Matt Kemp

Kemp’s productivity had diminished since May 5th, and a trip to the DL is probably the best thing for him. However, the injury will bring an end to his 399 consecutive games played streak — the longest amongst active players.

Kemp has been the main source of offense for Los Angeles so far this season, ranking in the top five in the National League in batting average (.359), home runs (12) and RBI’s (28).

The league decided as many as four years ago to have the game played at Citi Field, however due to planning complications it was delayed until now.

The actual All-Star Game will be hosted on a Tuesday night, with the Futures Game (Sunday), and the Home Run Derby (Monday) preceding it.

This year’s game will take place in Kansas City, Mo. on Tuesday, July 10th.

Rivera injured himself in Kansas City on May 3rd while catching fly balls in the outfield during his pregame warm-ups. Robertson had appeared in two save situations since Rivera went down, recording one saves and blowing the other opportunity.

Robertson reportedly experienced soreness after a two-out, six-pitch non-save outing against Tampa Bay last Friday. He will not be allowed to pick up a baseball for 7-10 days, likely meaning he’ll be out of action longer than fifteen days. Rafael Soriano will now step into the closer role for the Bronx Bombers, a role not unfamiliar to him; he was a dominant closer for the Rays in 2010, leading the American League in saves with 45.

Given that Chicago had won 50 games without having the services of point guard Derrick Rose for a good chunk of the season, many felt that this was the year for the Bulls to avenge last season’s loss to the Heat and make their first NBA Finals since 1998.

But the tables turned in a huge way when Rose tore an ACL, and now the Heat are the odds-on favorite to win the Eastern Conference and try to win their first title since 2006.

Here’s a look at the Eastern Conference semifinals, which get underway Saturday night at 8:00 P.M. Eastern, when the Boston Celtics host the Philadelphia 76ers.

(2) Miami Heat vs. (3) Indiana Pacers

In Year 2 of the Big Three Era in South Beach, the defending conference champion Heat

dispatched the shorthanded Knicks in five games, while the Pacers also took five games to knock out an Orlando team that was missing center Dwight Howard, who underwent season-ending back surgery on April 20th.

This matchup should be a study in contrasts, as top-heavy Miami will face off against a balanced Indiana squad.

With 7’2″ center Roy Hibbert, Indiana has the capability to bother Miami on the interior — even though Hibbert isn’t in his class, just look at how Tyson Chandler disrupted the Heat in last year’s Finals. Power forward David West, who averaged 15.8 points per game against Orlando, also figures to be an inside presence.

If Indiana’s strength in this series will be their interior play, their disadvantage will be on the wings. Shooting guard Paul George and small forward Danny Granger, while good young players, are not the perennial all-stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are.

However, with an above average guard tandem of George Hill and Darren Collison — who combined to average 23.0 points per game against the Magic — the Pacers hold an advantage over Miami, which has the solid-but-unspectacular Mario Chalmers running the point. Chalmers averaged 11.4 points against the Knicks, and a similar contribution against the Pacers could go a long way.

In the end, the combination of Wade and James, along with some timely bench play from Shane Battier and Mike Miller, will carry the day for the Heat, sending Miami through to the conference finals for the second straight season. Prediction: Miami in 6.

(4) Boston Celtics vs. (8) Philadelphia 76ers

For just the fifth time in history — but the second time in as many seasons — a #8 toppled a #1 seed, as the Sixers pushed past the injury-ravaged Bulls, who were compromised by Rose and center Joakim Noah (sprained ankle) missing the majority of the series. Rose missed the final five games of the series, while Noah missed the fourth quarter of Game 3 and the final three games.

Meanwhile, the Celtics stole home-court advantage with a vintage Paul Pierce effort (36 points, 14 rebounds) in a Game 2 victory in Atlanta, and then held serve from there. Even though they’re an aging group (Pierce is 34, Garnett 35, and Allen 36), and went through some tough offensive times earlier this season, the Celtics still have three of the game’s all-time greats in Pierce, Kevin Garnett (who averaged 18.7 points and 10.5 rebounds against the Hawks), and Ray Allen, who, despite his bum ankle, provided some scoring pop off the bench (11.0 points per game against Atlanta).

On the other end of the age spectrum, Rajon Rondo continued his superb season by averaging 16.7 and 11.8 assists per game against Atlanta, and valuable reserve Brandon Bass chipped in with 9.0 points per game.

It’s difficult to project how the Sixers will hang with the Celtics, as they were barely able to scrape by a Chicago team hamstrung by injuries. The Sixers shot  just 40.7% from the field (24.7% from three-point range) and averaged 86 points. They won games by the scores of 79-74, 89-82, 79-78, barely outlasting the compromised Bulls, and may

In the end, it’s the veterans Pierce, Garnett, and Allen in a showdown with the Miami Heat in the conference finals. Prediction: Celtics in 6.

Only 16 hitters in MLB history have smacked four homers in one game, with the most recent player being Carlos Delgado on September 25th, 2003, when he was on the Toronto Blue Jays. All of Hamilton’s round-trippers were two-run shots, and he also slugged a double in his fifth at-bat.

Hamilton also set an American league record with 18 total bases in the game and tied a Major League record for extra base hits (five). His teammate, Elvis Andrus, was on base for all four homers.

