The Yankees continue to struggle now tied with the Blue Jays for the wild card. The Red Sox are beating up teams now. They should at least win 2/3 unlike the Yankees

Vladdy!!! Looks like getting rid of those dreadlocks did the trick, hence why they call them dreadlocks.

Great offensive game as my Angels are tied for first place. Look out Texas.

So is smoltz rusty or just too old. And how much time do the red sox give him.

Tigers are tearing it up

With Dice-K out they'll give him plenty of time. As for tonight I thought Smoltz's biggest problem tonight was spotting his pitches and knowing when to go to certain pitches. In the first inning he hardly through the fastball. I don't think it was until the bases were loaded and there were two out that he went with back-to-back fastballs. It was mostly just breaking ball after breaking ball, none of which were out of the strike zone. He didn't make any of the batters chase. All of his pitches were hittable in the strike zone. That's why he got knocked around in the first.

After the first though he settled down and his fastball was between 91-94. That's a great sign coming off of his surgery. If he moves the ball around more effectively (which he did as the game went on), he'll be fine.

but he is still 42 years old coming off surgury, there is no way to know how his body will respond each game over the rest of the season.

Time will tell.

Wow, a 428 moon shot by Napoli. Way to go.

The Angels are now officially in first place!!!

They would go with Buchholtz if Smoltz didn't work out. I give him to the all star Break to see if any improvement

Gary Matthews Jr. steals home. Unbelievable. The Angels sweep the D-backs, which means they were 14-4 in interleauge (which is the best in the Majors this year). Let's keep Texas in the rearview mirror shall we. On the other hand, the defense on the D-backs is just plain lousy. Their young manager and their young players are too inexperienced. They have no offense, and the defense is among the worst in the Major Leagues. They are in last place for a good reason in their division.

Well that was fun. I can't even think of an appropriate word or phrase to describe that game. I don't think one exists. A collapse is too small and a cluster-fuck just doesn't fit. How the fuck do you blow a nine run 7th inning lead? At least they play again this afternoon so they can quickly put it behind them. The only bright spots you can take out of last night's game is that Smoltz pitched great through four and would've probably had at least six in him if it weren't for the rain, Masterson had two solid innings, and the offense finally clicked on all cylinders. It's just that Delcarmen (who was yanked too early), Okajima (who was yanked too late), Saito and Papelbon all were fucking awful. If this happened to about 20 to 25 other teams they'd crumble the rest of the year. At least Beckett is going today.

Oh yeah. The last time the Red Sox blew that big of a lead that late into a game was in June of 1989 to the Blue Jays. I was almost two.

Well a big question is if Paps was really that awful. All he did was give up a double but unlike other games, he was brought in the middle of an inning. (I forget when he gave up the HR to the Mets did he start the inning.)

Anyway, unlike most relievers of the past who came in at any time during the game. Today's relievers mostly start the 9th inning with no one of base. Unlike relievers of the past who had runners on and couldn't even give up a hit.

What a difference a day makes.

well nice job by the hitters to come back BUT still concerning was Beckett giving up 5 runs in the first 4 innings including too many long balls, doubles & homers.

And then went on to retire the next 12 hitters. An inconsistent start to say the least, but it was his first one in over a month.

Here are your All-Stars.

American League

Starters

C Joe Mauer, MIN
1B Mark Teixeira, NYY
2B Dustin Pedroia, BOS
SS Derek Jeter, NYY
3B Evan Longoria, TB
OF Jason Bay, BOS
OF Ichiro Suzuki, SEA
OF Josh Hamilton, TEX

Pitchers

P Andrew Bailey, OAK
P Josh Beckett, BOS
P Mark Buehrle, CWS
P Brian Fuentes, LAA
P Zack Greinke, KC
P Roy Halladay, TOR
P Felix Hernandez, SEA
P Edwin Jackson, DET
P Joe Nathan, MIN
P Jonathan Papelbon, BOS
P Mariano Rivera, NYY
P Justin Verlander, DET
P Tim Wakefield, BOS

Reserves

C Victor Martinez, CLE
1B Justin Morneau, MIN
1B Kevin Youkilis, BOS
2B Aaron Hill, TOR
SS Jason Bartlett, TB
3B Michael Young, TEX
OF Carl Crawford, TB
OF Curtis Granderson, DET
OF Torii Hunter, LAA
OF Adam Jones, BAL
OF Ben Zobrist, TB

Red Sox - 6
Yankees - 3
Rays - 3
Twins - 3
Tigers - 3
Mariners - 2
Rangers - 2
Angels - 2
Blue Jays - 2
A's - 1
White Sox - 1
Royals - 1
Indians - 1
Orioles - 1

National League

Starters

C Yadier Molina, STL
1B Albert Pujols, STL
2B Chase Utley, PHI
SS Hanley Ramirez, FLA
3B David Wright, NYM
OF Carlos Beltran, NYM
OF Ryan Braun, MIL
OF Raul Ibanez, PHI

Pitchers

P Heath Bell, SD
P Chad Billingsley, LAD
P Jonathan Broxton, LAD
P Matt Cain, SF
P Francisco Cordero, CIN
P Ryan Franklin, STL
P Dan Haren, ARI
P Josh Johnson, FLA
P Ted Lilly, CHC
P Tim Lincecum, SF
P Jason Marquis, COL
P Francisco Rodriguez, NYM
P Johan Santana, NYM

Reserves

C Brian McCann, ATL
1B Prince Fielder, MIL
1B Adrian Gonzalez, SD
1B Ryan Howard, PHI
2B Orlando Hudson, LAD
2B Freddy Sanchez, PIT
SS Miguel Tejada, HOU
3B Ryan Zimmerman, WSH
OF Brad Hawpe, COL
OF Hunter Pence, HOU
OF Justin Upton, ARI

Mets - 4
Dodgers - 3
Cardinals - 3
Phillies - 3
Marlins - 2
Brewers - 2
Padres - 2
Giants - 2
Diamondbacks - 2
Rockies - 2
Astros - 2
Reds - 1
Cubs - 1
Braves - 1
Pirates - 1
Nationals - 1

Hamilton over Hunter!!! You've gotta be kidding. Hamilton is barely batting .250, and Torii is a far better fielder than him. Also, no Jered Weaver either. Wow, the Angels got screwed over this year.

well starters are fan votes so who cares. Plus some team fans vote more than others.

Look at the reserves to see who is on the full team.

Based on that the American League is leaps and bounds ahead of the National League.

and on Smoltz, 5 runs in mostly 1 bad innings, Boston Pitchers again putting Red Sox in a big hole as they are slumping right now.

Why are they letting Ervin Santana be a starting pitcher. I swear, his last two games, he gave up at least 6 runs or more, ruining a sweep against Baltamore, and losing the rubber match tonight against Texas. Send him back to the minors and Palmer start (at least he didn't give up any runs tonight in the pen).

not really, as they play almost 150 games against other teams.

The Rangers just had the advantage, going up against our worst pitchers, who are both rumored to get traded for a better one. In fact, there are talks of either getting Roy Halliday, or Dan Haren. The Rangers had another advantage of Vladdy and Hunter not being in the lineup yesterday due to injury. Other than that, our offense is perfectly fine the way it is, with 5 people batting over .300, and 4 others .270 or above. Just give Arte some time when the trading deadline comes near. Also, this weekend, we get to play the Spankees. Remember, Spankees + Angels Stadiums = W's. In fact, if both of our teams pound the AL East the rest of the way through, then both of us can make it to the postseason.

wow, watched the Boston game and they blew a 5-3 lead to KC.