Wednesday 7/11 | News, Notes, and Links

• Andrew McCutchen and Joel Hanrahan were a part of the winning team again last night as the National League all-stars beat down the American League by the score of 8-0. McCutchen was 1/2 with a sharp single to left, while Hanrahan came in with a runner on and one out in the ninth and struck out the only batter he faced (Billy Butler).
• I took an hour out of my day yesterday to write this post about if the Pirates 2012 success is sustainable. It's a long one, pace yourselves.
• Pittsburgh was the number two market in America in terms of Home Run Derby viewership on Monday night, right behind Kansas City. That just shows you how Pittsburgh has taken to their first place Bucs and their superstar center fielder.
• Indianapolis and Altoona are both on their all-star breaks, Bradenton and State College had scheduled off days, and West Virginia's game got suspended, so there's nothing to speak of in terms of baseball games from yesterday.
• It really doesn't seem like the Pirates have much of a chance of landing Justin Upton. He's simply going to require too much, especially with some injury concerns looming. Despite that, interest in Upton is said to be "huge". The more bidders, the higher the price is going to be, and the Pirates don't have a deep enough farm system to win a bidding war without getting ripped off.
• That should shift our attention almost fully to Carlos Quentin, who seems like a pretty good match for the Bucs. We've still got a couple weeks until things get really serious, but keep your eyes out for more news.
• The next two days are the only days of the year in which there are no games or events scheduled in any of the four major American sports. Normally there would be some games on Thursday, but this year everybody is off until Friday. Should be a boring couple days, but until then you can keep busy by learning the rules of cricket.