It looks like Homer could be back for a prolonged stay, but I don't really care too much about that. His command has been off in his limited appearances, but even if he does get it together, I think the Reds are going to need lots of offense (a tall order) to pull off a victory anytime he's on the mound. There's also the Dickerson v. Taveras debate. Dickerson obviously has the numbers advantage so far, not to mention his amazing defense in centerfield (Baseball Tonight couldn't get enough of Dickerson when he got those few starts awhile ago), but it doesn't look like Baker or the front office are going to change their minds for the long term. Sure, Dickerson will get his playing time, either in center or left, but money is money and orders are orders, so just let Taveras play and work himself out of his slump, which he is slowly but surely doing.

Votto's return prompts the question of when Ryan Hanigan will get any significant amount of playing time. He certainly proved himself in Votto's absence, as did Jonny Gomes from the DH spot in interleague play. Finding playing time for these players and good offensive combinations that can actually score runs are two huge problems looming over the second half of the season. But this problem isn't really a problem. Better to have too many people than too few. 

Hopefully the Reds will be able to continue beating the Cardinals at home this weekend and occupy one of those spots at the top of the division. Once there, I think the Reds will be rejuvenated after the All Star break, then slowly extend that division lead into the fall. Of course there are some problems, but things are starting to fall into place: the bench players are contributing, the first baseman is an MVP candidate, and the starting rotation should be back to normal sometime after the All Star break. Granted, there's a big road trip before the break, but it's in the east against the Phillies and the ailing Mets. My 7-man baseball team with no uniforms and little to none athletic ability could beat the Mets right now, and the Reds played the Phillies hard back in May. This is a scrapping baseball team with lots of upside, but consistency is key to winning and the Reds haven't exactly proven to be consistent just yet. Even so, they've been contending all season long and will continue to do so, but from the 1st and 2nd place positions.

Francisco Rodriguez blew the save, his third in 10 days.  Nothing new here.  Frankie has averaged 5.5 blown saves per season since becoming a full time closer, which is about the norm. 

This is what I worried about with Kevin Correia.  His fastball velocity was back a little yesterday, but not where it was during is hot streak.  You can see from the chart below (via fangraphs.com) the upward trend in Correia's average velocity and how it dropped significantly his last outing.  Yesterday's outing is represented with the red dot, which indicates an average fastball velocity of just over 91 mph.

A.J. Happ is becoming an interesting starter to watch.  Since converting to a full time starter he has shown a nice progression in K/BB rate.  Also, Happ's velocity is showing signs of progression as well.  He's currently owned in only 37% of Yahoo! Leagues.  

Franklin Gutierrez stays hot.  He hit .304 with 4 homers and 3 stolen bases in June. 

Pitchers are not giving anything to Albert Pujols and he'll take his walks all day long.  The beneficiary?  Ryan Ludwick.  It's been a struggle this season with healthy and a prolonged slump, but he has 7 hits in his last 5 games and 3 RBI in his last 2 games with Pujols getting on in front of him.

Derrek Lee didn't just hit 2 homeruns last night.  He hit 2 pure bombs last night.  One was a grand slam and Lee collected 7 RBI on the night.  Lee hit .333 and slugged .973 in June. 

Will there be a place for Jake Fox to play once A-Ram returns from the DL?

I think I'm done betting against Mark Buehrle.

Cody Ross hit his 14th bomb of the season of newly acquired Sean Burnett.  Ross is slugging .633 vs. left handed pitching this season. 

Josh Johnson left the game after only 3.1 innings.  No injury, just a rain delay and 4 walks to go with a rising pitch count.

Ricky Romero continues to impress.  He's stranding over 85% of runners and his FIP is a run higher than his ERA before his start yesterday.  Walks and the AL East are my concerns, but he's definitely a guy worth rostering right now.  He's only owned in 33% of Yahoo! leagues.

