Take a deep breath. For the first time since March, there’s no baseball to obsessively watch and no fantasy lineup to maintain. As much as major league players need a physical break from the grind of their daily schedules, we could use a mental break from our own daily grind.

Now, there’s a difference between taking a break and a leave of absence. Little news develops during the All-Star break, but there is still work to be done. This is a good time to reflect on where your pitching staff stands in relation to an innings or starts limit and figure out what needs to be done the rest of the way. Read more »

The Tampa Bay Rays are still the story of the 2008 Major League Baseball season, but their young, raw hitters are having a devil of a time in the week before the All-Star break. During their current losing streak, which reached seven after Sunday’s 5-2 loss in Cleveland and caused them to fall out of first place, the Rays have managed only 13 runs. This comes after a streak in which they won 11 of 12 games, swept the Marlins and Red Sox and scored 82 runs. 

Lengthy droughts are often enigmatic to young, supremely talented hitters like Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton, but probably not to Joe Maddon. The 54-year-old manager of the Rays has not only watched his team win a total of 127 games in the previous two seasons, but also opposing pitchers develop more precise and effective game plans when they started winning. Read more »

When he’s hitting the ball well and spraying line drives around Wrigley Field, the unorthodox swing of Kosuke Fukudome is, well, unoffensive. But, when he is impatient and slumping it is downright ugly. The latter has been the case for much of the Cubs current road trip, causing Lou Piniella and Cubs Nation to strive for the return of Alfonso Soriano.

Fukudome average dropped to .290 after he went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and three left on base in Chicago’s 8-3 loss to the Giants in San Francisco Thursday. His The Cubs are now 2-5 on the road trip and 18-26 overall away from Wrigley Field, and while the struggling Fukudome is certainly not solely to blame for his team’s slide, his limping leadoff production isn’t helping. Read more »

When he’s hitting the ball well and spraying line drives around Wrigley Field, the unorthodox swing of Kosuke Fukudome is, well, unoffensive. But, when he is impatient and slumping it is downright ugly. The latter has been the case for much of the Cubs current road trip, causing Lou Piniella and Cubs Nation to strive for the return of Alfonso Soriano.

Fukudome average dropped to .290 after he went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and three left on base in Chicago’s 8-3 loss to the Giants in San Francisco Thursday. His The Cubs are now 2-5 on the road trip and 18-26 overall away from Wrigley Field, and while the struggling Fukudome is certainly not solely to blame for his team’s slide, his limping leadoff production isn’t helping. Read more »