SnakeBytes, 7/13: The Empire Strikes Bats Edition

Today's title comes to you courtesy of Darth Vader, suggested by emilylovesthedbacks, though it seemed to be even more fitting with today's news that George Steinbrenner has died.  No matter what you felt about Steinbrenner, you have to admit he's been a major, influential presence in the game for over three decades.  He'll be missed. 

But come on.  Upstaging the All Star Game with his death?  Classic Steinbrenner.  Geez.

Speaking of such, the All Star Game is played this evening, with the AL and NL teams facing off in Anaheim.  The National League will look for their first win since 1996- think back to what you were doing back then.  Myself, I had just turned old enough to drive then, and now I'm a cranky old man.  But I guess I'm just a cranky prodigy.

Previews:

• [sportsillustrated.com] Young pitchers like David Price are key to All-Star Game - With the strong pitching this season, it's no surprise we might see more of an emphasis on the mound than on the bats.  Can Ubaldo Jimenez and Josh Johnson be enough to give the NL an edge?

• [tsn.ca] AL puts unbeaten streak on the line at Angel Stadium - Remember, this one counts. To two of the thirty teams contributing players. For the other twenty-eight, it's just an injury risk.

• [foxsports.com] Pitching will make this NL's year in All-Star Game - Last time the NL won an all star game, David Price, the AL's starter, was 10 years old.  From getting ready for fith grade to preparing to defend a long win streak

• [latimes.com] 2010 baseball All-Star game: Plenty of moving parts when it comes to managing in baseball's All-Star game - Wow, using a computer to simulate the results? That's certainly ground-breaking. Oh, wait, it's not 1995. Still, the LA Times also sees the AL streak coming to an end.

Head past the jump to read Chris Young's comments about the home run derby, what we'll need from the bullpen to merely be the second worst, and what Stephanie Meyers and Alex Rodriguez have in common.

DBacks News:

• [azcentral.com] Arizona Diamondbacks' Chris Young avoids 'goose egg' in Home Run Derby - "All my teammates at home were basically saying I better not come back with a goose egg.  So I got that first one and I was feeling pretty good about it."  Next time, Chris, feel free to tack on a few more.

• [FoxSportsArizona] Chris Young: A Star is Reborn - "I’ve never been a guy where I really let my pride get to me that much. It was a reality, and it was something that finally needed to happen," Young said of his 19-day stay in Reno, where he hit in 12 of 13 games. "My job at that time was to try to figure things out and to make the right adjustments, not just change swings to change swings. That’s pretty much what I did, and I carried it into the offseason." Also a video interview with Young.
  

• [dbacks.com] CY's Derby experience 'a blast' - It's true- I don't think any of us are worried about CY focusing too much on hitting homers and disrupting his swing during the derby.

• [FoxSportsArizona] Bright spots amid the gloom - The season hasn't all been bad.  Jim looks back over the first 89 games and reminds us of five points where it was pretty exciting to be a DBacks fan.

• [azcentral.com] Arizona Diamondbacks hope changes spur bullpen turnaround - So, if the bullpen can put up a second-half ERA of 5.60, we can avoid being the worst bullpen in the past 25 years. That's manageable, right? Right? Please?

• [FoxSportsArizona] A three-part interview with Daron and Gibby: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3
• [SeatGeek] Midseason Ticket Report – National League West Division - An analysis of the secondary markets for teams in the NL West. Would you believe D-backs tickets are more valuable than the Rockies and Padres?
• [Diamond(backs) in the Rough] DSL Diamondbacks - Zephon gives us a look at the Diamondbacks prospects in the Domincan Summer League. Wagner Mateo, of course, gets a mention, and there's a look at some of our pitching prospects, too.

Around Baseball:

• [sbnation.com] A More Bittersweet Refrain Than Back, Back, Back: Goodbye - If you watched the Home Run Derby last night, you probably saw the Ken Griffey Jr. tribute ad.  Not a bad way to honor the slugger.

• [variety.com] A-Rod goes from big leagues to bigscreen - Justin Timberlake, Jenna Elfman, and A-Rod? It's destined to be my most-avoided movie of the year!  It's hard to knock anything Twilight from that spot.

• [indemand.com] MLB Extra Innings preview July 15 to 21 - Free baseball, if you've got a provider that offers Extra Innings. I'm excited.

• [baseball-reference.com] 10 for 10: #9 Gamelogs, Box Scores and Splits Now for 1920 to Yesterday - Baseball-Reference.com now has complete game data going all the way back to 1920, so we'll be able to check records for the past ninety years...

• [SBNation.com] MLB Power Rankings: Taking This Chance To Reflect On Projections - Only the Orioles have underperformed pre-season projections more than the D-backs. Well, that's a shocker...

• [realgmbaseball.com] Braun, Tulowitzki Talk About Creating A Big Three Like LeBron - But, Tulo, one of you would have to be as good as LeBron.  (Spoiler: None of you are.)

And there's your links for today.  This evening, we can wait around to see CY play for an inning and maybe get an at-bat, while hoping for the NL to triumph over the AL and wondering, again, why exactly Omar Infante is anywhere near Anaheim right now.  Go DBacks National League!