Like the title says, let's doing some chatting during the All-Star Game tonight.  It's a good time to reflect on the first half of the season, compare expectations of the second half, and see how the best pitchers in the game choose to attack the best hitters in the game.

If you've done any pitch f/x analysis on last night's Home Run Derby or Celebrity Softball Game, you can post that here, too.

Lastly, during the ASG tonight I'm going to be involved in an SBN blogger chat via BlackBerry (and sponsored by Blackberry). BB sent me a Curve to use and I've been having fun fiddling around with the thing (it's my first smart phone). The transcript of the chat will be posted here tomorrow, chalked full of interesting stuff from some of SBN's best bloggers outside of DRB:

Eric Stephen - True Blue LA
Adam Morris - Lone Star Ball
Jeff Sullivan - Lookout Landing
Will McDonald - Royals Review
Eric Simon - Amazin' Avenue

I'm looking for some feedback -- would it be more helpful to have these pop up first thing in the morning so they can be better used as #btbdaily link dumps?  Then people can start rolling in to comment on the games as they start?

Here are today's matchups, courtesy of ESPN.  Some games were already played this afternoon, but a bunch more are just starting  For developing storylines and links to team-specific game threads at SBNation blogs, keep an eye on SBNation's MLB page.

Twitter Widget:

Here's your open thread for today.  It's sort of an amalgamation of a few things:

• A link dump integrated with twitter.  To share a link simply tweet it and include the hashtag #btbdaily. (Re-tweets are not included, fyi.)
• An open game thread for discussing today's games.  The schedule is listed below.
• A catch-all thread. Something else on your mind that the BtB community would be interested in?  Share away.

Here are today's matchups, courtesy of ESPN.  Pretty full schedule for a Monday, although the White Sox - Tigers game has been postponed.  For developing storylines and links to team-specific game threads at SBNation blogs, keep an eye on SBNation's MLB page.

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(The first BtB Newsletter went out today.  Have you subscribed yet?)

Here's your open thread for today.  It's sort of an amalgamation of a few things:

• A link dump integrated with twitter.  To share a link simply tweet it and include the hashtag #btbdaily. (Re-tweets are not included, fyi.)
• An open game thread for discussing today's games.  The schedule is listed below.
• A catch-all thread. Something else on your mind that the BtB community would be interested in?  Share away.

Here are today's matchups, courtesy of ESPN.  It's a light schedule, but with some afternoon games and some aces.  For developing storylines and links to team-specific game threads at SBNation blogs, keep an eye on SBNation's MLB page.

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The game's on ESPN, so unless you're like me and only have MLB.tv (without cable), nearly everyone should be able to watch this game.

Don't forget, we've got the BtB Daily Twitter widget working down below.  Anything you tweet with the hashtag #btbdaily will show up there (not re-tweets, however.)  Use it for sharing links from around the web that we'd all be interested in checking out.  Or use it to make Satchel robot jokes.  Hopefully more of the former.

The Yankees, who have already lost 2-0 today, send Phil Hughes to the mound, who is finally living up to expectations with a 2.77 FIP so far in 2010 (3.86 xFIP) and a ZiPS rest-of-season projected 3.60 FIP.

Detroit's Jeremy Bonderman has been nearly as good, with a 3.50 FIP (4.01 xFIP), even though his ERA is an ugly 5.74.  Part of the explanation is a .333 BABIP, although he's been known as one of those guys who can't seem to post a league-average BABIP.

Game on.

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Here's your open thread for today.  It's sort of an amalgamation of a few things:

• A link dump integrated with twitter.  To share a link simply tweet it and include the hashtag #btbdaily. (Re-tweets are not included, fyi.)
• An open game thread for discussing today's games.  The schedule is listed below.
• A catch-all thread. Something else on your mind that the BtB community would be interested in?  Share away.

Here are today's matchups, courtesy of ESPN.  For developing storylines and links to team-specific game threads at SBNation blogs, keep an eye on SBNation's MLB page.

Continue reading this post »

There's a lot of baseball played each day and a lot to talk about.  This open thread is for chatting about anything that pops up today in the world of baseball.

Today's matchups are below, courtesy of ESPN.  For developing storylines and links to game threads at SBNation blogs, keep an eye on SBNation's MLB page.

Which games you be watching?

Also, feel free to contribute to the discussion via twitter, by adding the #btbdaily hashtag to your tweets.  They'll show up in the widget below.  (Note that re-tweets won't show up.)

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In case you missed it, Steve's preview showed the Red Sox with a slight series advantage over the Yankees.  So much for that.

To avoid the sweep, Boston sends Jon Lester to the mound against AJ Burnett.  Both starters have been stingy with the long ball so far this year, but while Burnett's both striking out and walking fewer batters, Lester's seen his walk rate climb to pre-2008 levels.

For those who are watching the game tonight, feel free to talk about it in the comments.  Or re-hash Dallas Braden's grandmother's addition to the Alex Rodriguez saga.  Or chat about baseball.

Plus, we're going to try something new.  After the jump you'll find a Twitter widget that pulls in anything with a #btbdaily hashtag.  Feel free to contribute to it by adding #btbdaily to anything you re-tweet or post fresh.

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