All-Star Game thoughts posted by David

Thank goodness Joey Votto (.314/.422/.589 with 22 home runs) was elected to the National League All-Star team via the Final Vote.  Billy Wagner, Carlos Gonzalez, and Ryan Zimmerman are great players and were all worthy of roster spots, but Votto should have been the NL’s starting first baseman over Albert Pujols, and it would have been a travesty had he not made it in the end.  Votto leads the NL in both On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage and is tied for the lead in home runs; if the season ended today, he’d likely be voted the league’s Most Valuable Player.  It’s too bad, then, that Votto went 0-2 and did not make an impact in the game.  (Each of the other first basemen on the National League side – Pujols, Ryan Howard, and Adrian Gonzalez – went 0-2 as well.)

In case you missed it, the pitchers who looked the most dominant among all the flame-throwing hurlers who took the mound on Tuesday night were not the starters, Ubaldo Jimenez and David Price.  The best of the best were Florida’s Josh Johnson, who looked strong in retiring all six hitters he faced – all of them starters for the American League – and Detroit closer Jose Valverde, who struck out the side in order in the top of the ninth to at least give the AL a chance to make a dramatic comeback.  Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, and Phil Hughes, like Jimenez, each gave up a couple of hits and Jonathan Broxton, who earned the save all showed they are not untouchable. 

How ‘bout that?

Nationals handle Strasburg’s schedule with brilliance posted by David

The hype over Washington Nationals’ phenom Stephen Strasburg has been followed by terrific pitching from the young right-hander, but the Nats’ front office also deserves a lot of credit.  In his first three starts, Strasburg has faced the Pirates, the Indians, and the White Sox, all of whom rank near the bottom offensively.  While I think Strasburg has a tremendous amount of talent and is going to be a great pitcher for quite some time, I’d like to see how he fares against the heavy-hitting lineups of the Yankees, Reds, and Red Sox.

How ‘bout that?

How about Mike Leake?  The Reds’ rookie pitcher finally took his first loss of the season this week, but still boasts a 3.02 ERA to go with his 5-1 record.  His most impressive stat, however, is that he has gone at least six innings in 12 of his 13 starts.  In addition to his contribution on the mound, Leake is hitting .385 – more than 100 points higher than the batting average of the hitters he has faced (.270).  Leake has been Cincinnati’s most consistent – and best – pitcher in 2010.

How about Carlos Peña?  After hitting just .120/.233./.250 with three home runs in the month of May, Peña homered in six straight games last week and is slugging .667 so far in June.  For a guy hitting just .197 on the season, Peña has been awfully productive.  The Rays’ first baseman leads his team in home runs (15), and his 46 RBIs are second only to Evan Longoria’s 51.

How about the Braves?  Atlanta won only nine of 23 games in April but is 31-14 since the beginning of May and leads the NL East by a half-game over the Mets, who have won eight in a row.  The Braves have been particularly strong at home, evidenced by a 22-7 record at Turner Field.

Jason Heyward: Instant Hit posted by David

When the Atlanta Braves announced during the last week of spring training that Jason Heyward had made the big league roster, it made headlines in part because both Stephen Strasburg and Aroldis Chapman were being assigned to the minors.  However, after winning the starting right fielder’s job in Atlanta, the 20-year-old phenom wasted no time before impressing the baseball world by launching a three-run home run in his very first major league at-bat.  Batting seventh in the lineup behind Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, and others has limited the pressure on the 14th overall pick in the 2007 draft, but before long, you can expect to see Heyward taking his hacks in the cleanup spot.

How ‘bout that?

How about Albert Pujols?  Picking up where he left off at the end of the 2009 season, Pujols collected four hits – including two home runs – on Opening Day.  The Cardinals slugger has been nothing but superhuman in the batter’s box; unless he suffers an injury, he will likely win his third straight (and fourth overall) Most Valuable Player Award.

How about Vernon Wells?  Looking to bounce back from a disappointing season (.260/.311/.400), Wells has already hit four home runs and boasts a .600 batting average.  The centerfielder became the first Blue Jay in history to homer in the team’s first three games of the year and played a major role in Toronto winning its first series of 2010 over Texas.

How about the Giants?  Led by shortstop Edgar Renteria’s .727 batting average (eight hits in 11 at-bats), San Francisco has continued to play well, sweeping a three-game series in Houston following a 23-12 record in spring training.  Not only are the Giants the only team yet to lose a regular season game, they have not even trailed at any point.  Though it is far too early to call a winner, the Giants will hope their fast start is a sign of things to come as they eye their first division title since 2003.

Next stop in my baseball career – the Toledo Mud Hens! posted by David

In my life I have attended many more major league games than minor league ones, but 2010 will be a chance for me to experience the minors like never before.  I will be working in media relations for the Toledo Mud Hens of the International League.  The Mud Hens are the Triple-A affiliate of the Tigers and play at Fifth Third Field, just an hour from Detroit, which means that Tigers on rehab assignments will likely make cameo appearances throughout the season.

