Bob Lobel: Tweaking Major League Baseball's All-Star Game

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

Ever sit down in front of the computer and try, try, and try again to make sense of what you're supposed to write? 

The subject is sports, and the cupboard is bare. But hey, let's talk about the baseball All-Star game. Flawed, but not like other sports' All-Star presentations. 

Football is a joke, and they just can't figure it out. They know the Ideal Gas Law, but the only gas the NFL can pump into the sagging Pro Bowl is very similar to what your dog brings to a quiet evening in the living room. 

The one embarrassment for the baseball All-Star game is the system of picking the players to play. Fans vote. It was not always this way.    

Weekly Red Sox Hitter Notes: All-Star Break Edition

Utility man Brock Holt represented the Red Sox in Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

The Red Sox headed into Friday’s contest against the New York Yankees as winners of their last four series. However, the Red Sox allowed their rival to score first in all three games of the series. After losing two of the three contests to the Yankees, the Red Sox fell to 11-35 when their opponent has scored first this season.

With the series loss, Boston remained in last place of the American League East, two games behind the fourth-place Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles are the last team not named the Red Sox to be in last place of the division – it was June 9, the day John Farrell’s squad started a three-game set against the O’s in Baltimore, and it was the beginning of the Red Sox’s season-worst seven-game losing streak.