My apologies for not writing anything related to the All Star Game this year. I try, but I never can work up too much excitement about an exhibition game. I'm happy that the American League has continued its recent dominance over the Nationals, but I'm way happier that the real season has started again.

The Chron asks if the Astros, who became only the the fifth team in the last 40 years to reach .500 by the All-Star break after being 15 games under .500, can duplicate last season's magic. They're a much better team now that Lance Berkman is healthy again, and they're only 4.5 games out of the Wild Card, so for sure there's some hope. For what it's worth, the boyos at the Baseball Prospectus have a regularly updated page listing each teams' odds of making the playoffs, based on a million simulations. It pegs the Astros' chances at a bit better than 11%, which may not sound like much, but is surely better odds than you've have gotten six weeks ago. There's only one way to find out for sure, though, so - Play ball!