Scott Carson

Stats man Scott Carson is now in his 18th season as "third man in the booth" during Blue Jays telecasts.

Aaron Hill.

A year after winning Silver Sluggers, Aaron Hill and Adam Lind are among the league's worst hitters.

I'm afraid that for the Toronto Blue Jays the All-Star break can't arrive quick enough. Since they were booted out of the Rogers Centre so that the thugs could run amok in the streets, things have gotten ugly. The Jays have won just twice in their last ten games, lost their ace Shaun Marcum to an inflamed elbow and saw their bats grow shockingly cold with no end in sight. Now, with six games remaining until the break, the Twins and Red Sox - both playoff contenders - arrive at the Rogers Centre to close out the first half of the season.

For Adam Lind and Aaron Hill, this means that the end of their nightmarish first half is almost at hand. Who could have predicted just how far the two Silver Sluggers would fall in such a short amount of time? Both were coming off a 2009 season in which they were the Blue Jays offensive engine, which was perfectly timed because Vernon Wells was saddled with season-long injuries that left him mostly ineffective. Lind and Hill combined last season to hit .295 with 83 doubles, 71 home runs and 222 RBI. In my 18 seasons in the booth, I can't remember a pair of Blue Jays teammates enjoying a coming out season at the same time.

But a funny thing happened to these two en route to superstardom: adjustments were made by opposing pitchers and their inabilities to re-adjust have caused the two of them to remain in lock-step, this time for the negative. Hill last saw the 'Mendoza' Line (.200) way back on May 9th. He has taken a couple of runs at it of late, only to be saddled with a 0-for-4 to fall back. Lind's descent has taken a different route. He was hitting above .300 in the third week but has plummeted since to where he's hitting .205 entering Tuesday night's action against the Twins. In fact, since April 19th, Lind's .179 batting average is the lowest in the Majors among everyday players, while Hill's .191 is third-worst. This is the biggest head-scratcher of the Blue Jays' uneven first half, even more than the team's sudden ability to hit home runs at will.

I will say this: it's not as if the two are not working hard to get out their extended funks. Both can be seen long before the gates to the ballpark open, taking early/extra batting practice, hoping that finally something will click in again and everything will be right as rain. Do I think it will happen? Maybe, especially knowing that a hot stretch could get them going, like we've all seen with other hitters in the past.

Or perhaps just getting away from the game for four days over the All-Star break will prove to be the right tonic. Sunday night can't come quick enough for these two.

THIS IS WHAT THE FUSS WAS ABOUT

Kyle Drabek, the centrepiece of the Blue Jays trading of Roy Halladay to the Phillies in the off-season, threw a no-hitter for New Hampshire (AA) on Sunday to even his record at 8-8 and lower his shrinking ERA to 3.20 in 17 starts. It appears that he's ready to take the next step to Triple-A. But that may not be best for his long-term development. Perhaps he continues to dominate at Double-A and then be given a shot to make the Major League rotation next spring.

Now before y'all break off your fingernails typing your comments in the space provided below, wondering why he shouldn't be promoted to AAA right now, hear me out. I haven't heard many good things about Las Vegas, the ballpark, nor the Pacific Coast League as a breeding ground for top prospects. Plus throw in the fact that the temptations the city provides 24/7 and that Drabek has had some off-field issues which included brushes with the law. Those events are now described as a kid "just being stupid" before he was drafted by the Phillies in 2007. So why not keep him away from Vegas, where the nightlife can bring down even the strongest young men. The question you may then ask is why not bring him all the way to the Blue Jays? There's no reason to. Fourth is where they'll finish and why not keep things positive for their top pitching prospect with an eye on him debuting in 2011. Makes perfect sense to me.

VOTE FOR VOTTO

Every year when the All-Star teams are revealed, there are some glaring omissions. This year is no different, but a wrong can still be righted. For whatever reason, Braves utility infielder Omar Infante - not even an everyday player on his own team and certainly nowhere to be seen on any statistical leaderboard - was named as a National League reserve while Reds first baseman Joey Votto is forced onto MLB's 'Final Vote' ballot to make an appearance in Anaheim next Tuesday.

Now, as I've written many times in the past, I'm no fan of the whole All-Star roster naming procedure and certainly not of the winner of this exhibition game getting home field advantage in the World Series. But to include Infante on the roster - and I've still not heard or read anyone tell us a compelling reason why - is a travesty. Toronto-born Votto leads the National League in home runs (21), tied for fourth in RBI (59) and third in batting average (.318). Meanwhile, Infante has only nine extra-base hits and 22 RBI. Hello? What am I missing here?

Well, it's your democratic right to have your say and to right this wrong. So I ask all baseball fans - Canadian-born or not - to go to MLB.com, click on the All-Star Game Final Vote link and vote for Votto. It would be the proper thing to do.