NEW YORK -- The Weekend All-Star Buzz while you were counting all those Chicago Cubs headed to Yankee Stadium. ...

Owners of their league's best record and puppeteers of fragile hearts all over the United States, the Cubs shattered their franchise record by placing eight players on the NL All-Star team. And the Cubs will have a ninth man in uniform because manager Lou Piniella was added to Clint Hurdle's staff as a coach, replacing fired Mets skipper Willie Randolph. Apparently, the Cubbie batboys had previous commitments.

Anyway, there is:

1. Cool Japanese outfielder (Kosuke Fukudome);
2. The slugging rookie catcher (Geovany Soto);
3. The ace pitcher (Carlos Zambrano);
4. The closer-turned-starter (Ryan Dempster);
5. The steady third baseman (Aramis Ramirez);
6. The injured slugger Alfonso Soriano (whose broken hand will prevent him from playing);
7. And set-up man Carlos Marmol.

Kerry Wood's return from multiple injuries is a feel-good story. (US Presswire)

Closer Kerry Wood, whose brushes with the surgeon's scalpel should have ended his career years ago, who successfully navigated a mid-career job change, whose presence at Yankee Stadium with 24 saves is as inspiring as any story here.

And whose blister serves as a gentle reminder that, even now, in this game, you're never completely in the clear.

Wood is planning to attend anyway, soak in the pageantry of it all, but the blister, which began developing on his right index finger about three weeks ago, will keep him from pitching in the game.

Doggone. His season has been so inspiring, I had yet been able to take the guy up on an invitation he offered earlier this season. We were sitting at his locker in the Cubs clubhouse discussing his conversion from starting to closing, and the man who can be crusty at times was as loose as I'd ever seen him.

It sure seems like he's enjoying himself in this reincarnation.

"Yeah, I like it," he said. "It's the greatest feeling in the world when you save a game for the team. And it's the worst feeling in the world walking off the mound after you blow one."

He smiled.

"It's feast or famine in this gig," he continued. "Talk to me when things aren't going well."

Even with the blister, that opportunity has yet to arise. It's too bad that he won't be pitching Tuesday night, because he very much deserves it.

But blisters heal, and in the big picture, Wood has converted 24 of 29 save opportunities and fanned 55 hitters against only 13 walks in 44 2/3 innings. He has exceeded every expectation, lived up to nearly every hope.

He has moved from Kerry "Knock on" Wood each time out, with the Cubs praying his body wouldn't betray him again, to just another lights-out closer. Yes, it has been awhile since pitching coach Larry Rothschild lived and died with each pitch Wood delivered.

"When he came back last year, I definitely did," Rothschild said. "Now, less so because you see him functioning as a real good closer. Last year, yes. You just wanted him to get through every day healthy. He worked so hard to come back. And he's such a good kid,"

He turned 31 last month, and his record-tying 20-strikeout game against Houston in 1998 now seems like eons ago. For that matter, so too does his run with Mark Prior in 2003, pitching the Cubs to within five outs of their first World Series appearance since 1945.

Prior's disappearance -- his attempted comeback in San Diego was aborted because of another injury this summer -- only further underscores Wood's success. Once a pitcher's shoulder and elbow begin to become undone, it is nearly impossible to undo the damage. The latest sad example of that is St. Louis' Mark Mulder, who started the 2004 All-Star Game for the AL but walked off a mound last week in pain -- again -- and toward an uncertain future.

For Wood to be able to survive the years of rehab is striking. For him to be able to emerge on the other side and thrive is remarkable.

"I'm enjoying every day," Wood said in our pre-blister conversation. "Honestly, I'm just enjoying being back in the game and competing at this level, and doing it successfully."

There seems a part of him that still misses starting but, as Rothschild said, Wood's medical dossier pretty much finalized the decision.

"I think a big part of it is, this is what he knows he has to do," the pitching coach said. "It's easier to accept. Career-wise, it's the right thing to do."

Said Wood: "I'm glad I've experienced both sides. Ultimately, I enjoyed being a starter. But that chapter's over now. And I'm opening a new one."