Tonight only adds to Hamilton’s stellar start to the 2012 season, as he has 12 homers and 36 RBI’s on the year, while batting .406.

The New York Yankees officially announced that Andy Pettitte, who retired after the 2010 season only to unretire on March 16th, will make his 2012 debut on Sunday afternoon against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium.

Pettitte has made five minor-league starts so far, as he attempts to pitch himself back into shape. He is 0-2 with a 3.71 ERA, allowing 19 hits and striking out 13 against just three walks in 17 innings.

The Yankees are hoping that Pettitte can return to his 2010 form, when he went 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA, though he missed two months with a groin injury. Yankees pitching is in some flux – they demoted Freddy Garcia to the bullpen, are seeing Phil Hughes (2-4, 6.67 ERA) struggle, and lost closer Mariano Rivera to an ACL and meniscal tears with apparent unspecified complications. Rafael Soriano and David Robertson are picking up the slack in the set-up and closer roles.

The Mariners are planning to spoil Pettitte’s welcome home party on Sunday. They traditionally fare well at Yankee stadium and the baseball world will be watching with interest.

Harper would subsequently come around to score by stealing home, beating the throw from Laynce Nix after Hamels attempted to pick Jayson Werth off first base.

After the game, Hamels made a startling statement — he was trying to hit Harper all along, in an attempt to “welcome him” to the big leagues. His rationale was, ”That’s something I grew up watching, that’s kind of what happened. So I’m just trying to continue the old baseball because I think some people are kind of getting away from it. I remember when I was a rookie the strike zone was really, really small and you didn’t say anything because that’s the way baseball is.”

Hamels also said, “I was trying to hit him. I’m not going to deny it. I’m not trying to injure the guy. They’re probably not going to like me for it, but I’m not going to say I wasn’t trying to do it. I think they understood the message, and they threw it right back. That’s the way, and I respect it.”

When Hamels says the Nationals “threw it right back,” he was likely referring to what happened in the third inning, when Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann drilled Hamels in the leg, prompting home-plate umpire Andy Fletcher to warn both teams.

Major League Baseball responded to Hamels’ statement by suspending him for five games, which means he won’t be able to pitch again until Sunday. This suspension — which was not appealed by Hamels, and also carried an undisclosed fine — won’t even affect the Phillies, as the team can bump Roy Halladay up a day from Sunday to Saturday and then slot Hamels behind him, keeping the rest of the rotation in order.

Hamels’ admission was unusual, in the sense that had he said nothing about the hit-by-pitch, it’s possible nobody would have made much of it — after all, he hit Harper in the back, rather than going headhunting. But it’s clear that Hamels wanted to make a statement. Was it the right one?

What do you think?

I say that because the Tigers are in town tonight to open a three-game series. Item one in the Detroit memory bank is the Mariners coming to the Motor City and taking the Tigers apart April 24-26 in a three-game sweep, outscoring them 21-9. How good a stretch was it for the Mariners as they opened a long 10-game road trip? The Mariners hit .322 with four homers compared to the Tigers’ .232 and four homers. The M’s also had the better ERA — 2.99 compared with the Tigers’ 7.00.  There were a number of Mariners’ hitting stars in that series: Ichiro 6-for-14, two RBI, while Dustin Ackley, Jesus Montero and Alex Liddi all went 5-for-14 with three RBI. Michael Saunders was 4-for-12 with four RBI.

An aside: Sadly, after winning the first game in the next series in Toronto, the Mariners went on to lose the next seven; five games in that stretch were lost by only one or two runs. Hey, it’s a very young team still trying to find its way! There is a lot of talent still developing on a very public stage.

Item two is Doug Fister, the former Mariner righthander who starts tonight against Blake Beavan. Fister was a gamer here in Seattle. He rarely had adequate run support, but he took the ball every time he was asked and was always a max-effort guy. He’ll have to control his emotions tonight going against his old pals.

Beavan, who has until recently done so well on the mound, is looking to re-establish command of his fast ball. It got away from him last Wednesday in a loss at Tampa Bay.

To beat the Tigers, who’ll throw Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander on Tuesday, the Mariners will need Kyle Seager to continue his hot hitting. Seager torched Minnesota in the weekend series, going 4-for-11 with three runs scored, six RBI and a home run. He is for real and will only get better.

Item three: playing well in this series could give the Mariners good momentum as they head into another 10-game road trip that will take them to New York, Boston, Cleveland and Colorado.

Thanks schedule maker.

We’ll soon get an even better idea of what kind of chins the Mariners have for the long run.

Pujols suffered through the worst homerless drought of his career — after signing a monster 10 year, $240 million contract — going an astounding 110 at-bats without hitting the ball out of the park.

In fact, Pujols’ productivity was so low that he began to hear boos from the home crowd — a first in what has so far been a flawless career. The first baseman, who is known for hitting for average as well as power, has managed to hit only .196 in 2012, despite a career average of .326.

The Angels were among a small group of preseason favorites to win the American League, and possibly even go on to win the World Series. However, they currently hold a 12-17 record and are currently in the basement of the AL West Division. Pujols’ success goes hand-in-hand with the that of his team. The Los Angeles Angels need the Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals to make his way to Anaheim.

Do you think that Pujols will break through and wind up with respectable numbers to justify his contract?