Brad Bergesen impressed against the Red Sox.  He's not going to strikeout a ton of guys, but he's keeping the ball on the ground and keeping the walks to a minimum.  His next start comes against the Mariners.  If you need a spot start, he's worth another go.

Yovani Gallardo struck out a career high 12 in 7 IP against the Mets.  If Gallardo can reduce his walk rate, he's basically Lincecum light.

Gil Meche, coming off a "dead arm" period, threw 121 pitches in only 6 innings.  His arm looked fine with a fastball sitting in the mid 90's, but minor injuries have been an issue this season.  If I'm A Meche owner (or a Royals fan) I'm not happy about the pitch count at all. 

Billy Butler, 4-4, continues to outperform James Loney, but it seems no one is paying attention. 

Jason Hammel has been pitching well for the Rockies lately.  He's not quite the ground ball pitcher Aaron Cooks is, but he is getting enough groundballs and limiting walks to be an NL-only add.

Troy Tulowitzki got cold just as fast as he got hot two weeks ago.  I think he'll finish with an AVG around .270.

Jimmy Rollins took another o'fer, but so did most of the Phillies against Jair Jurjjens who only allowed 1 hit. 

Justin Verlander was touched up last night.  That makes two less than spectacular starts in a row.  I'm not reading much into it.

Jose Contreras has struck out 8 batters in 3 of his last 4 starts.

Randy Wells pitched well again and got his third straight win.  I'd start him again at home vs the Braves in his next start. 

Johnny Cueto brought back the strikeout last night against the D-Backs.  Of course the D-Backs are second only to the Marlins in team strikeouts. 

Kevin Millwood and Jered Weaver squared off in a battle of the "sell highs".  Neither faired particularly well and neither are likely to repeat their first half numbers in the second half.

Nelson Cruz left with a back injury.  It didn't sound serious, but I never like to hear about back problems.  Keep an eye on the situation.

Albert Pujols did not hit a homerun, but he did go 2-2 with a stolen base.  Can he go 60/20!!?  Not likely, but this is just amazing to watch.

Matt Cain continues to strand runners like crazy.  8 Cardinals left on base and only 3 strikeouts. 

Adam Wainwright struck out a career high 12 in 9 innings.  He's throwing a curveball or slider on nearly 40% of his pitches.  That combined with only 132 innings pitched last season raises a bit of a red flag for potential time missed later this season. 

Shirley Wang discussed this issue in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal.

It's good to see baseball acknowledging its players can suffer from psychological illness. That's a step in the right direction to getting treatment for players who suffer such illnesses. It's better to have it out there than to have a player suffer in silence and lose his career. These men aren't superhuman simply because they can do things many of us can't with a piece of lumber or a baseball. Knowing that baseball players can suffer psychological illness may help a regular person seek treatment if they know the same issue has befallen a baseball player.

The news is bad for Volquez...and he's been shut down for at least two weeks. That makes a return before the All-Star break impossible, and it could push it back as far as August...his long-term health, even if this heals up cleanly, is going to be in question...Has anyone noticed that Volquez was a Verducci Effect guy?

About the Verducci Effect; does that apply to Volquez?  Or am I reading into this wrong?

Volquez owners may want to start making plans for fielding a pitching staff without him for the rest for the season.  In keeper leagues this is a much different situation.  Depending on the depth of your keeper list and if a pitcher like Volquez would be a keeper type or not, I would be trying to trade him in hopes another owner may be looking toward his value in 2010 and beyond.  While Will Carroll brings up the thought that Volquez may be a high risk pitcher going forward, there is really no way to tell for certain.  Though I do take his opinion in very high regard.  If you can get a piece or two that will help you win this season by trading away Volquez, take the chance.  Even if he comes back healthy next season there are never any guarantees when it comes to pitching.

Also; the outlook for Brandon Webb is not good either.  If he has surgery, he will likely miss close to half of next season as well as the rest of 2009.  The chances of him pitching again this season look grim at best.

Big Papi cranks his 7th of the season.  See above.

