MIAMI -- The Reds were bad on the bases, worse in the field and unlucky at the plate Sunday.Kind of sums up the season.Last-place Cincinnati staggered into the All-Star break with another woeful performance, losing to the Miami Marlins 7-3. The defeat completed a series sweep, the first endured by the Reds against the Marlins since 2003 and their first in Miami since 1996.Marlins All-Star center fielder Marcell Ozuna threw out Brandon Phillips on the bases for the second game in a row. Adeiny Hechavarria scored from second base on a passed ball, a Miami franchise first and one of two unearned runs allowed by Cincinnati.We were awful today defensively, Reds manager Bryan Price said.In Prices estimation, flyouts by Zack Cozart and Joey Votto would have cleared the fence in the Reds much cozier ballpark.We hit some balls hard, Price said. This ballpark plays a little differently than our park does.It wasnt too big for Giancarlo Stanton, whose 20th home run put Miami ahead to stay.Four Marlins relievers combined to allow two baserunners over the final five innings. Mike Dunn (1-1) pitched a perfect fifth to break the franchise record for career pitching appearances with his 369th.Rookie Cody Reed (0-4) allowed three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings to remain winless in five career starts.I just made that one bad pitch -- to Stanton, Reed said. The guy is getting paid 300-something-million to hit home runs; he does that from time to time.Reds starters have an ERA of 5.86 this month. Miami improved to 15-6 against left-handers.Thanks to three consecutive wins over Cincinnati, the Marlins (47-41) have their best record at the All-Star break since 1997.Sloppy fielding hurt Cincinnati in the second inning, when Miami scored twice. Miguel Rojas doubled and took advantage of All-Star right fielder Jay Bruces poor throw to score on a single by Hechavarria, who took second on the play.A pitch by Reed then caromed off catcher Tucker Barnharts shin guard, and when the ball rolled behind the first-base coaching box, first baseman Votto was slow to react, giving Hechavarria time to score easily.Miami also scored on a passed ball in Saturdays win.The Reds first five batters reached on hits in the fourth, but they scored only twice because Phillips was thrown out by Ozuna trying to score from second on a single with none out.Price credited Ozuna with a perfect throw, but added, You dont want to make the first out of the inning at home plate. Theres no doubt about that.Cincinnati also allowed catcher J.T. Realmuto to steal second and third in the sixth inning. The first steal came despite a pitchout, and the second came without a throw.Phillips hit a two-run double despite a hairline fracture in his left hand suffered Friday. Bruce singled home the Reds first run in the first.SUZUKI UPDATEMarlins pinch-hitter Ichiro Suzuki crumpled to the dirt when hit on the left knee by a pitch from Raisel Iglesias in the seventh inning, but he stayed in the game. He needs 10 hits for 3,000.REVERSALSUmpire Mike Estabrook twice called Marlins out on plays at first base, and both rulings were quickly overturned by replay reviews. The second reversal gave Miguel Rojas an infield single, and he later scored on Realmutos two-out single in the sixth.TRAINERS ROOMReds: RHP Homer Bailey (elbow surgery), who made a rehab start Thursday at Triple-A Louisville, is expected to pitch again July 15 and July 20 before potentially returning to the Reds, manager Bryan Price said.UP NEXTAfter the break, the Reds return home to face the Milwaukee Brewers for a weekend series that begins Friday. The Reds plan to start, in order, Anthony DeSclafani, John Lamb and Dan Straily. Brandon Finnegan and Reed are scheduled to start the first two games of the following series against Atlanta. Cheap Air Max 720 . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. Cheap Air Max 720 Australia . -- New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis is retiring after a 16-year career to become the goalie coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy. http://www.cheapaustraliaairmax720.com/ . "Theyve both been real good," said Babcock. "Havent changed our minds." A decision has seemingly been made - Sundays Group B-deciding tilt against Finland ahead - but it could not have been an easy one. Price opened the tournament with a sturdy 19-save performance against the Norwegians, yielding just one goal. Wholesale Air Max 720 . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. Air Max 720 Sale . Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre.Each week, TSN Baseball Analyst Steve Phillips breaks down all the big stories and issues around Major League Baseball on TSN.ca. In this edition, he looks at Brett Lawries possible move to second base, whether or not JP Arencibia deserves to be the Blue Jays whipping boy and how the Dodgers should deal with baseball sensation Yasiel Puig. 1) The Toronto Blue Jays are considering having Brett Lawrie play second base when he comes off the DL. Where should he play in order for the Jays to field their best lineup? I cant stand when organizations continuously jockey players around from position to position assuming that it is no big deal. Here is how the conversations go: "Oh, just move him to second base from catcher. Craig Biggio did it." Then its, "Lets try to move him to third base now. His bat profiles as more of a third baseman." Then when it works and you get, "Wow, he looks pretty good at third base. He has excellent range. That range would really help us up the middle. Lets move him back to second base." When a player has versatility it is a blessing and a curse at times. Its a blessing because it allows a GM the ability to construct his team any number of different ways. This allows the manager to adapt and adjust to the ups and downs of a season - not only where injuries are at play, but also where underperformance may be hurting the team. The curse of versatility is that the player never feels stability and doesnt form an identity for what he is as a player. A change of position, especially in season can disrupt a players rhythm and confidence. It can force a player to focus so much on defence that his offence could suffer. Also, too many changes in a role can make a player or team think theres no plan in place and that the GM is flying by the seat of his pants. With all that being said, I like the move of Brett Lawrie to second base. The blessing is that the move allows Alex Anthopoulos to put his best defensive team on the field with Maicer Izturis or Mark DeRosa at third and Lawrie and Jose Reyes up the middle. Defensive improvement is a critical factor if the Jays are going to make a run in the second half. And Reyes and Lawrie could be dynamic up the middle for a long time. The range would be much improved up the middle than if Izturis or DeRosa play second. And Emelio Bonifacio has been less than stellar defensively at second base and is much better suited to be a super-sub. Consider that the Blue Jays second basemen have had twice as many chances (471) as the Jays third basemen (235) through the first 91 games of the season. The move also allows for the possibility of playing Edwin Encarnacion at third base and Adam Lind at first, so this would allow some flexibility at the DH role. And there will be more of a third base trade market at the deadline than with second. Guys like Mark Reynolds, Chase Headley, Placido Polanco, Martin Prado, Aramis Ramirez and Michael Young may be available to play third. The curse is the fear that moving Brett Lawrie back to second base could disrupt his batting. Disrupt what? Do you mean he might hit less than .209 if he moves to second base? I actually think for a struggling hitter like Lawrie (who is what I call a tryer), this move can help his hitting. When Lawrie struggles at the plate, he grips the bat tighter and tells himself he has to get a hit. He over-tries - when a hitter struggles at the plate he doesnt need to try harder he needs to relax more. The distraction of playing another position will actually cause less obsession about hitting for the over-tryer. I know because I was the same over-tryer as a hitter when I played. For the most part, I like the move because Lawrie seems energized by it. He recently tweeted, "Loved playin some 2 bag last night, feel comfortable every time out there, brings me back to my first 2 seasons over there #Deuces." If it makes the kid feel good about himself, takes away the obsession of hitting and creates roster flexibility, then its hard to find anything wrong with the move. Go for it! 2) JP Arencibia got into it with local media last week. They have been critical of his approach at the plate and his handling of the pitching staff. Does he deserve to be the teams whipping boy as John Gibbons called it? We all love to play the blame game. When something goes wrong we want to find the one person who is at fault and assign blame. Its fun. Its what fans do and its what the media does. Its easy. Its even easier when we can find one guy who is struggling in multiple areas. Theres rarely only one person to blame when something goes wrong in baseball. Its a team game - you win as a team and you lose as a team and I truly believe that. Whenever the pitchers struggle and perform below expectations, we start pointing fingers. Its the pitchers fault, the pitching coachs fault, the catchers fault or the GMs fault. That leaves out the possibility that the manager may not be managing them properly or the fielders behind the pitchers may not be catching the ball. Theres a lot of blame to pass around. Ultimately, when any one component of the team is struggling there are always multiple factors as to why and any number of people who assume responsibility. Make no