Boxscore

Rich Harden made his second start for the Cubs last night, and he was impressive. Harden went 7 innings and allowed only one run while striking out 10 batters. Unfortunately, Randy Johnson rose to the challenge and bettered him, shutting out the Cubs and allowing only 2 hits over his 7 innings.

The Cubs never scored, even after Johnson left the game. Perhaps those bats are missing Alfonso Soriano, after all. He made his first rehab start last night, so barring any setbacks, he’ll be back with the team soon. We’ll see if that’ll be enough to hold of the surging Brewers and the 100 year drought.

Boxscore

Kyle Lohse responded to not being picked to the All Star team by dominating the Padres and beating Jake Peavy, to boot.

Lohse pitched 7 innings, allowing only 2 runs on 7 hits. He struck out 4. That was enough on a day when Peavy was home run happy.

Peavy allowed 4 solo shots. Two to Troy Glaus, who opened the second half with a far stronger bat than he’d shown in the first half, one to Rick Ankiel, and one to pinchhitter Joe Mather.

The Cardinals picked up a half game on the resting Cubs.

Boxscore

Adam LaRoche knocked in a pair of runs with a double to give the Pirates an early 3-run lead last night, but it wasn’t enough.

Paul Maholm could not hold the lead. Although perfect through the first 3 innings, things derailed quickly, and he ended up leaving the game after pitching 6 innings and allowing 5 runs on 8 hits.

So the Pirates, like the Reds, started the second half of 2008 like they have spent the vast majority of the last two decades: losing. However, I actually have a more positive feeling about the future of the Pirates than the Reds. I mean, the Pirates don’t have Dusty Baker.

Boxscore

The Reds launched the start of the second half of the year with a loss. So things weren’t really all that different for them.

One thing that was new was the team battled back from deficits multiple times. The most exciting was when Javier Valentin pinchhit with the bases loaded. He launched a double into the outfield that cleared the bases. I haven’t seen Great American Ball Park that excited in some time. Glad to see the LLM get some love, even when it’s not latin.

Of course, the game didn’t end there. The Reds headed to the 9th with a 2-run lead, so they trotted out their expensive closer, Francisco Cordero. As he started pitching, the TV announcers, Jeff and George for those of you keeping track at home, gushed about how he’d been better than expectations and well worth what it took to bring sign him. Really?

Before last night’s game, Cordero had blown 4 saves in 23 chances this year. That’s a success rate of 82.6%. Last year, David Weathers blew 6 saves in 39 chances for the entire year. That’s a success rate of 84.6%.

Weathers earned $2.25 million last year. Cordero is earning $8.625 million this year. Well worth it, indeed.

So the All Star break is over as of today. I, for one, enjoyed it. It’s always nice to pause and take a breath in the middle of a marathon. Get some water or Gatorade to drink, too, to replenish the fluids. Did you see that Powerade now has a zero calorie energy drink? It’s a little light, but not bad. I think it’s about time that the energy drinks got on the same caloric level as water.

But I digress.

The unofficial second half of the season starts today, and the Central’s looking much better than anyone predicted. The Cubs, Brewers, and Cardinals are all solid and looking to improve, while the Reds show promising talent but disastrously inept management. The Astros have fallen and the Pirates have a chance to improve.

So what do the bloggers of these teams think? Let’s find out.

Houston Astros

• The Crawfish Boxes sets some modest goals for the rest of the Astros season. Strangely, no choking of any kind is mentioned. Perhaps that should be the goal for the Cubs.
• Meanwhile, the Astrocast seems to be coming to grips with the teams’ suckage.

Milwaukee Brewers

• Milwaukee’s actually in a good spot for the second half, having replaced their worst starter with a recent Cy Young award winner. Still, Brew Crew Ball examines the team and thinks that there is room for improvement at second base. After his 3-error performance in the All Star game, my vote would be for Dan Uggla. Now there’s a winner!

St. Louis Cardinals

• There’s a lengthy post at Viva El Birdos (Wordy? Viva El Birdos?! Never!) arguing that the team should sign Barry Bonds to help the offense. That certainly wouldn’t bring back all the steroid-type allegations the team has faced over the past year. And we’ve seen how Rick Ankiel handles pressure.

Chicago Cubs

• After having 8 players be named All Stars, I don’t see a whole lot of trade rumors for the Cubs. Goat Riders writer Colin crunches some numbers and determines how awesome he thinks the Cubs players are. It’s nice that Cubs fans will always have that excellent first half to look back on.
• View From the Bleachers makes some fearless predictions about the Central race in the second half of the season. Strangely, he has the Cardinals choking and not the Cubs. I really can’t think of any better way to celebrate 100 years than that.

Pittsburgh Pirates

• The poor, lowly Pirates. They have a new GM this season, but so far he hasn’t done much noteworthy other than release Matt Morris. On the plus side, he’s not been fleeced in trades like his predecessor, but then he hasn’t really made any trades. Bucs Dugout picked up a quote from Huntington that indicates that might change soon.
• Pittsburgh Lumber Company looks at whether Jack Wilson should be traded. The answer is yes, yes, a million times yes.
• And Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke? presents some dream trades for the Pirates this year. Is there a more optimistic lot than Pirates fans? I want to see the team succeed, but after so many years of incompetent losing, I would find it hard to see a silver lining.

Cincinnati Reds

• The Reds are kind of in limbo. Everyone knows they should fire Dusty Baker if they want to actually capitalize on their talented youngsters, but there’s not much talk about it. It’s probably too depressing. The owner has hitched himself to Baker for several years, after all. Things could be turning around, though, assuming the Reds play basketball in the second half.
• And beat writer John Fay suggests the Reds should use a six-man rotation. Hey, if it’s a gimmick that sells tickets, I say go for it.