Baseball Beat: Wednesday, July 11th

Here is the rundown for the Wednesday, July 11th edition of Baseball Beat. Chuck Wilson was in for Charley Steiner today. All times eastern

1:05 p.m.
Guest: Rob Neyer, ESPN.com
1:25 p.m.
Guest: Joe Strauss, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Cardinals Beat)
1:45 p.m
Guest: Neil Best, Newsday
2:05 p.m.
Guest: Dan Brown, San Jose Mercury News
2:25 p.m.
Guest: Art Theil, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
2:45 p.m.
Guest: David Vincent, Author, Home Run: The Definitive History of Baseball's Ultimate Weapon

Guest Summaries:
Neyer debated LaRussa's decision to keep Pujols benched during the All-Star Game, the relevance of the All-Star game in baseball today, and also an outlook into the second half of the season. Strauss discussed the relationship between Pujols and La Russa, and touched on how that is a bit strained now with the All-Star game decisions. Overall, Strauss feels Pujols is embarrassed to not be used in front of his peers and only time will tell if he will carry his anger into the second half of the season. Best touched upon the coverage of the All-Star Game media coverage, ESPN being punished by MLB for breaking the embargo on All-Star Game participant announcements, and how coverage of the game is getting more complex with exclusivity, advertising, and MLB/vendor partnerships clouding independent reporting and judgement. Brown discussed Ichiro's inside-the-park home run at the All-Star Game and Pujols' not getting in the game. He also discussed Ichro's future in Seattle given his MVP performance last night and his overall impressions of the All-Star game as a whole. Theil discussed Ichiro's pending deal to stay in Seattle, whether there is a correlation between Ichiro's resigning and Hargrove's resignation, and the resiliency of the Seattle to compete so far this season. Vincent talked about his impressions of the home run derby this year and how he feels they need to shorten either the length and/or the number of participants.