Opinion

Heading into the All-Star Break, Twins fans split into two camps.

The “oh God, it’s all over” camp reacted to the hometown nine’s recent run of form—a poor one, dropping them into third place in the decent AL Central.

The New York Mets won today behind the strong pitching performance of Johan Santana. Though Santana pitched well enough for a win, he didn't get it, as closer Francisco Rodriguez blew another save. Santana went eight strong, surrendering only one run on eight hits and one walk, while striking out five.

Personally, I had prayed that manager Jerry Manuel would let Santana come out for the ninth inning and finish the game out, but having thrown 115 pitches (81 for strikes, by the way), Santana got the handshake after retiring the last nine batters he faced.

As the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches, the question is, will the Marlins ultimately become buyers or sellers? The team is currently 10.5 games out of first place in the National League East Division with the Braves, Mets, and Phillies ahead of them.

When the Twins and Brewers swapped Carlos Gomez and J.J. Hardy in the off-season, Minnesota GM Bill Smith and Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin were looking to improve their squads.

As both teams crank up the second half of the season they find themselves in third place of their repsective divisions. Both players have spent time on the DL list this season; Gomez for a strained rotator cuff and Hardy for a wrist injury. They also share the same number on their jersey, but the similarities end there.

So who's gotten the better end of this deal?

Please check out my website, TheSportingRave.com. More celebrity/pop culture stories to discover.

Alex Rodriguez has been romantically linked to the likes of Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz, and now the roidhead Yankees slugger will attempt to move into the movie genre himself.

Something was missing from the All-Star break this past week.

It wasn’t a lack of home runs. David Ortiz and others provided plenty of those in one of the more intriguing Home Run Derbys to date.

It wasn’t a lack of star power. Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Ubaldo Jiminez, Josh Hamilton and others were all on hand for the National League’s first win in the All-Star game since 1996.

So I looked over some stats and decided people need to be told the whole story. There are a few other contenders for the NL CY Young Award. I originally did not want to analyze them but then I thought why not compare him to other players that people think are better, Halladay after all is the best pitcher in baseball.

So the first one I do is Josh Johnson. Low ERA 1.62. Minuscule ERA, I am amazed he has kept it up as long as he has. He has 128 innings pitched, an outstanding 130 strikeouts with only 28 walks. He has one complete game and no shutouts. So why him?

Pitching wins championships, or at least that is the saying.  If this is the case, then the Yankees better start looking for some more help in that department.

While CC, Pettitte, and Hughes are having great seasons thus far, that can’t be said for the rest of the staff.

When it comes to the bullpen, the only reliable pitcher has been Mr. Reliable himself, Mariano Rivera.  After him the bullpen is a crap shoot.

I admit, I am a Toronto Blue Jays fan, that's why you'll notice that the picture of Halladay is in a Blue Jays uniform rather than the Phillies uniform. I grew up watching him play and truly loved watching the best pitcher in baseball completely shut down opposing offenses. As such, my opinion is a bit biased so I tried to stick to the numbers only when deciding that Halladay deserves the NL Cy Young.

With the recent release of George Sherrill by the Los Angeles Dodgers, one wonders whether Ruben Amaro, Jr. and the Phillies' front office will look to add him to their struggling core of relief pitchers.

Sherrill, himself, has struggled this year with an ERA of 7.17 and WHIP of 2.20, hence the reason for his outright release.  However, he was solid for the Dodgers last year and has a career ERA of 3.64 and WHIP of 1.32.

He also has late inning experience, serving as the closer for Baltimore and recording a few saves for both Seattle and LA.