mistake about it, JP Arencibia is responsible for the struggles of the starting pitchers. But only partially - he needs to own it. Hes also responsible for the success of the ALs second best bullpen. But only partially - hes allowed to own that too. The fact is that Arencibia strikes out too much and hes not a functional major league hitter with a .256 OBP with 13 BB and 95 strikeouts in 295 AB. But he also has 15 home runs, so he needs to own his strengths and shortcomings offensively too. Now Arencibia has become the target of a former pitcher in Dirk Hayhurst and a former catcher in Gregg Zaun. As ballplayers, we tend to point fingers at everyone before ourselves. Pitchers have a tendency of pointing fingers at the catcher and a former catcher can always find something wrong that a current catcher is doing. Even the best ones. This broadcast team automatically has a predisposition to overanalyze the catcher just because of their own respective experiences. Arencibias response to the criticism is understandable. Who likes to get ripped publicly? I sure dont, but its the nature of the beast. The criticism of him was not personal, but he made it personal in return. Thats a mistake. This is a war that JP cant win. The media always has the last word or the last tweet. Always. Why cant Arencibia just say, "Yes I feel responsible for the struggles of my starting staff. I know we are better than what we have performed. I am going to continue to work hard on getting the most out of each guy. I hope I can have the same success with our starters as I am having with the most worked and most successful bullpen in baseball." Then add, "As far as my offense goes I feel proud of the power production so far but that is not good enough. I know I need to make more contact and be more selective at the plate. I am going to continue to work on that." One thing Ive learned is that if I acknowledge my shortcomings, people move closer to me - not further away. When I acknowledge areas I need to improve, those analyzing me can relate to their own experience better. JP Arencibia doesnt deserve to be the whipping boy for anything. No one does. But if he isnt careful, hell find himself run out of towwn because hes picking a fight he has no chance of winning.dddddddddddd. 3.) ESPN is reporting that MLB will seek to suspend Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun for 100 games each, the punishment for a second offence, even though neither player has been suspended for PEDs before. Should MLB be allowed to do this - essentially punishing the players twice for the same alleged offence? Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun both have well-documented ties to PEDs in the past. Rodriguez gave the interview to Peter Gammons in which he confessed to using drugs for a limited and contained time frame after a Sports Illustrated story that he was one of the 104 players that tested positive for drugs in 2003. He admitted that he took performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers during a three-year period beginning in 2001. Ryan Braun became the first major league player to have a positive drug test overturned when an arbitration panel ruled in his favour on appeal and decided against a 50-game suspension. He got off on a technicality and didnt challenge the validity of the test result. He questioned the process of how his sample was handled. Despite avoiding the suspension, he still tested positive for PEDs. Both Braun and Rodriguez have made claims since that they are clean. Major League Baseball is considering 100-game bans for these two as is typical for second offenses under the Joint Drug Policy. The Commissioners Office sees receiving performance-enhancing drugs from Bosch and by lying about it as two offences. And I think this is a fair and appropriate penalty under the policy. It doesnt matter that there are no positive drug tests. The drug policy which the players agreed to calls for suspensions for a nonanalytical positive. Braves outfielder Jordan Schafer was the first nonanalytical positive which led to a suspension when he was tied to HGH in 2008. He hadnt failed a drug test, but was connected to the drug by anecdotal evidence. Guilt by association. Players have to be held accountable to tell the truth to the Commissioners investigators. If they lie, they should be punished. Even if the additional 50-game suspension for lying gets overturned under appeal, its worth the Commissioners Office pursuing the penalty. Its time for the Major League Baseball Players Association to be held accountable for their defence of cheating and lying players. So let the Union stand up and declare that even though the players lied, they shouldnt be penalized. Effectively let them defend that lying is okay - I would love to hear that argument! FAIR or FOUL Yasiel Puig, a Cuban defector with only 63 games of minor league experience