MLB

The Astros' season thus far has been up and down to say the least. Injuries have been to blame for some of it, but not all of it.  They have seemingly been in every game, but have also let some winnable games get away.  That said, they are in a very solid position as we close in on the All-Star Break; only 5 1/2 games out of first in the always tight central division race.

After coming off a sweep against the Kansas City Royals, the Cardinals dropped three of four from the New York Mets. Although they only managed to win one game, the Brewers also struggled against the Twins, keeping the Cardinals atop of the NL Central. Let's take a look at the good, and the not so good of this midweek matchup.

The Good

"We'll be fine. We're the defending champs, and we're not defending champs for no reason. At the end of the day, I'm walking out of this place, and we're still in first place. That's how you've got to look at it." Confidence or complacency? Waltzing or wavering? Champs, or chumps? The answer should tell us who's going to be celebrating in October.

The blame for Geovany Soto and his struggles this season have been either a sophomore slump or the World Baseball Classic. Now it appears that the latter is true.

On Thursday, a positive marijuana test result, that was taken during the WBC, was made public. Soto quickly made a statement (a la Micheal Phelps) saying "I am embarrassed by my inappropriate behavior."

He "assured the organization this was an isolated incident and a misstep in judgment that will not be repeated."

Within controversies of steroids amidst Major League Baseball, here's my 5 picks of MLB players (past and present) that I hate.

It doesn't matter if they lied about steroid use or their incessant whining about pay or playing time, they still behave like they should be deeply hated.

NOTE: These may be my top 5 hated players, but I would appreciate any feedback for my upcoming Most Hated series of slideshows.

As of right now, the Seattle Mariners are a game over .500, 2.5 games behind Texas and LA/Anaheim. They are set to play the Padres and gain more ground.

However, the direction of present and future Mariners lies in what happens the next 10 days.

That's right, the road trip from hell.

The news in Cleveland has fans going crazy right now!

The Cleveland Cavaliers have just traded for Shaquille O'Neal!

Across the street from Quicken Loans Arena is Progressive Field, and the home of the Cleveland Indians, and there is a completely different story, but one that Indians fans are all too familiar with.

The Indians are in the midst of losing seven out of their last eight games for a record of 30 wins and 43 losses. They are also 11 games out of first place and own the worst record in the American League.

This past Tuesday night, I was making my way along on my summer trip and was spending the day in New York City.  I spent the night at CitiField, watching the Mets take on the St. Louis Cardinals.  I was keeping close tabs on the scoreboard in left-centerfield so I knew how the Tigers were doing. 

I saw the Tigers take a late lead and then noticed that they had put Joel Zumaya into the game.  I said to my friend that I wouldn’t be surprised if Zumaya coughed up the lead, since he’s been struggling for most of the month. 

Like many people after Manny Ramirez was suspended for a violation of the Major League Baseball substance abuse policy, I thought the Dodgers were going to go downhill in historic fashion.

That obviously didn't happen.

The Dodgers have the fourth-best batting average (.278) and the best on-base percentage of any team in baseball (.357).

In addition to these fantastic offensive statistics, the Dodgers are leading the majors in ERA (3.64).