Z leaves too; other thoughts

• OK, in my last post, I said that I hope my next post about the Cavaliers would be about the players we do have, rather than the ones we don't. Then Zydrunas Ilgauskas signed a contract with the dreaded Miami Heat — the same team that managed to land a somewhat more prominent ex-Cavalier. Z has long been one of my favorite players, and I'll miss him, but I don't begrudge him the chance to go gunning for a title in Miami. His situation is totally different from that of his teammate (whom I've chosen not to name in this post, for my own childish, petty reasons). If Miami does win a title next year, Z's presence on the roster will be the only saving grace, for me.

• The Cavaliers signed erstwhile Houston Rockets guard Kyle Lowry to an offer sheet yesterday. Under the NBA's labyrinthine salary-cap rules, the Rockets have a week to match the offer, if they so choose, because Lowry is a restricted free agent. Lowry is a tough defender who averaged 9.1 points and 4.5 assists in 21 minutes a game last year. ... Is he a high-impact guy? Heck, no. Let's hope this isn't the only move the Cavs make this offseason.

• Last night, the National League won its first All-Star Game since 1996, thanks to a three-run double by the Braves' Brian McCann — who's on my fantasy team, but I don't get any credit for that hit, which I think is BS. If the All-Star Game counts for something (home field advantage in the World Series), I think the stats should count in fantasy leagues. I'm dead serious about that.

• As I predicted, the Indians' lone All-Star, Fausto Carmona, did not get into the game. He wouldn't have gotten in unless the game went to 15 innings or so. But I hope he had a good time watching it from the bullpen.

• Overshadowing the All-Star Game, of course, was the death of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, 1930-2010. Steinbrenner was born on the Fourth of July in Rocky River, the son of a world-class hurdler. Long before he bought the Yankees, he revitalized the dying Kinsman Marine Transit Company and parlayed that into a majority share in the American Shipbuilding Company, in which he made enough money to buy the Yankees for $8.8 million in 1973. Never mind what the Yankees have done on the field since then — that was a remarkably sound investment. The team is now worth an estimated $1.5 billion, with a B. That's a 17,000% return on his initial investment. Steinbrenner owned the one team in American sports that I hate the most, but I've never held that against him. In fact, I kind of liked the old poop. The good news is, now that he and Billy Martin are reunited in the afterlife, he can hire and fire Martin again.

Another AL win

Some thoughts I accumulated during the All-Star festivities in St. Louis:

• This was a pretty decent All-Star Game. It looked like it could turn into a slugfest early, but pitching and defense carried the day, as only two runs were scored over the last seven innings. Carl Crawford made the play of the game in the seventh, robbing Brad Hawpe of a home run, and Adam "Not Pac-Man" Jones got the game-winning RBI on a sacrifice fly after Heath Bell intentionally walked our very own Victor Martinez to pitch to Jones.

• The decision to walk Martinez may seem like a poor one, given that Victor's been ice-cold the last few weeks. But that was more or less irrelevant to the situation, as there was one out and the score was tied with a runner on third. They were just trying to set up the double play.

• The National League still has not won an All-Star Game since 1996. Naturally, you want to know why, and I have some theories. First of all, as Tim McCarver pointed out when President Obama asked him, the AL has the DH, which means more hitters available to pull from when filling out a 33-man All-Star roster. Second, the AL is just plain better than the NL these days, as evidenced by our league's domination in interleague play. Third, and I think most importantly, the NL has two more teams than the AL, which coupled with the requirement that every team must have a representative, means the NL has more mandatory spots to fill on its roster every year. The AL manager has his hands tied a little bit less by being able to select two more "at-large" players. As further evidence that this is a factor, I would point to the fact that the NL dominated All-Star play in the '70s and '80s, when the AL had 14 teams and the NL had 12.

• All that said, I don't think the AL is really this much better. The NL could easily have won this game with a couple of bounces going different ways, and in fact could have won several others over the past 13 years. Each of the last four has been a one-run game. Part of it is just plain luck.

• This is not a political blog, and I don't mean to express a political opinion of the president. But I will say that I'm getting a little bit tired of seeing him on SportsCenter, and I really don't give a rat's petoot which baseball team he roots for or what jacket his wife thinks he looks cute in.

• I always get a kick out of seeing my old friend and Cleveland native Chris Rose on TV. I haven't spoken to him since he became a star, but we were classmates at Miami University, and I always figured he'd do great things with his life. I didn't expect him to be hosting a sports talk show on national cable or being on the field at the All-Star Game, though. Good for you, Chris. (I'm sure he's a regular reader.)

• I always find the home run derby entertaining, and this was a particularly good one, with the battle that emerged between Nelson Cruz and eventual champion Prince Fielder. But it's never as much fun to watch as an actual game. What I'd really like to see is an inside-the-park home run derby. I'd like to see Prince Fielder win that!