Somewhere along the line Heath Bell knew there’d be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to him: Bell was among the last All-Stars to arrive at their hotel, checking in at 10:17 a.m. Monday after he, Padres teammate Adrian Gonzalez, Gonzalez’s wife, Betsy, and batting practice pitcher Ray Krohn […]

I read this the first time and laughed. And then I looked up at the humorless picture at the top of the column and realized that this is no parody. Greg Doyel is Very. Very. Serious. The Home Run Derby is tonight, and it’s the perfect advertisement for baseball. Busch Stadium in St. Louis will […]

Downtown St. Louis goes banner-crazy in anticipation of the All-Star Game. Details, assuming you need them, can be found here.

I understand one part of this, but I’m not sure I understand the other: The average ticket price to the Major League Baseball All-Star game in St. Louis is down more than 50 percent from last year, while the ticket price to the Home Run Derby is up more than 9 percent. The average ticket […]

This morning in the recaps, I said this about Ichiro refusing MLB’s request that he participate in the Home Run Derby: The guy hits six homers a year. The only reason they’d want him in there is as a cynical ratings ploy for the Japanese market, which I’m assuming gets the All-Star broadcast. Good for […]

Nothing makes baseball better than gambling! The final spot for the National League All-Star roster is up for grabs, and the governors of Hawaii andPennsylvania have made a friendly wager to rally online voting support for Phillies’ outfielder Shane Victorino, also known as the Flyin’ Hawaiian. Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle and Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. […]

Headline: “St. Louis is perfect host for All-Star Game“ This is on MLB.com, of course, so it’s not like it was gonna say “St. Louis: frankly, we coulda done a bit better.” Lots of great “St. Louis fans are the best in baseball” porn in that article if you’re into that sort of thing.

The”Yay Jason” comment thread was getting worn out anyway . . . Dodgers manager Joe Torre said he doesn’t think suspended outfielder Manny Ramirez should be an All-Star this year, even though fans have him fourth in voting at the position. “No, I don’t, and if you ask Manny, he’d give you the same answer,” […]

Jason from IIATMS hits the big time: Jason Rosenberg was heading home and listening to satellite radio when he heard that Manny Ramirez was fourth among National League outfielders in initial All-Star voting. By the end of the night, a new Web site was born: Vote for Manny. “I said it would be funny if […]

Viva Chaos!