AP Photo/Charlie RiedelALL STAR GAME- Well, one possible upside of having so few Red Sox players at this year's All Star Game is that they can't be blamed for the colossal trainwreck that was the American League's performance. I would say Ron Washington manages the American League All Stars like President Obama manages the economy, except Washington's performance isn't costing anybody their jobs.
The wheels came off to the AL in the top of the first after Detroit's Justin Verlander got touched up for five runs. Milwaukee's Ryan Braun scored the first of many runs with a 1-out RBI double. After striking out Joey Votto, Verlander then walked the Cardinals' Carlos Beltran and the Giants' Buster Posey before Posey's teammate- Giants infielder Pablo Sandoval- cleared the bases with a 3-RBI triple. For good measure, Atlanta's Dan Uggla brought Sandoval home on an RBI single for the 5th run of the inning allowed by Verlander.
In the bottom of the first, the Yankee's Derek Jeter led off with a single, but he would be the only batter to even reach base until the bottom of the 4th. By then, the NL All-Stars would add 3 more runs- an RBI single from St Louis' Matt Holliday and a 2-run homer from the Giants' Melky Cabrera off of the Rangers' Matt Harrison.
And that would basically be it as the National League cruised to an easy-looking 8-0 win. San Francisco Giants players accounted for 5 of the NL's 8 RBI's and the winning pitcher was Giants starter Matt Cain who allowed one hit over two complete innings of work. Cabrera was also named MVP of the All Star game.
This is the third straight season which the National League has won the All-Star gam and the largest margin of victory in the history of the Mid Summer Classic. The win means that once again, the NL Pennant winner will have the first two games of the World Series at home.
Detroit's Prince Fielder was the winner of Monday night's Home Run Derby at Kauffman Stadium, besting the Blue Jays' Jose Bautista 12-7 in the final round.
Next year's All Star game is slated to have the Bill Maher-funded New York Mets play host in Queens at Citi Field.
Jim Rogash- Getty ImagesRED SOX- After dropping three out of four games to the Yankees the weekend before the All Star break, the Red Sox hit the halfway mark at .500.
Although 2B Dustin Pedroia went on the DL, one pleasant surprise for Red Sox fans has been the performance of Pedro Ciriaco since getting called up from Pawtucket to play second base. Seeing limited time with the Pittsburgh Pirates last season, Ciriaco was batting .301 with four homers and 21 RBIs through 64 games with the Paw Sox this season.
In just three games with Boston, Ciricao is batting .538 with 4 RBI, 2 stolen bases and 4 runs scored.
The Red Sox resume regular season play on Friday when they travel to Tampa Bay for a 3-game series against the Rays. Franklin Morales [1-2; 3.50 ERA] will get the start against the Ray's Jeremy Hellickson [4-5; 3.41 ERA] on Friday the 13th. The game is scheduled to get underway at 7:10 ET and will be televised on NESN and FOX sports Florida. DirecTV Sattelite and Time Warner Cable subscribers will reportedly be getting a free week of baseball with MLB Extra Innings being shown for free for the first week of the second half of the baseball season.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Outfielder Carl Crawford is expected to return to the diamond in Pawtucket on Thursday evening for what could be his final rehab start before heading back to Boston if all goes well. Scott Podsednik, also rehabbing in Rhose Island, is expected to start at DH for the Paw Sox on Thursday as well.
ELSEWHERE IN THE AL EAST- The Toronto Blue Jays have locked up power-hitting first baseman Edwin Encarnacion before he was slated to become a free agent at the end of this season.
Encarnacion has been hitting .295 with 23 homers and 58 RBIs at the halfway point of this season. The 3 year extension is reportedly worth $27 million.
BOSTON CELTICS- Like many predicted, the Big Three era in Boston has come to an end with the defending Champion Miami Heat luring Ray Allen out of Beantown.
Although the C's had agreed to a contract extension with Kevin Garnett earlier in the offseason, Boston's signing of free agent guard Jason Terry from the Dallas Mavericks earlier this month brought a level of uncertainty for Allen Assuming he had stayed with the Celtics.
Allen, the NBA's leading 3-point shooter, was signed to a 3 year contract that garuntees $3 million in the first year with Miami the same day the heat announced they had reached an agreement with free agent forward Rashard Lewis who most recently had played for the Washington Wizards.
OTHER CELTICS NEWS- The Celtics had two first round picks in the 2012 NBA draft, selecting Jared Sullinger from Ohio State and Syracuse's Fab Melo. Melo's Orangemen teammate Kris Joseph was selected by the C's in the second round.
Celtics head coach Doc Rivers' son- North Carolina's Austin Rivers- was the 10th overall pick in this year's NBA draft and selected by the New Orleans Hornets.
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