It's Darkest Just Before Dawn (Weather Permitting)

I eschewed posting this weekend for a little pre-All Star Break break.  The result?  Lower blood pressure and a certain Gatsby-esque blasé affect.

(Whispers, followed by murmuring.)

I guess I should have finished that book in high school.

On the baseball side, The Freak continues to be the only good thing about this team, singlehandedly deciding to stop the 6 game losing streak and ruining Ryan Dempster's perfect Wrigley season.  Now I just hope the little All-Star parlays his ambivalent attitude into sitting out the actual game.  Though it would be cool to see Timmy represent the Giants (the start's gone to Ben Sheets, presumably so Brandon Webb and Lincecum, who both pitched yesterday, can be gameday decisions) I have absolutely no interest in seeing the crown jewel of this turd crown get scuffed in an absolutely meaningless exhibition, pomp and circumstance be damned.

I would like to see fellow All-Star Brian Wilson get a chance to throw some darts at some of the anonymously evil ALers, however.

Other news of note:

~ Is Omar Vizquel going to retire during the break?  So speculates Troy Renck of the Denver Post.  Omar (currently sitting at .159), predictably, vehemently denies the report:

After the game, Vizquel categorically denied a Denver Post article that said he might retire during the All-Star break because he was embarrassed with his hitting.

"It's false," he said. "If I ever think about that, the Giants are going to be the first to know."

~ The Giants officially signed Dominican wunderkind Rafael Rodriguez on his 16th birthday this weekend.  You can find my take and some additional info on the kid known as "mini-Vlad" here.

With the All-Star break officially upon us, it will be interesting if Brian Sabean uses the time off to start working towards adding to his improving farm system by trading off his vets in the coming days.