More Thoughts on the State of the Game

No Yanks in the Playoffs

With the Yankees finished like a Thanksgiving turkey, the major networks have to be shaking in their boots. One can’t imagine that a series that pits the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim against the Tampa Bay Rays is going to draw great ratings (even if it is great baseball).The problem with the Yankees is that they only really have one player among all of their current…

Baseball Links Exchange

This week’s link exchange is for a blog entitled, Squawking Baseball: Wall Street Analysis of Major League Baseball’s Player Market. I have to admit that I don’t get to this site as often as I’d like and it’s not your average, run of the mill Baseball blog either. The subtitle is a clear sign to that fact. This site shows us more of the business side of the game we…

Brotherly Love and A New York State of Mind

Washington Nationals

With all of their injuries and a pitching staff that was in trouble before trading RP Jon Rauch, the Nationals find themselves at the bottom of the NL East once again and it is there they will be for years to come in my estimation. They also host the worst record in baseball. They need pitching and a quality player who can play over 100 games at 1B without getting…

Melvin Mora Does it Again!

For the second straight week, the Orioles 3B Melvin Mora is the best hitter over the past week. He scored 10 runs, stole 1 base, hit 4 HRs while knocking in 11 RBIs and hit for a .321 average and a .394 OBP.

In second, making a case for an MVP award while not being on a contender, Indian’s CF Grady Sizemore keeps hitting HRs (2) and is second in the AL, but what is…

The Instant Replay Insertion Into MLB

Now before I go on, please don’t get me wrong, I’m for Instant Replay for the right scenarios, but I am not sold that inserting it in the middle of a season is the best idea the Commissioner’s office ever came up with.

Using Instant Replay to aid in the proper calling of Home Runs dealing with fans touching the ball or hitting a foul pole or judging if it’s fair…

Baseball Links Exchange

This week’s pick is Sabernomics: Economic Thinking about Baseball. It’s a blog that combines Sabermetrics and the economic  side of baseball.  

The creator and author of this thinking man’s baseball blog is J.C. Bradbury. J.C. is an economist and associate professor at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta. He is the author of The Baseball Economist and has operated Sabernomics.com since March 2004.

For more about J.C. Bradbury, check out JC’s Homepage by…

It’s A 2 Team Race in the AL Central

Kansas City Royals

Unfortunately, they’re right where everyone thought they would be come August. Dead last in the AL Central. They have a solid closer, SP Zack Greinke has proved to be a solid starter as well and Jose Guillen has proved that he can still hit. Beyond that, the Royals have a very young team that needs to mature and couldn’t hurt to gain a few veterans along the way to help round things…

Olympic Baseball/Softball Beyond 2008

Last night (August 18^th, 2008), Bob Costas reported from the NBC studios in Beijing, the IOC’s (International Olympic Committee) reasoning behind the removal of the sports of Baseball and softball from future Olympics (a minimum of the 2012 games in London). Here is what he reported:

Baseball

According to Costas, the reason why baseball has been nixed is due to a lack of star power. Due to the interruption to the MLB…

Not Your Usual Suspects: MLB Week 20

Top 10 Hitters

Taking a commanding lead over this list is Oriole’s 3B Melvin Mora who knocked in 17 RBIs with 4 HRs while scoring 11 runs himself. He maintained a batting average of .583 with an OBP of .585 last week.

With the injury to Houston LF Carlos Lee, Astro’s 3B/2B/OF Ty Wigginton is picking up the early slack with 12 RBIs of his own from 4 HRs while scoring 10 runs with a batting average…

Baseball Links Exchange

This week’s exchange is for a fan of the Cleveland Indians and the SB Nation hosted blog, Let’s Go Tribe.

SportsBlogs Nation is a network of individual blog communities run by fans, for fans and united by a common devotion to their favorite team or sports.

By empowering fans to have a voice in the sports world, we are the largest independent sports blog network.

To find out more about SB Nation, click HERE.

The Tribe are…

Boston’s WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Telethon to Fight Cancer

WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon

Join me in raising the awareness to the wonderful work of The Jimmy Fund, the Boston Red Sox official charity for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Jimmy Fund was founded in 1948 and made popular by the generosity and support of the late great Red Sox LF Ted Williams.

To learn more about The Jimmy Fund, click HERE. The main page for The Jimmy Fund can be found HERE.

This…

Olympic Update: Beijing 8/13/2008

Team USA Softball

In Olympic Softball, Team USA wins 3-0 in another no-hitter, this time by pitcher Cat Osterman. Cat recorded 13 K’s while walking 3 batters in a complete game performance against the Australian team. This brings the women’s consecutive winning streak in the Olympics to 16 games. They play team Canada tomorrow. For more on this game, go to www.usasoftball.com or click HERE.

Team USA Baseball

On the men’s side, South Korea beat team…

Team USA: Softball (1-0)

Our girls in Beijing won in impressive fashion earlier today with an 11-0 no-hitter against the first year Olympic team of Venezuela. USA starting pitcher, 2004 Gold medalist and now mom, Jennie Finch pitched 4 innings of no-hit ball with 2 walks and then pitcher Monica Abbott closed the door in the 5^th without allowing a hit.

The team is currently on a 15-game Olympic winning streak dating back to the 2000 Olympics and set…

Last Week’s Top Hitters

It’s weeks like these that makes baseball so unpredictable. Who would have guessed that Texas Ranger OF Marlon Byrd would have made this list this year? His 10 runs scored and 2 HRs & SBs to go along with a batting average of .531 (OBP .583) put him on top of this week’s list.

At least someone on the Mariners has been hitting, OF Raul Ibanez hit 3 HRs while knocking in a whopping 15 RBIs…

Baseball Links Exchange

This week I am going to plug two blogs after missing this section last week. Both of these blogs come from the great supplier of blogs, the MVN Blogging Network. But this is a baseball blog, not a general sports blog; therefore, here is the link to MVN’s MLB page, click HERE. Both of these logs will be coming from the NL Central.

The Milwaukee Brewers are one of my picks to make…

What’s Brewing in the NL Central

Cubs

After the trades made by the Brewers, I thought they’d be closer than this, but it’s still early. The Cubs, as you can tell below, have a huge runs scored to runs allowed difference which can only speak volumes as to why they’ve got a 5 game lead at the moment. Picking up SP Rich Harden only added to their depth. They are strong offensively with the re-emergence of 1B…

Boston’s Diminutive Bad Boy

2007 Rookie of the Year, 2B Dustin Pedroia

Boston’s diminutive 2B, Dustin Pedroia, is having another eye-popping year. In this, his 2^nd season in the big leagues, he was voted into the starting line up at the All Star game (although some say that the Ranger’s Ian Kinsler would have been a better choice). He is also tied for the major league lead in multi-hit games (45) through August 5^th and is in…

Red Sox Ok with Bay

OK, so here’s where I let my true colors shine for just a bit. The Red Sox had to trade Manny Ramirez because his attitude was finally beginning to be too much of a burden to carry for the 2008 Boston Red Sox. I don’t care if it was all his idea, his new agent Scott Boras or some other outside influence, but his 2008 on and off field behavior…

Week 18’s Hottest Hitters

With double digit Runs (11) scored and RBIs (10), New York Yankees RF Bobby Abreu tops our weekly list while also hitting 4 HRs to go along with a .433 BA, a .514 OBP and a stolen base.

Cubs LF Alfonso Soriano has been hot since returning from the DL as he hit 4 HRs last week while scoring 10 runs and swiping 4 bases while hitting .441 with an OBP of .487 last week.

As…