Even though I got tired of the Home Run Derby in about 2001, I'll probably still be watching it tonight. I'm going with Carlos Pena tonight. He's just so damn strong that I don't see him losing. Of course, I'm almost always wrong about the HRD, so if you're betting, I'd shift all your money away from him.

Dark horse: Brandon Inge. I have a feeling about him, probably because he sort of looks like a blonde Vulcan.

To some the Home Run Derby is nothing more than a glorified batting practice, well those people can shove it. Tonight is the night fans of the long ball sit back and awe as our modern-day replacements for the Gods of ancient Greece perform almost superhuman feats of athleticism.

Tonight's derby will feature (HRs):

Nelson Cruz, Texas (22)
Prince Fielder, Milwaukee (22)
Ryan Howard, Philadelphia (22)
Albert Pujols, St. Louis (32)
Carlos Pena, Tampa Bay (24)
Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego (24)
Joe Mauer, Minnesota (15)
Brandon Inge, Detroit (21)

While Fielder and Howard have experience, including a win for Howard in 2006, I believe tonight's HRD will come down to an epic hitting match up between Pujols and Pena.

The reason I think this, is due to Albert being at home, in his ballpark and with the way he's been swinging this season, it's going to create a perfect storm for Mr. Pujols. Now the second part of this prediction may be a biased pick, but Pena has a natural home run swing. I expect him to do well in this contest.

Obligatory All-Star Predictions:

Pena over Pujols in HRD

AL continues its dominance over the NL 8-6.

Enjoy All-Star Weekend everyone.

One of my favorite blogs on the Internet is Faith and Fear in Flushing, subtitled by the authors as "the blog for Mets fans who like to read." That description fits me perfectly, and I think that the title fits fandom perfectly. Definitely for the Mets, probably for all of baseball, and maybe even for all of sports. Everything about being a fan is a balance between faith and fear, hope and despair -- with a lot more of the latter than the former, most years.

That goes for this year for me. I'm a Mets fan, but this year has been almost as painful for me as it has been for the Mets. They've lost a lot and been injured even more, and though ESPN doesn't seem to want people to know, the first fact has a lot to do with the second one. Without Oliver Perez and John Maine, their rotation has been shaky. Without J.J. Putz and Billy Wagner (again), their bullpen hasn't been what it should be. And quite frankly, without Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran, their lineup has sucked. And that's made this year pretty hard to watch. Typically I keep a close watch on every game, but a lot of my faith has been replaced by fear, and I've slacked off. Regular readers will note that I haven't written much lately, mostly because I haven't had a lot to say because quite honestly, I've stopped watching sports because they just hurt.

But weird things sometimes can seem like the light at the end of the tunnel.

Earlier this week, the Mets traded Ryan Church to the Braves for Jeff Francoeur. On paper, this looks like a mostly irrelevant trade. Francoeur is a bit better in terms of HR/RBI and arm strength, he stays on the field significantly better than Church, and he's younger. However, Church has a better eye, and better BA/OBP/OPS. In a discussion of the trade elsewhere, Nate said Francoeur is "terrible" and called Church one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball; I have seen Church misplay too many balls in Citi Field to agree, but I have always liked him. My point: this isn't exactly the Johan Santana trade. Neither team is fleecing the other one, and neither team is getting a particularly good player.

But for some reason, it gives me some hope.

Obviously the chances of this trade failing to help the Mets are good. Francoeur has been a factor in both of the games he's played for the Mets, which were both wins, but that obviously is a very small sample size and assures nothing. But with the addition of a new player comes renewal of hope, and of faith. He may fail, but he could also shine. He's 25, and in 2006 and 2007 was a very good player. He may not have reached his ceiling yet as a player (where Church almost definitely has), and it's possible that he could help start to turn the Mets around.

I felt the same thing on Wednesday when Oliver Perez made his first start in the major leagues since May, and today when I read that Reyes and Delgado are both moving forward in their rehabilitation. It's possible that Perez will suck, just like he did in April. It's possible that Reyes won't play again this year, and that Delgado will have to retire. But it's also possible that Perez will be more like he was in 2004 or 2007. It's possible that the injured masses will return to New York, and that the team will recover.

Francoeur will almost definitely not be as good for the Mets as I hope he is. But at the very least, his acquisition shows that the Mets still have a general manager, and that he's trying to do something to make this team stop being so bad at baseball. A decent player was traded for another decent player, and it's possible that nothing will come of it. But it's also possible that something big will come of it, and it's that possibility that gives me hope. There's hope in change, and with that hope comes the faith that the team I love still has a chance. And though it may be irrational, that's what sports are all about -- irrational feelings.

So welcome to Queens, Jeff. If you succeed, you'll be fulfilling my faith in the Mets. But if you don't, it's not that big of a deal. You can't possibly make things worse than they already were.

Alright readers. Are you ready to have your minds blown? If not, get ready, because it's going to happen. We're rolling out a couple of big announcements today.

1. We're going to be starting a weekly podcast soon. We're aiming to have it out some time near the MLB trade deadline. Odds are it will be out AFTER the deadline, so we'll probably discuss some of the trades made in the first episode. We'll keep you posted on when it will roll out.

2. Speaking of the MLB trade deadline, we'll be liveblogging it. July 31st at 8:00 PM. Be here.

Is your mind blown?

It started with a roar: BALCO, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.

Then it was a groan: Roger Clemens and the Mitchell Report.

Down to a whisper: Alex Rodriguez and "the list."

And now, it's completely dead: Manny Ramirez.

Am I talking about the steroids era in baseball? Of course not. I'm talking about the era of the fans caring which players took performance enhancing drugs.

As you've heard by now, Manny Ramirez was cheered on the day of his return to Major League Baseball. Sportswriters ran wild! Some were upset, others were furious, others thought it was an abomination, but all agreed: cheering for a cheater is an endorsement of cheating itself.

As for the fans? Well, they promptly told the sportswriters where to shove it and continued cheering for Manny Ramirez.

What do I think?

It's about freakin' time.

Let's stop lying to ourselves. It's called the steroids era for a reason. To feign shock at this point when a player gets caught or admits to steroid use is just ignorant. Pitchers juiced, hitters juiced. Even utility players juiced. It's an unfortunate blemish on the game, but maybe we should stop burning people in effigy every time they get caught, accept that it happened and move on?

It's a nice juxtaposition that Manny Ramirez would be the one to bring in the fan apathy era. Often criticized for being apathetic himself - of not caring about his team, the fans, whatever - Manny Ramirez returns from a 50 game exile to find that the fans are apathetic about his actions.

It's perfect.