Zack Duke improves to 8-5 with 6 IP, 1 ER effort last night.  Duke now has lowered his ERA to 3.09 for the season.  Like other pitchers getting by on groundballs and very few strikeouts (Nick Blackburn, Mark Buehrle, Kevin Slowey) there is always the distinct possibility for a complete falloff.  However, given that all these guys should have cost you very little on draft day, who really cares.  Sell high if you can, just enjoy the unexpected value you've received if you can't. 

Sizemore goes deep for the first time since coming off the DL.  That didn't take long.  More on him later today. 

Joey Votto is a bit rusty.  Don't give up on him just yet.  He was in the midst of a breakout season before taking some time away for some real serious reasons.  He has the power and plate discipline to be a fantasy force in the second half.  I don't think he'll hit anywhere near .350, but .290-.300 with 15 or so homers is realistic. 

Scott Richmond continues to make the best of his opportunities.  I'm still nervous about endorsing Richmond because of his GB/FB rate, which favors flyballs. His 21% line drive rate is a bit high too.  I'd sit him upcoming against the Phillies.

Pat Burrell connected for his second homerun of the season.  Burrell is only owned in 54% of ESPN leagues and there is no doubt that when healthy he can provide plus power.  Much way I liked the pickup of Marcus Thames, I would say the same for Burrell, especially in OBP leagues.

Holy Joe Blanton!  10 K's in 7 IP.  Blanton has been pitching much better since his rough month of May.  His peripherals are actually much improved from last season.  As of yesterday his K/BB rate stood at 2.79, which but him alongside Jered Weaver and just below Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee and Jake Peavy.  Keep him on your watch list for good matchups.  Toronto is not one of those good matchups. Correction: Blanton's next start would be against the Braves.  That is a go for a spot pickup. 

David Wright goes 4-4 in an 11-0 rout of the Cardinals.  He also added his 19^th stolen base of the season.  Power outage!?  With a .356 AVG and 19 steals, who cares!!

It might be safe to say that Rickey Nolasco is officially back.  7 IP, 7 K, 1 BB in a win against the Orioles.  Nolasco hasn't given up more than 2 ER runs in July and has only walked 5 batters in 4 games.  He walked 3 on June 7th, his first game back from the minors. 

With the news that Marlins closer Matt Lindstrom was headed to the DL, the guessing game began for, "who will be the next Marlins closer?"  Leo Nunez seemed to be the first in line, but perhaps his ankle injury was not 100%.  I had a hunch on Reynel Pinto, but he was brought on to pitch the 8^th.  The save went to Dan Meyer, who has been exceptional for the fish this season.  Reports were that Fredi Gonzalez would use a mix and match to close out games so stay tuned.

Jason Kubel hit his 13^th homer of the season.  Now Kubel's line stands at .311,.373/.512, 13 HR, 40 RBI.  ESPN's "Player Rater" scores Kubel at 6.43, which is higher than the scores of Andre Ethier, Alex Rios, Bobby Abreu, Jermaine Dye, Carlos Lee, Matt Holiday and Nick Markakis.  All of those players listed are owned in at least 90% of ESPN leagues.  Kubel is owned in less than 64% of ESPN leagues.  If he is available and you have the roster space, go get him. 

Nick Blackburn gets hit pretty hard, but still manages to keep the damage to only 3 ER on 11 hits.  Uncharacteristically, Balckburn surrendered 13 fly balls to only 9 ground balls.  More of this type of outing to come.

Both closers struggled in the Kansas City/Houston game.  Joakim Soria and Jose Valverde blew their respective save chances allowing 2 hits and one run each.  They each are well enough along from their DL returns to think this was just one of those days and nothing more like an injury. 

You may have noticed that Joe Torre doesn't think Matt Kemp is a valuable enough hitter to bat in the middle of the order.  Well, last night he batted Kemp 9^th.  He also batted Mark Loretta 6^th.  I love you Joe, but you are driving me freaking insane.  Too much wheatgrass I guess.  All Kemp did was blast his 9th homerun of the season. 

