Baseball Update: A Look At the First Half of the Season

The Baseball Update is a look at the happenings around Major League Baseball.

Watching baseball is like running in a marathon. You have to passe yourself, or you will wear down. That's why I love the All-Star break. It comes in the middle of the season, and everyone can take a break from baseball and recharge their batteries. You basically have 4 days without baseball. I don't count the Home Run Derby or the actual All-Star game itself, because both of those events are exhibitions. Even though the All-Star game is played for home field advantage in the World Series. It is still just an exhibition game.

With that said it is also that time of the year to look at the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of major league baseball.

The Ugly: What can you say about the Washington Nationals? They suck at everything. From their uniforms, to their free give aways, to the entire team. They just fired their manager today. They have a chance to either break or tie the 62 Mets horrible record of 40-120. Right now the Nationals are 26-61. So the Nationals can only win 14 games for the rest of the season. And would you be surprised if this team only won 14 games for the rest of the season?

Their lineup really isn't the problem. They have great hitters in Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, and Nick Johnson. It's their pitching staff that is horrible. They have the 2nd worse ERA, first in walks, 2nd worse in runs, 2nd worse in earned runs, and 2nd worse in strike outs. They have also committed the most errors in baseball. I can't even describe how bad this team is. They are Cleveland Indians bad. But at least they have Stephen Strasberg?

Cleaning House: The Pittsburgh Pirates have sold just about everything they own except the kitchen sink. If you are keeping track, the Pirates have traded Eric Hinskie, Nate McLouth and Nyjer Morgan. And there are rumors that the Pirates are looking to get rid of Freddy Sanchez andAdam LoRoche. I and a lot of people, including Pirates players, have no idea why the Pirates are looking to sell everything. Just a couple of weeks ago, this team was only 5 games out of first place.

But that must be the Pirates motto. "If we are competing, sell! Sell!" Sorry Pittsburgh fans, but I don't think your Pirates management will ever want to put a contending team on the field, ever.

I Called It: Call me a homer or call me whatever, but I predicted at the beginning of the season that the San Francisco Giants were going to the playoffs this season. O.K. so I predicted that the Giants would win the NL West and I didn't predict that they would have the second best record in the NL. But I still predicted that they would be going to the playoffs, so it counts.

As I said at the beginning of the season though, the Giants pitching staff would carry this team a long way. And it has. Tim Lincecum could win the Cy Young again. Matt Cain has finally reached the level that was expected from him. Randy Johnson has been solid. They have gotten everything you could expect from Barry Zito. Jonathon Sanchez struggled, but he did throw a No-Hitter on Friday. Also their bullpen is one of the best in baseball. Brian Wilson may be a high-wire act in the ninth, he will usually lock down the win.

And while the pitching staff has dominated, the lineup has finally started to come through. Pablo Sandoval has emerged as a star and give Nate Schierholtz some time and he will become a top flight right fielder. This team can compete with anyone, and they will make the playoffs this season. Mark it down.

The Good: You have to give it up to the Boston Red Sox. This team does everything the right way. They built this team through home grown talent(Pedroia, Youkilis), trades(Beckett, Bay), and free agency(J.D. Drew). And through these moves the Red Sox have become the best team in baseball.

They do everything well. They pitch, hit, and field all real well. They do the little things well, which a lot of teams can't do. I can go on about how good this team is, but this column is already running long.

The Bad: The Cleveland Indians went from the ALCS two years ago, to one of the worst teams in baseball. They started their own little fire sale last year with the trade of C.C. Sabathia. Then they continued the fire sale by trading Mark DeRosa. And there has been rumors the Indians are looking to deal, Victor Martinez, Cliff Lee, Carl Pavano and Travis Hafner. And can someone please explain to me why Eric Wedge hasn't been fired yet?

Mid-Season Awards: Since everyone else is handing out mid-season awards, then why not me?

AL MVP, Ichiro: Seattle is in contention for the AL West right now because of Ichiro.

NL MVP, Albert Pujols: You can't even argue right now for someone else.

AL CY Young, Zach Greinke: Leads the AL in ERA and is in the top three in Strikeouts and wins.

NL CY Young, Tim Lincecum: He is proving that he isn't a one-year wonder. And yes I do have a man crush on Lincecum.