There haven’t been too many bright spots in Chicago Cubs baseball over the past few seasons. Apart from Darwin Barney’s spectacular defense at 2nd, the release of Carlos Marmol and some savvy trades that ultimately led to 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo, the bleacher bums haven’t had too much to cheer about since 2008. Starlin Castro was one of those bright spots.

Over the past 3 seasons the Cubs’ shortstop has managed to hit .298/.336/.425 with averages of 9 homers, 9 triples, and 32 doubles per year. That’s excellent production at the plate out of the shortstop position and all those hits netted Castro a pair of All-Star appearances. Castro’s defense at the position has never been up to snuff, but he made positive strides with both his glove and his arm a year ago, and at 23 the hope was that he still had room to improve.

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Astros 2, @Rays 1 — Jose Veras caught Evan Longoria looking with the tying run on 3rd, a final flair for a night of compelling baseball that almost unraveled at the end.

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Belated happy 40th to Jose Jimenez. But don’t expect a card from Randy Johnson.*

Dodgers 7, @D-backs 5 (14 inn.) — The past month’s biggest difference-maker did it again. Hanley Ramirez got his arms extended on the first pitch of the 14th, the fifth frame essayed by Josh Collmenter, leading L.A. to a 4th straight win and the once-unimaginable Land of .500. Another homer followed, from A.J. Ellis, hero of the 9th-inning rally that started when Adrian Gonzalez won a 2-out, 9-pitch battle with Heath Bell. The Dodgers survived the rockiest start yet by Hyun-jin Ryu (5 IP, 5 R), as the pen posted 9 straight zeroes.

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@Cardinals 9, Astros 5 — Does anyone still think Matt Harvey should start the All-Star Game? Adam Wainwright‘s 12-5, 2.30. Clayton Kershaw‘s 8-5, 1.89. St. Louis is back in 1st place after a lull, helped by a gentle stretch of schedule that has 11 more against losing teams before they travel to the Braves, Bucs and Reds starting July 26.

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His heroics in the 2012 post-season were not enough to keep Raul Ibanez on Brian Cashman’s radar, so Raul packed his bags and returned home, so to speak, to Seattle. Ibanez has spent the larger part of his career in the Great Northwest, including most of his career peak at age 34-37.

A career peak at age 34-37? You read it right. Ibanez just keeps getting better with age, including this season, already one of the better seasons ever for players in their forties. More on Raul’s unusual career after the jump.

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This post is for voting and discussion in the twenty-fourth round of balloting for the Circle of Greats.  This round completes the addition to the ballot of those players born in 1949.  Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

It took Tony Gwynn 15 rounds of voting and more total appearances on voter ballots than any other player so far (he never appeared on fewer than 20% of the ballots in any round and topped 40% five times), but he has finally made it, as the 23rd player inducted into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.  More on Tony, and on the latest voting results, after the jump. Continue reading →

Have you been listening to the podcast? If not, you can catch up on all the episodes on the podcast page.

In the latest one, Ashley and I have a broad conversation about numerous baseball topics, including how different it is to be a fan today versus 25 year ago. And you’ll just have to listen to find out why the episode is titled “Bunting skills competition”.

The NL roster for the All-Star Game currently consists of 20 everyday players and 13 pitchers.

Going purely on total 2013 Wins Above Replacement (Baseball-reference version) for everyday players, 13 of those 20 everyday players are also in the top 20 in WAR among NL everday players this season: Molina and Posey at catcher, Goldschmidt and Votto at first, Matt Carpenter at second, Wright at third, Tulowitzki, Cabrera and Segura at short, and in the outfield the Carloses Gomez and Gonzalez, Domonic Brown and Andrew McCutchen.

Missing from the actual roster but in the top 20 in WAR are: Continue reading →

Happy 59th birthday to Willie Randolph and Jason Thompson, two fixtures of my Strat-O-spent youth. Happy 50th to Lance Johnson, the only Met ever with 20 triples in a season and one of few reasons to watch the ’96 club.

@Cardinals 5, Marlins 4 — Shane Robinson’s pinch-single sent Jon Jay to 3rd, and a throwing error on the no-play toss to the infield let Jay race home with the winning run, as St. Louis became the last team this year with a walk-off win.

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