Tough finish to the first half for the Sox, as they drop 3 of 4 to the Orioles down at Camden Yards. I always love the All-Star Game, though. I won't be able to stay up for the entire game, but I should be able to make it through a couple of innings.

I was watching the A's-White Sox game on INHD this afternoon. INHD is a cable channel that shows only HD stuff and they run MLB games a few times a week. They don't have their own announcers, so they use the home teams staff.

The thing that astounds me is how many team's announcers refer to the team as "we"; as in "We've lost 2 of our last 3." That's really taboo here in Boston. Even an obvious homer like Joe Castiglione never refers to the Red Sox as "we". Not even Boston's greatest homer play-by-play guy, the late, great Johnny Most of the Celtics ever did. So it's a bit jarring to hear these guys do it.