has burst on the Major League baseball scene. He has taken over L.A. and is reminding Dodger fans of the days of Fernandomani, Nomomania and Mannymania. Hes a Dodger phenom that seems bigger than life. In just 35 games, hes hitting .394 with eight home runs and 19 RBI while scoring 27 runs. He has 56 hits in those 35 games. When he was called up, the Dodgers were 23-32 and have since gone 22-13. Hes completely turned their season around. Now not only has he electrified Dodger fans, he has captured the imagination of baseball fans everywhere. His jerseys are already the 10th highest number sold this year and hes only been a big leaguer for a little over a month. There have been more Puig jerseys sold than (Triple Crown winner) Miguel Cabrera jerseys. Weve debated the merits of his being an All-Star. Believe it or not, he received 842,915 write-in votes on All-Star ballots. He was a candidate for the NL Final Vote, but finished second. And hes as popular a player as baseball has right now. Yet it hasnt been a completely smooth transition to the major leagues for Puig. Just about a week after his call-up, Puig was hit with a pitch in a game versus Arizona that saw two bench-clearing incidents resulting in eight suspensions. Puig was an aggressor in the skirmishes and fined for his role, but he wasnt suspended, something that angered D-Backs players and others around the league as it seemed he received preferential treatment. In another instance, Puig was thrown out easily at the plate in a game against the Diamondbacks but he collided with catcher Miguel Montero and then stared him down as he walked back to the dugout. In yet another incident with the Diamondbacks, Puig was approached during batting practice by former Arizona star Luis Gonzalez. Gonzalez starting to talk to Puig about the start of the youngsters major league career and how he, like Puig, has family roots in Cuba. And Puig didnt give Gonzalez the time of day. It took Dodger hitting coach Mark McGuire to confront the young slugger and point out the disrespect he was showing. ESPNs Pedro Gomez reported that Puigs interpreter has gotten into trouble this season for trying to get womens phone numbers for the slugger. That is a clear sign of entitlement and misguided priorities. With the kind of success that Puig has had come significant media attention. Everybody wants to talk to him for a story of some sort. Puig is extremely uncomfortable with the media; full of distrust and disdain. He refuses talk to the media before games and is hard to pin down after games. Puig seems completely ill-prepared to handle the instant fame that his performance warrants. "In Cuba, there wasnt much press," he said. "Here, I have a lot of press on me and its not something I really like. Maybe they dont understand the situation Im in. Im not bad, I just dont like the press and I dont like the fame. Im having fun and I want my team to get the attention. There are a lot of guys in the bullpen or in the dugout waiting for their turn to talk. Its not that I dont want to give an interview, I just dont want all the press all over me." Unfortunately for Puig, the more reluctant he is to give interviews, the more aggressive the media will become. As exciting as Yasiel Puig has been, the Dodgers have a crisis on their hands. If theres this much turmoil in such a short time on the field it makes you wonder whats happening off the field. In late April he was charged with speeding, reckless driving and driving without proof of insurance in Chattanooga, TN where the Dodgers Double-A team is located. The Dodgers must immediately put together a plan to help develop this young man socially, mentally and emotionally. He needs to learn how to be a professional and everything that it entails. His physical ability is much more advanced than his personal development. The Dodgers need to reign in his ego while not putting a bushel over his bright light. His sense of entitlement needs to be confronted and contained. He must be held accountable for his words and actions. He needs to learn to respect the game and the people in it. Puig needs to learn whom to trust and whom not to trust. The Dodgers also need to educate him on the media. They must control his access to the media - making him available before and after the games for every game. He needs structure. He needs a mentor. He needs it on the field and off the field. He needs it quickly. Yasiel Puig has been the story of the year in baseball. He has distracted us from the Biogenesis drug scandal and given us a new superstar for whom to cheer. But if he doesnt get the help he needs, his career will explode on the back end as much as it has exploded on the front end. Steve Phillips was general manager of the New York Mets from 1997 through 2003, helping lead the club to a National League championship in 2000 and its first World Series appearance in 14 years. ' ' '