This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on May 6, 2005.

By Nick Tavares

August 15 seems like a long time ago.

On August 15, 2004, Bronson Arroyo gave up three runs on six hits and wound up on the losing end of a 5-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

His record fell to 5-9, and he hasn't lost since.

Save for the fact that he started the 19-8 loss in Game — of last year's ALCS, and Arroyo has been at worst solid, and at his best a staff savior.

Among pitchers who don't have a brace on their foot, Arroyo has easily been the most dependable on the Sox this season.

Yesterday, Arroyo went eight strong against a Detroit team that hasn't made it easy on Boston. He flirted with a no-hitter until a mistake led to a solo home run to Carlos Guillen, then pitched his way through the seventh and a jam in the eighth to put his team in position to win -- just what he seems to do every time out lately.

And, now that we're in early May and the ballots are out, why not talk about this guy going back to Detroit in July as an All-Star?

So far, he's 4-0, and if we figure that he stays on this pace, with a couple of losses and no decisions tossed in, he could be 10-2 by the time teams are selected. Which is pretty incredible, considering that he was only supposed to be in the rotation until Wade Miller came back.

Well, Miller comes back on Sunday. I'm not making decisions for the Sox, but with their current rotation situation, I'm guessing Arroyo won't be pitching in long relief anytime soon.

Arroyo, along with Tim Wakefield, has been a good teammate since coming to Boston from Pawtucket two years ago. He's gone to the bullpen when asked, started in a pinch when needed, and through it all has been nothing but dependable.

You'd have to go back to about July 2004 to find the last time Arroyo was really rocked -- and I swear, that's not a cheap shot on his "music" career. Honest.

But every year, there seems to be a somewhat random, but always deserved, selection to the All-Star squad. Last year, Cleveland's Jake Westbrook got the nod. In 2003 it was Philadelphia's Randy Wolf. Even Erik Hanson got the nod once, in the middle of a 15-win season in 1995.

With no other pitcher on Boston's roster really making an impact, and with Terry Francona picking the reserves that fans and players don't, the odds seem to be in Arroyo's favor.

His becoming Boston's only pitcher in the All-Star game wouldn't even seem that out of place this season.

It's an interesting time in baseball. The Yankees are fighting to stay out of last place in the AL East, Barry Bonds has become baseball's J.D. Salinger, Jon Garland could win the Cy Young and Milwaukee or Washington could feasibly win the Wild Card.

So, Arroyo winding up 10-2 by the end of June with a spot in the American League bullpen wouldn't even be the strangest outcome of a strange first half.

Make the season a little more interesting. Make Arroyo an All-Star.

If he keeps it up, that is.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. E-mail him at ntavares@s-t.com.

This story appeared on Page C1 of The Standard-Times on May 6, 2005.