NL Central

If the St. Louis Cardinals win their 11th World Series championship, it will be predicated upon the return to health and effectiveness of key members of the roster.

In my final look at predictions for the Cardinals' roster in the second half, we focus on those that missed valuable portions of the first half of the season.

At least one of these players must make a successful return if it is to be a Redbird October.

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While the Chicago Cubs fans are disappointed with the team performance so far this year, they finally have one thing to cheer about. CF Marlon Byrd, the Cubs’ only representative in this year’s Midsummer Classic, proved that he belonged to the All-Star team. 

Let's continue with summing up the wild first-half of the MLB season, by looking at the National League.

One thing is for sure, the NL is no longer “the other” league in baseball. The NL is providing plenty of drama and talent to compete with their AL counterparts.

I am now officially in love with Joey Votto...well, if he were a she. 

The main headline on the Yahoo splash page runs Votto through the ringer for not hugging and slapping the rear end of Marlon Byrd.

Says Votto, "I don't like the Cubs. And I'm not going to pat anybody with a Cubs uniform on the back. But because he made that really cool play, it turned out to be a really cool experience. I'm really glad we got the win today."

Yeah baby, that's the spirit! 

This article is part three of a series of articles looking at the Cubs' not-so-distant future. To read part three, which takes a look at the middle infielders and catchers, follow this link.

The Cubs have pitching.

The rotation of Ted Lilly, Ryan Dempster, Carlos Silva, Tom Gorzelanny, and Randy Wells has been good enough to post a FIP of 3.87 (fourth in MLB), an xFIP of 3.99 (second in MLB), and a total of 55 quality starts (second in MLB). And that's all without removing Carlos Zambrano's less-than-stellar outings from the bunch.

It took a full eight innings for the Phillies to even get a man on base, but they needed only four hits and one run to take their third straight game from the Cincinnati Reds, all of them coming in walk-off fashion.

Rookie pitcher Travis Wood took a perfect game into the ninth, but watched it evaporate as a fresh-off-the-DL Carlos Ruiz hit a leadoff double.

The Arizona Diamondbacks drafted Ross Ohlendorf in the fourth round of the 2004 MLB draft. The scouting report on him at that time was:

Body Type: Strong as an Ox, thick muscular build.

Delivery: Low 3/4 arm. slow easy high leg kick with good hip rotation. Loose for his size.

Pitches: 89-92 mph fastball with occasional hard sink and bore. Can reach for extra and does it easy.

Small tilt to occasional tight slider.

Deceptive change with sink.

Command: Has improved.

With the possible addition of Cliff Lee, baseball's top southpaw, the Yankees would have formed the most formidable rotation in baseball, and perhaps one of the best ever.

Sabathia. Lee. Pettitte. Hughes. Burnett.

Four of their five starting pitchers would be headed to Anaheim for this year's All-Star Game.

But what about the sixth man?

With the addition of Lee to the front of their rotation, someone would have to be moved out. That man is Javier Vazquez.

When the Cleveland Indians traded CC Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers back in the summer of 2008, the key player they received in the trade was 1B/OF prospect Matt LaPorta. LaPorta was a top-10 draft pick (No. 7 overall in 2007) and was one of the best prospects in all of baseball.

The Indians hoped LaPorta would blossom into their next young star, but it has been rough sledding for the former Florida Gator since the Sabathia trade. Through 87 games over the last two years, LaPorta hit just .236, with eight HR’s and a .299 OBP.

This was the year that the Pirates were supposed to climb out of the cellar. Which is to say that they were supposed to be better than at least one other team in the National League Central.

But after a decent start, that hasn't happened.

The Pirates do have a nice record (9-3) in the season series against the Chicago Cubs.

Under different circumstances, the Cubs might be in the cellar and the Pirates ahead of them. As was the case in 2006.