Forget BABIP, Dan Haren is the unluckiest pitcher in baseball!  How does a guy with a 2.25 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 104 strikeouts have a 6-5 record? 

Frank Francisco, fresh off the DL did not come in for the save in a 2-1 game.  Francisco entered in the 8th and pitched a scoreless inning.  C.J. Wilson, who had been filling in for Francisco, was the one to come in and nail down the save.  Here's the quote from the game recap:

C.J. Wilson then retired the side in order in the ninth for his seventh save. Washington is still undecided when Francisco might return to his closer's role. This was just his second outing since coming off the disabled list on Saturday.

But one thing that Washington does like: seven strong innings from his starter, and then Wilson and Francisco finishing up -- no matter in what order.

"That's solid," Washington said.

No Ron!  We don't need solid!  We need to know who is going to close games for the Rangers!  Stop with all this real life, what's best for the team crap!  My fantasy team needs saves!!

I own Frank Francisco in two leagues.

There has been a Garrett Atkins sighting!  The Rockies said they were going to use interleague play to showcase Atkins and shocase they did.  3-4 with a homerun will do the trick.  That raised his AVG to .216.  Ian Stewart took an 0-3 and lowered his AVG to .218. 

3.1 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K.  There's the Jason marquis I know and love!

Chone Figgins is now hitting .330, but has only 3 steals in the month of June.  He has been caught stealing 4 times this month and had only been caught stealing 3 times in April and May.  That smells a bit fishy to me.

Eric Aybar has as many steals in June as Chone Figgins.  He stole his 4th of the season last night.  I still think Aybar has 20+ steal ability and it looks like he is sarting to run a bit more. 

Vlad shaved his dreads.  Then he hit a homerun, only his 2nd of the year.  If (and ONLY IF), Vlad continues to DH basically full time, he is a great buy low candidate. 

Russell Branyan has a chance to enter the all-star break with a .300 AVG and 20+ homeruns.  This guys needs to be at the all-star game.  Not only for his performance in 2009, but also for how long he has purservered in a mostly dissapointing career.  I mean Chris Davis has more friggin votes (ranks 5th for AL firstbasemen) and he might be at AAA by the break. 

You can put Brandon Morrow on the backburner now.  Control is still a huge issue and he has made no adjustment to get his fastball down. 

• Reds starter Edinson Volquez's latest DL stint will be longer then first expected. Volquez has pitched in 9 games this year, and has a 8.52 K/9, 5.80 BB/9 and 4.97 FIP.
• Marlins closer Matt Lindstrom is headed to the DL with a right elbow sprain. Lindstrom had no problems throwing a fastball, but had discomfort throwing his slider.
• Barack Obama will be the fourth president to throw out the first pitch at the All-Star game while in office.

His 52-year-old father, Joseph, died suddenly in August and that grief came to the surface this year. Here are some snippets of what he said.

"The first day back, I put that all on the back burner and just played baseball until the end of Septmeber. He was in my thoughts and I was dealing with it on a daily basis but as powerful a moment that was to lose your father so young, in a way, I did suppress it. From the beginning of the off-season until Spring Training, I was pretty severely depressed and dealing with the anxieties of grief, sadness and fear and every single emotion you can imagine everyone goes through. I habd a really difficult time with it. I was by myself down in Florida. I just was really looking forward to baseball. And when baseball started back up in February, I kind of did the same thing I did last August and threw it all on the side, threw all of my emotions on the backburner and just played baseball again."
[...]
"There were nights that I couldn't be alone. The one night I was alone - the very first night I was alone - was when I went to the hospital. I couldn't take it. It just got to the point where I felt I was going to die, really."
[...]
We're supposed to be known as mentally tough and able to withstand any type of adversity. This is real life [stuff]. I couldn't take it. I think a lot of people deal with this."