In the collective trash heap that thus far is the 2010 Cincinnati Reds bullpen, one man stands tall and proud.

Seeing big number 53 jog in from the bullpen, the rare bird in Major League Baseball who was born in the 1960s and is still playing, is a comforting sign for Reds fans.  

Some men bust out of that bullpen gate and get to the pitchers mound like their pants are on fire. Rhodes has a slow, methodical gait, and with his age, one might think he is blazing the trail of a tired man, perhaps too worn out to do the job.

New York Yankees brought out their brooms in the Bronx, as they swept the Houston Astros over the weekend.

The Yankees were without Arod, but you wouldn’t know it by the way the team beat-on the Astros.

The Yankees are back in first place after beating the Astros 9-5 yesterday behind a strong performance by Phil Hughes and another Jorge Posada grand slam.

Here are some notes:

Gregerson is having an All World year for the Padres.

I was watching the New York Mets-San Diego Padres series last week, and in two games of that series, Padres’ manager Bud Black summoned Luke Gregerson out of the bullpen. In those two appearances, Gregerson faced six Met batters and struck them all out.

He went through them like a hot knife through butter.

I thought to myself, "Wow, Gregerson is having himself a pretty good year."

Are you a Phillies or Dodgers fan who wants to ensure that your team will have the home field advantage if they make the World Series? Do you want to see the National League get revenge at the Midsummer Classic after going home empty-handed 13 years in a row? Are you a sadistic sociopath who likes messing with people for the pure schadenfreude?

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you might want to reconsider how you fill out your All-Star ballot.

If you truly want to see the best players in baseball duke it out on July 13, then by all means vote for the superstars.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a great farm team, with the likes of Jose Tabata, Neil Walker, Brad Lincoln, and Pedro Alvarez. As recently as early last year, that even included Andrew McCutchen. Not to mention, Garret Jones.

Now, with the exception of Alvarez, they've been called-up to fill some fairly big holes. Alvarez's arrival is anticipated as soon as he's ready

McCutchen replaced Nate McLouth, who was traded for pitching talent, and Jones was supposedly the "new Nady."

In today's day and age, Twitter has allowed baseball fans all across the country and all over the world to follow their favorite Major Leaguer every step of the way.

The legends of the game never had this opportunity to be followed by thousands of their die-hard fans, leaving only our imaginations to decipher what the game's greats would have tweeted after a monumental moment in their baseball careers had taken place.

Can you imagine what Babe Ruth's reaction would've been after being sold to the New York Yankees in 1920?

For some teams, a relationship with the fans can be strictly based on winning games.

Other teams are more defined by the character of the team.

Very good teams maintain a balance between these two aspects, creating an organized team that may come across as very likable.

Raise your hand if you predicted that Armando Galarraga would pitch a perfect game. As much as I have liked the kid over the last year, nothing in his resume said he was able to dominate a game, much less throw a perfecto. He’s a decent play against weak teams and will likely have a rotation slot for a while, but don’t think for a minute that he’ll ever come close to that kind of dominant performance again.

Baseball at Progressive Field all of a sudden got a lot more exciting over the last week.

The Indians had a four-game set against the Boston Red Sox, winning two of those games, Carlos Santana was called up, and now Stephen Strasburg will be toeing the mound to the delight of baseball fans everywhere.

Once it was announced that Strasburg would be starting, tickets for today's game started selling like crazy. The good part of that equation is there will be a much fuller house today than has been the norm at Progressive Field this year.