Finally, we're back to regular season baseball...if this break had gone on much longer, I might have started building things out of cardboard.
I've gotten so used to scrolling past JS articles without reading them that I almost missed this Anthony Witrado piece on the trials and tribulations of Prince Fielder, which isn't half bad.
If I asked you to guess which Brewer swings at the most pitches that aren't strikes, would Ryan Braun have been one of your first five guesses? Me either. But Beyond the Box Score has him swinging at 35.28% of balls, which is in the top 10 in all of baseball.
UPDATE: Turns out the stat actually means 35.28% of the pitches he swings at are outside the strike zone. Thanks to Battlekow for correcting my work but ignoring our Scrabble game.
I'm guilty of complaining about it myself, but do the Brewers really struggle to hit bad pitching? Turns out the answer is no.
Would an interview with a sideline reporter normally be interesting enough to make the Mug? No. But Trenni...well, Trenni's a lot smarter than your average sideline reporter.
On injuries:
Aaron Harang's "forearm strain" diagnosis could be a sign of worse things to come.
Orlando Hernandez was pulled from his rehab start with a sore foot after just one inning of throwing the banana.
Scott Kazmir isn't injured, but his next start is being pushed back a couple of days after his unexpected All-Star Game outing.
Tim Lincecum's flulike symptoms turned out to be dehydration, and he should be fine.
Pedro Martinez has been scratched from his start Sunday and received a cortisone shot on his sore groin. Ouch.
Edgar Renteria left last night's game with a sore left hamstring (again).
It's possible the pitching market may dry up well before the trading deadline. Yesterday, the Phillies traded three prospects to the A's for Joe Blanton. Phillies Nation thinks it was the wrong move. In the meantime, does this mean the best pitcher still available is Erik Bedard?
Maybe it's actually Francisco Liriano. He's 7-0 with a 2.73 ERA in his last nine starts in AAA, and he's filed a grievance with the Twins, since his extended stay in AAA will keep him from being arbitration eligible this winter. Ron Gardenhire is not at all happy about the union trying to dictate his roster management.
This would be an even bigger dictation: Major League Baseball is considering taking a break for the Olympics, if baseball returns as an Olympic sport in 2016.
For once, the Yankees were frugal: They've signed Richie Sexson, but only for a pro-rated share of the $390,000 league minimum salary.
The All-Star Game pulled in a bit more than $390,000 in ad revenue. Marketwatch takes a look at the relationship between television and baseball, and how the All-Star Game coverage has changed over the years.
Royals beat writer Sam Mellinger has hardly slept for days and just got done sitting in a really uncomfortable seat at Yankee Stadium for several days, but wanted to take a moment to tell us all about the stresses of being a writer. I've emailed him and offered to trade jobs, if he's interested.
Oh, and if you're not sure what you're eating today, try out the Wheel of Lunch.
Drink up.