Sites and sounds from the baseball solstice

Ask any cynical, jaded ball scribe like myself, and they will tell you that today, the day of the All-Star Workout and Home Run Derby, is the longest, most draining day of the season. There are simply too many of us chasing too few nuggets of readable, informative news with too many restrictions placed up on that pursuit, and very few of us will walk out of Yankee Stadium tonight feeling like we had a successful day of doing what we do. But there is still some semblance of a baseball fan in almost every one of us, and the day when I can no longer appreciate being here is the day I will give this all up. There is something special about an All-Star Game and the days leading up to it, and having one at Yankee Stadium in its final season is truly an experience never to be forgotten. This place is old and outdated -- and its shiny, new replacement across the street is almost complete -- but it is still arguably the most famous, historic venue in the history of American sports. ... Nothing new on Takashi Saito and his MRI yet, but I'm hoping for word on that shortly. Josh Rawitch rode the subway up here with Ned, and said Ned hadn't heard anything at that point. ... Russell Martin is presently taking ground balls at shortstop during batting practice, just as he does frequently at Dodger Stadium.