TuesdoLinks: 2016 All-Star Game Links

Did you enjoy the Home Run Derby last night? Giancarlo Stanton surely did. (And that outburst is going to cost the Marlins at the ticket windows.) Methinks Mike Trout should have participated now, instead of later on in his career. After all, now is the time to look like a hero, when MLB might be using juiced baseballs...........

With the chaos that MLB creates with kids running all over the place looking up at flying baseballs, I'm surprised that crashes like this haven't been happening all along...........

Mark Trumbo didn't win the Home Run Derby last night, but he did do something unparalleled. He is the first guy to launch a baseball from home plate and smack the Petco Park scoreboard............

Got any questions for Commissioner Manfred. He's taking submissions. This would be a great chance to demand what has been taking so long to figure out how to punish the Cards for their criminal hack of the Astros IT infrastructure. At the very least, why have they waited until after the Cards got to use all three of their 2016 1st round picks?..........

Hey, quick question: who is going to be the worst performer in tonight's MLB showcase?????

While you think about this, enjoy some 2016 All Star Game Links:

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Everywhere In Baseball

Cron-ick: C.J. Cron is off to surgery on his hand, and the DL. He is pretty much done for 2016. Of course, it makes a difference based on which headline you choose to believe:

Go Get 'em, Sport: Anybody around here recall the name of Jenrry Mejia? He was the Met who was busted for the third time for using banned substances. Well, I suppose he has been getting more and more frustrated watching his fellow Dominican David Ortiz blow out the odds and be celebrated. Shoulda used the same doctor. Well, Meija and attorneys have decided to go sue MLB for their "mob-like activity". After following how the MLB went after ARod in the Biogenesis debacle, I can see their point. But, again, after seeing what MLB is capable of, Meija and company are doomed............Then again, a reasonable person might be inclined to wonder just how complete and accurate are the MLB testing systems and standards?................

Taking Numbers: It's the mid-season recap rodeo. It's just that time of year, since we don't have anything else going on. Let's see how many days we get of this stuff. Let's lead off with The Worst Called Ball of the First Half. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the worst call burns the Angels. Just horrible. We should be one of the favorites getting hosed by The Worst Called Strike of the First Half. i really hope that one gets published...........How about The Biggest Question for All 30 MLB teams. For me, I would think that our biggest question would be who has the encyclopedia of Big Questions that need to get answered for our franchise...........Four teams that should be Sellers of Pitchers. None of which are named Angels, by the way.............Five Most Overrated Players of 2016. One of which was a guy a lot of you wanted really, really bad...........Even funnier, one of the names on that Overrated list turns out to the be The Most Balanced Hitter of The Most Balanced Hitter of the First Half............

Color Me Surprised: This is the kind of fun stuff we need more of during the AS Break. A review of the changing colors of MLB uniforms over time. Things are getting noticeably brighter. One thing that jumps out at me, however, is the distinct limitation of total colors being tracked. Eleven? The standard was 64,000 colors all the way back in SVGA days. What was that, 25 years ago? So why don't we have mention of other possibilities? Like, maybe, periwinkle?..............

Minor Altercations: What the hell is going on down on the farms these days? It was just last week that we had Yankees prospect  Jorge Mateo bitching about not getting moved up a level, an attitude that will certainly retard promotion any time soon. Now we have Detroit Tigers prospect Anthony Gose getting into a shouting match with his manager, and then going AWOL..............

Not Your Average Joe: Fickle Cubs fans. Now that they have a taste of that mortality which always shows up, however briefly for any team, they have decided to turn on Joe Maddon and all the fun he is having. North-siders, feel free to send Joe back to Anaheim, where he really belongs. The waves are better out here, anyway............

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The Duffle Bag

MLB, not one to overlook a chance to make a buck or two off of silly things, may realize that they have missed a cycle this year with the whole Madison Bumgarner in the Home Run Derby frenzy. So they have come up wiht a good idea: have pitchers in the Derby!..........I'm old. I confess. And this Pokemon craze is going on all about me and I have zero awareness............Interesting perspective: ARod can't hide behind his contract anymore. In other words, he is now owed so little that when he sucks, as he does at the moment, the Yankees have all sorts of things they can do with him and not sweat the sunk costs lost. For instance, bench him against the Rangers...........I hate wasting good beer, and I have to think that the Giants serve up some pretty good beer options in their park. So, lady, using your tray full of beer to try and catch a foul ball? Really??...........Is there circumstantial evidence in play for the Rangers to make a trade and pick up Jonathan Lucroy?..............What is this Mudflats of which NBC speaks down in San Diego, and why have I not discovered it before??????????? Just want to say, although my special event buffet at Petco Park last season was dramatically superior to anything I have been exposed to at Angels Stadium or Dodgers Stadium, Craig Calcaterra got treated much better than this average joe. He must be one important blogger..........Hey, isn't this why we have a PETA?...........Yeah, bro, THAT was for taking my bike back in 6th gradeand selling it to Johnny on the next block, and then lying about it and keeping the money..............Greg Maddux beats MLB to Las Vegas...............

Baseball is dying: part 173............

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(I am kicking your asses. Nobody can even guess. But look at how how obvious this is. Monday's chart was the Home Run Derby results of all time. The empty column for 1988 was a cancellation. The red column for 1986 was California Angel rookie Wally Joyner. The red column at 2003 was Anaheim Angel Garret Anderson. And the red column at 2007 was Los Angeles Angel Vladimir Guerrero. Here is today's.)

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