Gratuitous All-Star Game Observation

Doubling down on the National League:

So, the NL is due. Actually, no. The NL was “due” in 2002. But all it could muster was a tie in Milwaukee. And it has lost seven in a row since.

No more.

It ends at The Big A. And I’m not going to hide behind one of the easy arguments: It’s cyclical. … The NL will get lucky one of these years. … Yadier Molina, starting despite a .223 average, obviously saved his hits for Tuesday.

By saying that an NL triumph is bound to happen, you imply the AL’s 12-0-1 run was something of a fluke. It wasn’t. The AL has been the superior league since the mid-1990s – and, frankly, it still is.

But the NL will win Tuesday because of the same exercise that has decided ballgames since the 19th century.

Pitching.

“I’m not going to call any shots,” Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright said. “I just know we have a team that’s good enough to do it. No billboard material coming from my mouth.”

But?

“It would be nice to throw the AL a whuppin’.”

It would, indeed. And maybe Matt Capps gets that save after all.