When the season started, there were certain players we had high hopes for and certain players we had our doubts about. Since we’re at the All Star Break, we thought we’d take a little time to look at some key players and how they met, failed to meet or exceeded our lofty expectations. Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments, so the trusty elves who monitor our comments section will be sure to kick your lame ass out for disagreeing. Now let us begin this process, shall we?

Ricky Nolasco

Before the season: Not gonna lie. While everyone was pretty high on Nolasco coming off an amazing season last year, I wasn’t sold. How many times have you watched a pitcher deal something fierce one year and never ever do it again? That’s the kinda guy I thought Nolasco would be. Maybe a serviceable pitcher, at best, but definitely not the ace of the squad. At least not with Josh Johnson healthy.

@ the All Star Break: There are few things that piss me off more than admitting I was wrong… so I won’t. Actually, I haven’t been totally wrong. I haven’t been totally right either, though.

To begin the season, it would be an understatement to say that Ricky NoNo was awful. In fact, he was something so much worse than awful that Dontrelle Willis was calling to offer pointers.

It’s pretty rare when your rotation’s ace is so godawful that he’s shipped to the minors to figure things out. But figure things out, he did. And since returning from AAA New Orleans, he’s been absolutely lights out; a 4-1 record with a 1.54 ERA and a 45:7 K:BB ratio.

With such a bi-polar first half of the season, there really is no telling, just yet, if he can keep it up. Should he continue to pitch like this into late September, though, I’ll be the first to eat my proverbial hat and proclaim myself the biggest jackass in the blogosphere.