Pretenders At The Break

The Pretenders at the break resemble Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Along the boardwalk, all glass and steel, sleek, shiny muscle. Two blocks inland, definitely threadbare, and definitely suspect. 

Five Pretenders made the All-Star team, more than the rest of the AL Central. Verlander, Cabrera and Valverde are among the best at their positions. Peralta and Avila have been two of baseball's most pleasant, unexpected surprises. 

Victor Martinez is having an All-Star season but didn't go to Phoenix. 

Then there's Brandon Inge, who blames his .184 batting average and shaky glove work on bad luck. No, it's all about not hitting the baseball, and not being able to do the right thing with it when it comes to you.

And there's Ryan Raburn who, in between bursts of glory, looks simply lost at the plate and in the field. 

At the corner outfield spots, Brennan Boesch has his moments, but in between, you're not sure. Andy Dirks, bless his good heart, glove, and bat, will never be more than a part-time player in the major leagues. 

Scherzer, Porcello, and Brad Penny look great, and then get whacked. 

Placido Polanco, Curtis Granderson, Matt Joyce, and Jair Jurrjens have something else in common, besides a place on the National League All-Star team. They once wore the Olde English "D." 

The Pretenders let Polanco walk and, to this day, no one knows why. They needed a shortstop read bad, and traded Jurrjens for a real bad shortstop, Edgar Renteria. Matt Joyce for Edwin Jackson looked good for a half season. Granderson in the three way deal that brought Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth; well, we don't know yet.

Put them back in that uniform; Polanco at either third or second, Jurrjens the #2 starter, Joyce and the Grandy Man in the outfield, and the mind starts to blur when what could / might have been is considered. 

Skipper Leyland and his coaches aren't signed past this season. Neither is The Miracle Worker.

Their team's track record of collapsing in the second half means, for these career baseball men, a most anxious next two and one-half months.