Yanks 10, Tribe 4

The Unit is, as many sportswriters have noticed, in a recognizable pattern: two or three good starts followed by a shelling. Now he moves into the All-Star break looking at six days of rest, until next Thursday.

Other thoughts:

1) When was the last time a former MVP had 26 homers (and counting) at the All-Star break and wasn't selected? Jason Giambi, I mean.

2) No Moose? Hello?

3) Ah, what's the point? The whole All-Star selection is a fiasco, from the distortion of having at least one player from each team represented (they should fill out a 30-man roster, then take the best player from every team left over, and have a 37-man roster if need be) to the emphasis on, Well, shortstop X is now batting Y more points than shortstop Z, when everyone who has watched baseball at all knows that Z is five times the player X will ever be. Look, Bill James had a point: it's the All-Star game, not the "Good players with great first halves" game. People want to tune in to see the stars--A-Rod, Papi, Pujols, Derek (both of them), Vlad, Torii--plus the emerging stars who seemingly have staying power: Papelbon, Howard, Cano, and so forth.

Pitchers are more up-and-down, and for that I'll grant more leeway. Otherwise, throw this process to the dogs.