All-Star Break Wire Taps: How the homer is killing baseball; Max Scherzer’s ASG experience

Good morning. There’s no baseball today, nor is there any tomorrow. While we’re normally anti-break, enjoy the next two days — it’ll be the least stressed you’ll be about this ballclub until some point in the fall.

Here’s the news from Nationals Park:

Strasburg brings sinker back with powerful results (MASN)
Stephen Strasburg brought back the two-seamer for the first time in years for 2019, dropping use of his four-seam and moving things all around the plate, making him even tougher to handle.

Home runs are slowly killing baseball, and something needs to be done (WaPo)
“The elephant in the room is: Yes, the ball is different,” Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer said. “. . . That needs to be addressed from MLB’s side — and what they plan to do about it, and how they foresee the future of the baseball and its role in the home run.”

Max Scherzer's daughter steals show on MLB All-Star red carpet (NBCSW)
Brooklyn Scherzer SNATCHED the red carpet on Tuesday and had no intention of giving it back. (Her baseball dress was also *super* cool.)

The Worst All-Stars Since 2002 (FiveThirtyEight)
Matt Capps was pretty mediocre in 2010, especially given his tendency to give up hit after hit. Then again, he did get the win in the 2010 game, so who really knows if any of this matters.

MLB: 10 Things We Learned in the First Half of 2019 (Baseball Essential)
Despite all the calls for him to be fired, Davey Martinez seems to have hit on something in Washington, keeping everyone on board with a team that has fantastic chemistry on and off the field.

Max Scherzer All-Star Game 2019 (MLB.com)
It was far from Scherzer's first time at this rodeo — but it was the first time he went to the All-Star Game without his wife and with one of his daughters. Oddly enough, he's one of the old guys in the room now.