http://baseballreflections.com A Blog where Old School baseball meets Sabermetrics. Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:30:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Happy Independence Day! Seeing that Baseball is our national past time, I am thrilled to endorse Akadema® Professional: A leading baseball and softball equipment based out of Hawthorne, NJ! They make the gloves that players such as the Phillies CF Shane Victorino, the Dodgers LF Manny Ramirez, and Team ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/07/04/akadema%c2%ae-unveils-the-patriot-series/ Image by Getty Images via Daylife Manny Ramirez returns to the Dodgers' lineup tomorrow not as a pariah, but as a prodigal son. All has been foriven after his 50-game exile for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs when he takes the field for the Dodgers in San Diego. Mannywood, otherwise known as ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/07/03/manny-returns-to-the-dodger-lineup/ Image by mwlguide via Flickr As the All-Star break draws near, many teams around the league are looking for upgrades. Your Motor City Kitties are no exception. The Tigers need for a another bat has been well chronicled, and many names have been tossed around the blogosphere. Unfortunately, the Tigers failed ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/07/03/tigers-still-looking-for-bats/ Image via Wikipedia Here's an interview done by Russ Smith of SpliceToday entitled, "Interview: Craig Calcaterra of Shysterball". Russ was kind enough to allow up to repost this on Baseball Reflections today. As the MLB season reaches its halfway mark, Splice has once again consulted Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra, our ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/07/02/interview-craig-calcaterra-of-shysterball/ "The Rangers have lost the lead in the AL West with the Angels taking the spot that they have been so familiar with over the last four years.  Texas has lost steam, but ironically, the pitching has kept them afloat and the offense has let them down.  The Rangers have ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/07/02/the-rangers-struggled-in-june/ In Cardinal Nation, we know that six is a serious number.  The local On The Run Mobile gas stations have had a promotion the past few years that, if the Cardinals scored six runs or more in a game, the next day fountain drinks, coffee, etc. was only a quarter ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/07/01/the-cardinals-on-the-run-and-the-number-6/ Image via Wikipedia So now that David Ortiz has found his stroke again, all the murmurs will start. This will certainly mirror the talk that surrounded Jason Giambi a couple of years ago. You all remember, don’t you? Giambi admitted to doing performance-enhancing drugs before the 2004 season, and followed that up with ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/06/30/big-papi-comes-up-big-in-june/ Last week’s Fantasy Focus centered around three prime sell-high targets. This week, we’ll turn our attention to the minor leagues to find out which prospects are most likely to make a fantasy impact this season. Jhoulys Chacin Chacin’s value has skyrocketed since the beginning of the 2008 season, when Baseball America ranked him ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/06/29/nick-kappel%e2%80%99s-fantasy-focus-three-prospects-to-keep-an-eye-on/ From the very beginning, the goal of the 2009 season for the Baltimore Orioles has been to be respectable on the field while continuing behind the scenes to develop the pieces needed to eventually lead the Orioles back to contention in the American League East. With the season now three ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/06/27/baltimore-orioles-midseason-report-seeing-past-the-ugliness/ In this edition of Friday Night Links, we return to our main focus for this series…promoting other sites that we like or think that you should look into. In this edition we will be focusing on Baseball and general sports equipment sites. Sports Diamond.com: a general sport equipment site that focuses ... http://baseballreflections.com/2009/06/26/friday-night-links-6/