-- It was definitely one of the better All-Star games in recent memory. Jose Reyes lived up to his billing as one of the most exciting players in baseball, A-Rod was thrown out at home Scotty Ulger style, Ichiro hit the first inside the park home run of All-Star game history and the NL made things interesting in the ninth against two of the AL's best closers this year. And also, FOX made complete asses of themselves throughout coverage of the game. Example 1 - Example 2 - Example 3.

-- Justin Morneau failed to advance to the second round of the home run derby after losing the tie-breaker to Albert Pujols by a score of 2 home runs to 1. The Star Tribune managed to spin a positive sounding title out of the event with "Morneau lasts for a while."

-- A couple contracts were announced over the break (one still tentative). Ichiro is reportedly on the verge of agreeing to a 5 year, $100 million contract extension with the Mariners. Today Trafis Hafner and the Cleveland Indians agreed to a 4 year, $57 million contract. Of course, the Torii Hunter contract talks picked up steam again with the announcements. Hunter is not worth as much as Ichiro, especially with the Japanese fandom that Ichiro brings, but I think he's comparable to Hafner. It's tough to compare a DH with a a CF, especially when one is having a career year (Hunter) and the other is having somewhat of a down year (Hafner), but I'd put both in about the same ballpark in terms of value. So, is $14 to $15 million going to be what it takes? Could it be a couple million more? Most people seem convinced that Torii is a goner after this year. I have a little more hope that they can work something out and it seems I'm in a shrinking minority that thinks it'd be bad idea to trade Hunter before the deadline.

-- twinsguy on KFAN rube chat linked to some interesting numbers that show Jason Kubel second in baseball in well-hit average (hard-hit balls per at-bat). I'd say that's some pretty good company in the top 5.

-- The verdict is in: apparently injuries are to blame for the lackluster first half. Sure, they lost Joe Mauer for a month and Rondell White for eternity, but the Twins really haven't faired too poorly in the injury category. Jesse Crain is done for the year, but the bullpen has been far from the biggest problem on this team. Glen Perkins didn't even start the year for the team and he was hardly and integral part of the Twins' expected result. Maybe I'm the fool for expecting more than a press-release type article from MLB.com.

-- In contrast to the above mentioned story, Patrick Reusse whines about the Twins lack of success.

-- Speaking of Rondell White, the Twins will recall Garrett Jones to fill the void that was supposed to be filled by White after Carmen Cali was sent back to Rochester before the break. Jones will likely platoon at DH with Kubel getting most of the playing time in left.

-- The Twins' rotation coming out of the break will be:

1. Scott Baker
2. Johan Santana
3. Carlos Silva
4. Boof Bonser
5. Matt Garza

-- Things won't be easy as the Twins start the second half. They'll start out at home with a .500 Oakland A's club and then they'll host two first place teams, the Tigers and Angels.