to forge an identity that transcends radio, television and boundaries of sports.

To say I was late in my exposure to Allen's work would be a vast understatement, being that I was twelve when he died. Needless to say, my generation missed his rise to broadcast prominence, his legendary radio celebrity, his controversial firing and the rumors that surrounded it, and his steadfast loyalty to the organization that let him go.

But what I - and so many others - will take from their exposure to Mel is what remains, and will remain for the foreseeable future. Allen is to thank each time an announcer bellows “Going, going, gone!” or rhetorically inquires “How about that?”

Though many might never connect his name with the famed phrases or to the formation of game calling employed by so many still, it’s important to cite the source of the voice that delivered each in its own unique way and to acknowledge that it’s been a dozen years since it could last be heard.  

At its base, the 3-9 record and 4.23 ERA compiled by Oakland A's pitcher Joe Blanton thus far may not do much to convince fans of his overall ability. But in a game that finds "quality starts" gaining statistical viability, and exalts hurlers with a knack to preserve their bullpen by going deep into games, the blogger believes Joe Blanton has been a better pitcher than his record indicates.

Blanton's 100 innings trails only Roy Halladay in the category. In his 15 starts, he's managed to accumulate seven quality starts. Needless to say, the sixth and seventh innings are familiar friends.

Including yesterday’s throttling at the hands of New York, Blanton has lasted into the sixth inning of EVERY SINGLE one of his 15 outings this season and into the seventh inning in nine (60%) of those starts. Yet, in the majority of those starts (11) which occurred at his home ballpark where he’s posted a sub-four ERA, the righty is just 1-7.

In all, Joe Blanton is excluded from conversations of pitching aptitude because he possesses a lopsided record, a take-it-or-leave-it ERA and is somewhat hittable (111 scattered over 100 innings), but a closer glance tells of a pitcher whose 3-9 mark could just as easily be 9-3 had the chips fallen appropriately and is offense put runs on the board.

He’ll likely never be an ideal candidate for slam-dunk complete game/shutout pitcher, but he also won’t be classified as a near-automatic loss. He’s yet to yield a stolen base this season, plus he averages only a walk every four innings pitched and a homer surrendered every 10 innings pitched.

There’s no love for Joe Blanton this season, and it shows in the loss column. But if there was a category that ignored numbers and tracked a pitcher's game-to-game ability to keep the hope of winning well within reach almost every time out, this 3-9 pitcher would near the top of that leader board.

Virtually every season since it expanded to six teams in the late 90s, the National League Central has appeared to most outside observers (and many inside observers as well) to be a far from formidable division. Even in seasons this decade that found the St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series and both the same Cardinals franchise and the Houston Astros losing in the Fall Classic's finale, there have always been a glut of bottom dwellers rubbing elbows with the hundred loss mark to remind the baseball world of the night and day transition that is routinely showcased in this division’s standings.

 

More than a third of the way in the books, this season seems to be different.

 

Even with the recent injuries of Alfonso Soriano and Albert Pujols, the state of the NL Central seems to be one of good standing. Coming into Thursday’s action, four of the six National League squads with a record at or above .500 hail from the Central. Though Houston’s loss to Milwaukee Thursday has since dropped them below the .500 mark, they join a Pittsburgh team - fresh off their feast on the East’s Washington Nationals – at the 33-34 (.493) mark heading into interleague play this weekend.

 

The Central is also the only division with more than two winning teams, and the sole division in the NL (and one of two divisions in the majors) that lacks a team whose winning percentage is less than .400. The AL East has been great, but the league’s best record also belongs in the Central. And in a season that finds only three MLB teams with a winning record on the road, the division has the best average road record in the NL.

 

There are a lot of games left and with costly injuries of the division’s superstars, the Central might revert to the bell curve it’s been almost perpetually likened to this past decade. But for once, I look at the divisional standing in mid June and see competition up and down, a tight race from top to bottom. It seem that, for once, the division with the most teams has the most to be proud of. It’s a strange feeling.

Maybe it's because he plays the majority of his games out West, where box scores are posted long after much of the baseball populous in the East or Midwest has gone to sleep. It could be because he plays for a fourth place team that finds itself nine games under .500, with its No. 1 and 2 hurlers shelved on the disabled list. It just might be a global conspiracy that goes higher up than you even knew existed. Whatever the reason is, Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is having a monster year and almost nobody is acknowledging it.

Going into tonight’s (Tuesday’s) contest Gonzalez is tied for second place on the MLB RBI leader board (with 56), is tied for fourth on the National League homerun list (17… seven at ever-vast Petco), is tied for fifth in the N.L. (76) and has managed to counter his power numbers with an average (.292) that is flirting with .300. Yet, the 26-year-old has failed to even crack the top five in All-Star votes among N.L. first baseman.

Of those top five - Lance Berkman, Derrek Lee, Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder – I consider only the first three to have played legitimate All-Star caliber baseball. Howard, with his .214 average in tow, still trails Gonzalez in every significant category (to most casual All-Star voters) except walks. And even this Wisconsinite can tell you Prince is off pace from last season, let alone paling to what Gonzalez has done to date.

Perhaps a more indicative stat of this Friar’s 2008 proficiency is a glance at the Padres lineup card. Unlike those other five names (with the possible exception of Pujols) - who have the protection of past MVPs, perennial All-Stars, Rookies of the Year and 20/20 players – Gonzalez hits between Brian Giles who is on the down side of his career and is hitting a fairly empty .308, and the .268 AVG/ .311 OBP that is Kevin Kouzmanoff. Gonzalez is being pitched around and is still putting up admirable numbers.

On the tenth of June he is on pace for 42 HR, 139 RBI and 189 hits. Though unlikely he’ll keep that pace, Gonzalez – if healthy - is still likely to match his 30 HR, 100 RBI, 182 hit 2007 line.

Did I mention these stats and N.L./MLB tops come after last week, arguably his worst week of the season that found him going 6 for 25 (.240) with just one walk, two RBI and a single run?

I don’t really look on All-Star festivities with much luster, but I do consider it, if anything, a forum ideally put in place to reward players for their skill and accomplishment during that particular half-season plus of play. Unfortunately, it seems to be socially considered a means of exalting the game’s most recognizable names and fan-favorites and bestowing sometimes unfit honors to players who have not presently played at the level of an All-Star.

He may play for a team I don’t follow, much less have the ability to watch, and he might lack a name that will sell as many seats as others of his position, but I believe Adrian Gonzalez should be appropriately acknowledged for the type of season he’s had – an All-Star season.