The season rolls on but for some teams, it seems to be just an exercise of going through the motions.  Another losing season looms for many clubs, including the usual suspects.  Fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates plan a walk out in mid game this coming week, or at least they will temporarily abandon their seats and take refuge in the concourse without buying anything.  The Kansas City Royals are again mired in the cellar of the AL Central, but with no clear resentment from their fan base, as they have company this year.  The unlikely and unexpected demise of the Chicago White Sox has management there scratching their collective heads, wondering what went so wrong.   They don’t hit (last in runs scored by a wide margin, 49 runs behind the A’s) and they don’t pitch (8^th in the league out of 14 in ERA). 

Ozzie Guillen’s volatile, off beat style is attractive when they win, but is now being viewed as a distraction as they lose.  And whither go the NY Yankees?  The mighty Yankees, with an all star lineup and their famed pin stripes are languishing yet again, in 3^rd place in the AL East, 11 games behind the hated Red Sox and just passed in the standings by that perennial power house, the Toronto Blue Jays.  And NY Times sportswriters had the nerve to call the SF Giants’ season one of many sideshows as they were losing 2 out of 3 to the lowly team that once competed with them for the pride of New York?

The San Francisco Giants firmly ensconced in last place behind the sinking Rockies, who have an infinitely more talented team than San Francisco, younger and faster with a tremendous upside. Even their fan base is apparently not quite connected to reality as fans were heard yelling at fans to sit down as the new “face of the franchise”, Tim Lincecum, was mowing down opposing batters at an alarming rate (12 strikeouts in 7 innings yesterday). Some enthusiastic fans expressed their love for the game, standing and cheering for Lincecum every time he had a batter down with two strikes, hoping for yet another K while the wine sipping, garlic fries, tourist crowd behind them jeered at the obscured view

With a lineup devoid of a power threat, save Bonds, the Giants languish.  This lineup has seen multiple changes throughout as stability in the batting order is something that is unknown in SF this season.  Manager Bruce Bochy may be wondering why he ever chose to leave the comfortable confines of San Diego to manage what has become a mess in San Francisco.  The departure of Armando Benitez was welcome by all – the fans, upper level management, and more importantly, his teammates on the field.  But their woes continue, accentuated by an anemic offense.

With a lead off hitter sporting a batting average flirting with .200 and an on base percentage below .300, it is no wonder the team finds it difficult to score runs.  Dave Roberts has just not been able to get untracked this year, even though he is a favorite of the media and seems to be an upbeat, positive presence in the clubhouse.   Omar Vizquel has started to hit a little, raising his average to .234.  The #3 spot in the order belongs to a series of players, most recently Ray Durham with a .253 batting average.  Bonds bats 4^th and still leads the league in on base percentage

(.516) by a wide margin over runner up, Todd Helton (.434).  Batting fifth, protecting Bonds is….?  Whoever is hot at the time, including catcher Bengie Molina (a better #6 or #7 in the order kind of hitter on a good team) and more recently, a revived Ryan Klesko (.295, 5hr, 27 rbi) who seems to be regaining his stroke lost due to injuries last year.  Pedro Feliz, an extremely athletic presence with gold glove caliber defense and a cannon for an arm at 3b languishes at .244 with an on base percentage well below .300, is still unable to take a walk or lay off a breaking ball in the dirt. 

Randy Winn, at .284, seems to be their most desirable player for a playoff bound team if they choose to be ‘sellers’ at the trade deadline. Clearly this is a team in trouble with few young players waiting in the wings.  The scouting staff has drafted and developed young pitchers to the exclusion of position players.  Perhaps they thought they could pick up free agents in the offseason or just mix and match veteran players throughout the season and compete.  But it has not worked. Rich Aurilia, a popular player in SF, and a potentially valuable free agent acquisition in the off season (.300 with 20 home runs last year) has been injured with a strange neck strain, requiring cortisone injections.

 Young players like Fred Lewis (. 254 ba, .330 obp) and Nate Schierholtz (.325 ba, .349 obp) are possibilities but with veterans like Roberts and Winn, it is difficult to give them consistent playing time to see exactly how they will do against major league pitchers and the scouting staffs of other teams determined to spot the holes in their swings.  With general manager Brian Sabean under the gun in the media but apparently comfortable with owner, Peter Magowan, it will be interesting to see how they plan to fix what has gone drastically wrong.

Barry Bonds was voted in for a 14^th time to start the All Star game, a selection even I did not make on my ballots as I did not think his numbers were good enough.  But seeing his relief as well as joy in being selected, I felt somewhat guilty about leaving him off.  Cleary he DOES care about the game and his participation in the mid summer classic, something I could not have imagined witnessing his inexorable march towards 756 (and beyond) and his unspoken quest for 3000 hits (with 2900 right now).  He is a talent, and is clearly the best baseball player we have seen since…. Griffey for a four year stretch in the 90s and, before that, since Willie Mays.

I am somewhat surprised Edgar Renteria has been left off the all star team.   Batting .324 with 10 hr would seem to assure any infielder a spot on the roster, but not this year. 

Pittsburgh needed a representative, and Freddie Sanchez, the reigning batting average champ from last year was selected, as was the Nationals’ only all star caliber player, Demitri Young (.340, 7hr, 37 rbi).  Carlos Beltran did not really deserve to be a starter this year with his .266 average but his replacement in cf does – Aaron Rowand (for whom I voted) from Philadelphia (.312 ba, .390 obp with 11hr and 42 rbi).  Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies ss, did not make the team nor did Hanley Ramirez, the very talented Marlins shortstop.  The glut of big time shortstops that used to characterize the American League has apparently shifted to the NL in recent years with the emergence of Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez and Jimmy Rollins.  The inclusion of Brian McCann, catcher for the Braves, denied a deserving Bengie Molina (SF Giants) of a spot;  they have identical power numbers but Molina is hitting 30 points higher.  Molina has arguably been the first half MVP for the Giants, delivering key hits in 2 out situations to drive in runs.

Curiously the AL pitching staff has only 4 relievers while the NL staff has 6 closers on the roster, a seemingly high number of closers. Chris Young (San Diego), John Maine (NY Mets), Brandon Webb (Diamondbacks), Tim Hudson (Braves) and Matt Morris (SF) were not selected while the fading Brian Fuentes (Rockies closer), Billy Wagner (Mets) and Jose Valverde (Diamondbacks) were selected.  Takashi Saito (Dodgers closer)

has amazing numbers with only 3 walks against 42 strikeouts in only 33 innings (with 22 saves), dominant numbers far surpassing those of any other reliever selected.  With the dominance of the AL all stars for the past decade or more, perhaps the NL feels they must rely upon dominant closers to work an inning each to beat what is clearly a better line up. 

Who will win the game?  Who knows, but for the sake of competitive balance, one would hope the NL prevails as the dominance of the American League is getting old for at least one fan of National League style baseball (ie. no DH).