2008 Midseason Review: The Obvious

It's the All-Star Break, which I guess means it's time for me to do some kind of mid-season review, even though we're already well into the second half of the season. This year, I'm going to do three review posts and we'll call the "The Obvious" (or things from the first half that we all know), "The Obscure" (or things from the first half that I think I know and at least half of you will vehemently disagree with me on), and "The Murky" (or things that none of us know, but I will make a blind stab at figuring out). Today: The Obvious.

Our bullpen is really terrible. Osoria, Burnett, Beam, and ¡Romulo! would likely not make any roster other than ours. I'm not sure Tyler Yates would, either. Without Capps, the pen is a disaster area of epic proportions. I don't want to talk about this anymore.

John Russell is never going to smile. He didn't even crack one after Saturday's dramatic win.

Jason Bay's terrible 2007 was definitely injury-related.

Nate McLouth's second half in 2007 wasn't a fluke.

Ryan Doumit is better than Ronny Paulino in just about any meaningful way you'd care to measure it.

It's not worth getting bent out of shape over losing Josh Phelps, because Jason Michaels and Doug Mientkiewicz are always available.

The American League owns us. Except the Yankees.

The Rays are proof that having high draft picks for a decade can actually result in good things.

WHYGAVS Night was awesome.

Rain delays are not awesome.

Blowing four separate leads in one game is really, really not awesome.

Relying on young pitchers is stupid.

Am I missing anything?