Rothschild thinks Wood's break-in period as a reliever last summer, when the Cubs used him as a set-up man in August and September upon his return from right shoulder tendinitis, was an important part of his latest growth.

"He got work in key situations last year, not closing, but he was able to learn how it works," Rothschild said.

His routine, of course, is totally different now. Much of it centers on his shoulder. Wood begins each day at the park with the exercises prescribed to keep his shoulder strong and, hopefully, healthy. He increases or decreases the exercises according to his pitching workload -- how many pitches he threw the night before, how many he has thrown during the past several days.

If the workload is extreme, he'll slow down on the exercises to not overtax the shoulder. If he has had a light pitching load, he'll boost the exercises.

He didn't seek out many other closers for advice before this season, because as he said, "I want to keep it simple. I want to keep my mind clear of any outside distractions."

Even though he was a starter then, Wood watched Rod Beck and Rick Aguilera when they closed for the Cubs back in the day, and he draws on what he observed from them if he feels he's lacking something. And he has Dempster, back in the rotation after a stint as a closer, as a teammate now.

That said, he knows there will be periods in which he blows more saves than he likes, and maybe then he'll need to seek out someone.

"There will be times I'll need to talk with people," he said. "I don't ever want to say the transition is over, because I think I'll always continue to learn each time I put the uniform on."

Shoot, as the blister heals, maybe he'll even learn a few things while he hangs out with the All-Stars here this week, chatting and joking and, sadly, watching.

The envelope, please

NL Team of the Half-Year: Chicago Cubs. See above.

AL Team of the Half-Year: Tampa Bay Rays. But, ugh, not exactly the way you want to end the first half, eh?

AL MVP: Josh Hamilton, Texas. If you were reading CBSSports.com during spring training, you would have read this quote from an AL scout: "I think Hamilton's got a chance to be maybe the best player in baseball. I mean, this guy is Mickey Mantle or something. You can't wait until he comes up to bat again, just to watch him. In batting practice, he hits to all fields, goes deep everywhere. He runs down balls in the field, he throws ... I don't know if there's anything he can't do. Everybody stops what they're doing and looks when he comes up. And everybody ends up making giggly sounds, like, Aw, geez! My goodness!"

NL MVP: Lance Berkman, Houston. In a season in which there are no clear-cut, well-rounded candidates, Berkman isn't missing any pitches, anywhere. His team stinks, yet Berkman is consistently fantastic.

AL Cy Young: Francisco Rodriguez, Angels. Bobby Thigpen (major league record 57 saves in 1990), take cover. K-Rod already has 37 saves and is a big part of the reason the Los Angeles Angels remain in first place despite working without starter John Lackey for the season's first six weeks and missing Kelvim Escobar all season.

NL Cy Young: Edinson Volquez, Cincinnati: Could have the NL Cy Young and the AL MVP included in the same trade last winter.

AL Rookie: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay. That Desperate Housewives chick is going to be answering whether she's related to Evan, rather than the other way around, the way the Rays third baseman has claimed the Longoria name.

NL Rookie: Geovany Soto, Cubs. First NL rookie to start an All-Star Game, and he deserves it.

AL Manager: Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay. But all eyes will be on the Rays coming out of the gate in the second half to see whether they can patch the leaks.

NL Manager: Fredi Gonzalez, Florida. How he has kept the Marlins in the race with that pitching and defense, he must have a magician's hat and cape tucked away in his locker.

NL Pleasant Surprise: St. Louis. And manager Tony La Russa is turning up the heat on the front office now that Milwaukee traded for CC Sabathia and the Cubs for Rich Harden.

AL Biggest Disappointment: Seattle. "Look, ma: $98 million payroll, and all I got was this Space Needle T-shirt and a lousy baseball team."

NL Biggest Disappointment: The NL West. The division is so underachieving you can't pick just one club.

AL Executive of the Half-Year: Andrew Friedman, Tampa Bay. The true Boy Wonder.

NL Executive of the Half-Year: Doug Melvin, Milwaukee; and Jim Hendry, Cubs (tie). Game on in the NL Central.