The reviews are in

Thumbs are up, way up for the play in San Diego, where most ardent predictors had the Swinging Friars finishing dead last in the NL west.

Well, maybe they had better rethink this choice, the Padres are getting better pitching than San Fran, and better offense when it counts than the Dodgers.

If they could just resist using those camouflage uniforms when the fleet's in the harbour.

Over in Washington DC, the Feds are up to their hips in pork barrels, but those Nats are surprising many in the NL East with their ability to come from behind and with different heroes each game. Thumbs are way up for them.

Thumb is down for Arod, I am sorry but yet again the world's most annoying playing does his best to piss in someone else's pot. I know baseball etiquette sounds pretty stupid, but the game is built on traditions, that's why it isn't football ! Arod runs over the pitcher's mound is like spitting on the guy's mother's grave, it is a sacred place, just jog around it.

Arod ( seen here ) hard at work....

Dallas Braden and his Grandma both got up in arms over Arod's dissing ( Geezus H , I hate saying " dissing " ) but the Braden clan is justified, so sorry Arod, my thumb is down for you.

My thumb is down to ESPN - Baseball Tonight.

I recently read that the talking heads over in ESPN created a montage of slow base running clips involving Bengie Molina, and to the point where it was way past good taste. Moina's mother , and the poor woman does not speak a word of English was asking Yadier M , what the announcer was saying about my Bengie ? I mean, they had to lie to her, but I think she figured it out herself. He of the 3 Molina's, and my God, the woman has given baseball 3 catchers, pretty damn good stock. Anyhow, there was no point making a youtube moment about Bengie, we all know he cannot run fast, but this guy has been a true pro in so many ways. Did we need the 3 Stooges mock video , can't we just report the news, not create our own ! So my thumb is down to ESPN, maybe Danny Schulman will try and repair some damage the next SF game he broadcasts.

Thumbs are both up for Vernon Wells of your Toronto Blue Jays. Take a good look at his performance this year, and Vernon ( who kept his mouth shut all last year when critics were rightly getting on 2009 numbers ) is at the top of almost every offensive category fot the Jays.

What to go Vernon ! tell em' to take a hike....

My thumb is also up for Ozzie Guillen, as he has the stones to call out Bud Light and why MLB is allowing the 2011 All Star Game to be played in Arizona. The game claims to be blind to politics, oh really, yet it placates the Senate, and Washington all the time. The newly minted Arizona immigration laws are blind to reality, and MLB should boycott Arizona, and threaten to move the game to , I don't know, how about Canada... sure we'll take it, we got screwed by the G8/20 Summitt and MLB moved the Phils/Jays series to Philly in late June, so MLB owes us one.

And of course my thumb is so far up for the weak kneed Jays and MLB for deciding a month before the games that the 25th-27th series from Toronto to Philly, any chance for the locals to see ex jay Doc Halladay is gone. If you have to deliver the bad news, why not do it once the schedule is made up, it's not like these G20 summits are thrown together like a backyard BBQ !

They take months to plan and plot and prepare, etc, so the fans here got screwed over.

Jeff Francouer of the Mets weighed in on this one, claiming that it is not fair that Philly gets 3 more home games. MLB says, the Jays will act as the home team, and to that I say Big Whup, the games are still in Pennsylvania not Ontario, and Jimmy Rollins will sleep in his own bed, and the Blue Jays will be in the downtown Marriott. Sounds trivial, but wait until the heat of a pennant race and someone points out those 3 wins the Phils got in late June when they are nursing a 2 game lead.