Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?

To be honest, the All-Star Game tends to bore me to death. It's already off to a bad start with Garner and Ozzie's obviously scripted speeches to their teams, though Ozzie's wearing a Roberto shirt is a very cool gesture, even if he is a bit of an ass. They're now running Pirate highlights, which are mostly in grainy film because those are the most recent highlights they can find. If they show Sid Bream I may kill someone. At this point, I'm mostly looking forward to the hometown reactions that Freddy, and Jay Bay will get, and hopefully the boos that will rain down on Jim Tracy's head. And if Freddy and Bay could get hits, I'd be all for that.

I'm working on the midseason report cards and whatnot, I was short on time last night but will at least work on them tonight during the game. Since I don't have those ready and beyond that the sporting world is dead for another day and a half, I've got some links. Steve Zielinski has another new piece of reading up at Irate Fans , this one entitled "Best Park, Worst Owners." Jayson Stark has a nice write up of the Derby and the added excitement of having the Allegheny well within striking distance for guys like Howard and Ortiz. Dejan asked a bunch of All-Stars what they think is wrong with the Pirates . A sample of the answers, A-Rod: I'm sure it's frustrating for everyone here. But with the system we have in place right now, every team has hope. If you look at what revenue sharing has done, if you look at the way Oakland, Minnesota and now Detroit operate, you can get to where you're a player or two away, or a good decision by the manager away. Good...

After trying to liveblog the damn thing last year and going crazy doing it, this year I think I'm going to make a sign with a vaguely recognizable acronym and stand on the Riverwalk making a fool of myself. If you see a kid with a "YWML" sign and an Irate Fans shirt out there, stop by and say hello.

Dave Littlefield in today's Pirates notebook in the PG: Teams seem to be more willing to trade earlier this year. That way, they have the player they acquire for a longer period of time, giving that player a chance to impact more games. This is, of course, after holding on to every single piece of value he had to trade until 3:59 PM on July 31st every year, and ending up with virtually nothing to show for Jason Schmidt, Kris Benson, Aramis Ramirez, and Matt Lawton (I know, I know, but Lawton was the biggest name moved at the deadline last year and almost certainly could've brought more than Jody Gerut from someone).

There are three new articles up at Irate Fans, one by Charlie of the Bucs Dugout , one by Jim Krug (a poster at OnlyBucs.net ) and one by yours truly . Also, the editors at the PG get in on the fun , demanding that the Buccos owners to "play ball or choose another game." Amen to that.

Duke had another tough outing today, giving up 7 runs (5 earned) in 5 and 1/3rd against the Phillies. We had an early (2-0) lead but Duke quickly gave those runs back in the bottom of the first and it was downhill from there. I was far more interested in watching the World Cup (seriously, who else can say they ended their career like Zidane did today... sheesh) and then the Futures Game (Walker had a hit and Sharpless got out the only batter he faced) than watching the Pirates lose their 60th game of the season. Last year the Pirates were 30-30 after sixty games, this year they only have 30 wins at the break, putting them on pace for a 54-108 season. I've been working on a bunch of stuff to put up over the break (mid-season grades, etc.) so you can start looking for that tomorrow or maybe even later tonight.

The Bucs and Phillies face off in the final game before the All Star break, a break that both teams must be looking forward to immensely. Today is a "Phenom Phace-off" in Philly (sorry, I couldn't help myself) between Zach Duke and Cole Hamels. Hamels has struggled a bit with his control since arriving in Philly eariler this year, while Duke has just plain struggled this year. Still, Duke seems like he's always one inning away from snapping out of his funk in every start, but in that one inning he gives up 4 runs. I don't know how much of this one I'm going to see, there's also this little soccer game going on this afternoon. Also, Brad Lincoln made his first start for the Bradenton Pirates in the GCL yesterday and was pretty impressive, though a guy that's won most of the major awards that go to DI pitchers probably should dominate in the GCL. I really hope we aren't planning on keeping him there for long. Also this afternoon at 4 is the All-Sta...