Today, the lamest days of summer are about to end, namely the All Star break. These are the three days in July that might as well be December–two days of no baseball and one day with only an exhibition game. Two observations, to mark this haitus: 1) I know this is no news to anyone, but it is SUCH a long season. One example–remember in the spring all those stories about how Jeter would have to go on a nearly impossible tear to hit .300 and about how he couldn’t handle A-Rod being on the same team? Well, now Jeter has a higher average than Rodriquez and is hitting a respectable .277. 2) This is my current “if I were comissioner” idea–ban the first visit to the mound. A manager or coach should only be able to visit the mound to take a pitcher out–no visits just to tell a pitcher to “throw strikes” or to delay the game while someone warms up. These visits only gum up the flow of the game needlessly.