MLB

Last night, an "organizational decision" was made to pull Yuniesky Betancourt from the game in Tacoma.

In other words, the move wasn't injury-related, meaning Yuni had been traded but the M's couldn't say that officially yet. The move that seemed imminent last night was finally announced. Now, officially, Yuni is going to the Kansas City Royals for pitching prospects Dan Cortes and Derrick Saito.

The Giants are in rebuilding mode, and the team is winning.  Now is the time for a push for the playoffs and moving forward next year.  I understand Bochy will probably keep trying different players at various positions, but now that the Giants have proven they are playoff contenders, the lineup now is good.  With the players they have now, here is a suggested starting lineup:

C: Molina (Whiteside has proven a good backup until Buster Posey comes up).

1B: Ishikawa—Great defense, offense is picking up.

Jon Lester (7-6, 4.16 ERA) takes the hill tonight against Brian Bannister (6-6, 3.87 ERA), as the Red Sox try to apologize to their fans for losing a 4-0 lead last night.

The bullpen, which until recently has been phenomenal, has been laying a few more eggs the past few weeks, especially during this home stand. It is almost single-handedly responsible for the Yankees catching up in the standings.

Last night, in section 534 in the upper de...errr...I mean Promenade at Citi Field, I got into an interesting debate about Mets owner Fred Wilpon.  The gentleman sitting in front of me contended that Fred "Coupon" is a cheap owner while I contend that he is not necessarily a cheapskate, just an idiot.

First of all, I just wanted to go on record saying that the whole "Coupon" nickname drives me crazy.  It was cute for a while, but now it just sounds childish and silly when I hear fans say it.  Plus, every fan that uses it acts like they invented it, but I digress.

The Seattle Mariners have just won the World Series.

Ok, they didn’t, but to Mariners fans it feels like they did.

The Mariners finally made the move that fans had been waiting for.

Seattle traded shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt to the Kansas City Royals for two minor league pitchers Friday afternoon.

In the deal, Seattle received Double-A starting pitcher Danny Cortes and Single-A reliever Derrick Saito.

As Major League Baseball readies itself for its Mid-Summer Classic, it is always nice to take a look at how individuals are faring at the midway point.  Many players that are headed to St. Louis for the All-Star Game are having their typical all-star seasons.  Albert Pujols, who hit his 32nd home run as this article was written, is making others numbers pale in comparison.

After becoming an American tradition following its inception in 1933, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game evolved into the “Midsummer Classic” through some memorable moments in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

The exhibition eventually moved beyond being just a game to include a home run contest and many other activities that gave fans the opportunity to see their heroes in a completely different atmosphere than ever before.

In baseball there is a saying that every team wins 60 games and every team loses 60 games. What each team does with the other 42 games determines whether they are contenders or basement dwellers.

If Thursday night against Atlanta was one of those 42 games for Colorado, it was a good sign.

Twice the Rockies battled back from two-run deficits and overcame a sluggish start from ace Aaron Cook.

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE HE

The Cubs have been very disappointing in the first half of the season. They start today 41-41, when in reality, they should be six or seven games above .500.

Luckily, they are not too far away from that. Any day now, they could go on a six game winning streak and be right back in the thick of things.

There are a numerous things that the Cubs need to do to win consistently over the next 80 games. If the Cubs can achieve at least the majority of them, they should find themselves a top the National League Central for the third straight year.