Those who have worn the Mud Hen uniform include Hall of Famers Kirby Puckett (the team was affiliated with the Twins from 1978 through 1986) and manager Casey Stengel, as well as longtime Tigers Travis Fryman and Kirk Gibson, and active players Curtis Granderson of the Yankees and Carlos Peña of the Red Sox.  Scott Sizemore, who will replace Placido Polanco as Detroit’s 2nd baseman this season, spent the better part of 2009 in Toledo.

Toledo, Ohio is a place I had never been until recently, but I am very happy to become a part of the Mud Hens staff and thrilled to work a full season in professional baseball.

Two more notable retirements

The 2009-2010 offseason has already seen the end of the brilliant careers of Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas, but two other players with solid resumes announced their retirements this past week.

Nomar Garciaparra played for the Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, and Athletics, collected 1,747 hits, 229 home runs, 95 stolen bases, and a batting line of .313/.361/.521, and made six-time All-Star teams.  He was unanimously selected as the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year, and won back-to-back batting titles with very impressive averages – .357 and .372 – in 1999 and 2000.  In those years, Garciaparra also set career OPS highs at 1.022 (second to Manny Ramirez in the AL) and 1.033.  In seven postseason series, he hit .321 with seven home runs.  Nomar guaranteed himself a spot in the record books on May 10, 1999, when he became the 11th player in major league history to hit two grand slams in a single game.

Just in case you thought I went away posted by Joe Gunderson

Hey Everyone,

First, allow me to apologize for the length of time it has taken to post again.  I have had a busy few weeks since my last entry.  I've gotten engaged to my long-time girlfriend (I honestly am not sure why she waited for me but oh so glad she did!). Christmas and New Years and my birthday have all come and gone and were wonderful and I miss my extended family already.  And of course there has been lots of baseball news, though not Twins related, the biggest of which happened just a little bit ago today.

The list of baseball news includes the following:

-Matt Holliday re-signed with the St. Louis Cardinals for 7 years and $120 million

-Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman signed with the Cincinnati Reds for six years and around $30 million

-Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee were traded to the Phillies and Mariners respectfully

-Chone Figgins signed with the Mariners

-Former A's and Cardinals slugger finally admitted to using steriods

Wait, what was that last one?!  Yep, that's correct, just a little bit ago, the news we've all been waiting for since, oh I'd say, the moment number 62 left his bat, has finally come to pass.  We can all now move on with our lives.  For those of you not quite ready to do that, here's a link to the ESPN.com story, http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4816607.

My feelings on this are that we all pretty much knew this back when he was playing but really we wanted to ignore it because we were all caught up in the magic of the moment when he was chasing Roger Maris.  At least I admit I was.  I am glad he has finally admitted it, even though it is quite a few years later than we all would have liked.  I don't hate the guy because I can't honestly say that I would not have done the same thing had I been blessed enough to have the talent to play in the Majors.  At the same time, I do not believe he should be voted into the Hall of Fame, nor do I think he ever will be now.  I really didn't think he would be anyway, had you asked me before this news came out.

20 top horses of the decade - thoroughbreds posted by Jan Hoadley

There is much reflection at year end and discussion not only of the best horses of the year but also of the decade. The horses that have excited us and been memorable are easy choices. There are others on my list that I feel are deserving of being here for several reasons.
MOREContinue reading "20 top horses of the decade - thoroughbreds"

Big Daddy Believes In Miracles posted by Les Leonard

     How many Saints’ fans wrote off the Saints when Washington lined up their game-clinching 23-yard field goal? This year’ s “ Finish” mentality has produced the franchise’s best season start ever, not to mention the team’s most unbelievable victory in 43 years Sunday. Previous season mottos never produced the results that the ’ 09 slogan has. Big Daddy wonders if the Saints brought in Tiger Woods to demonstrate how awesome happy endings feel? Tiger always benefits from coming hard at the end both on and off the course. If it works for Saints fans for the next 13 years, the Superdome staff will have lots of new banners to hang. Seriously, Big Daddy wants Saints fans to understand the significance of a team that wins games they should lose. Haven’ t we suffered the downside of that equation for far too long? Hell yeah! But now its our time! In this edition of the Section 645 Saints Beat, Big Daddy questions the BCS, reports from the Kingpin, recaps the Redskins game, examines the NFL’ s playoff picture, and releases his World Famous Pregame Information.

     As 2009 winds down , the fraudulent BCS has screwed three more schools (TCU, Cincinnati, and Boise State) out of having the opportunity to compete for the national championship. Saying BCS sponsors pay college presidents handsomely to maintain “ the status quo” — although true, is exactly what they want the masses to believe. Refusing to change this terrible system, touting we can’ t disrupt college football’ s great tradition, sucks more than Congressional Democrats holding up health care reform due to they’re ridiculous anti-abortion stance. How can all sports, regardless of what level, seed teams to playoff for the trophy except Division 1-A NCAA football? Big Daddy thinks the NFL owners are the guys stopping progress. The NFL has no desire to see their popularity diminished like that of the NBA every time March Madness rolls around. Lets face it, this week’s match-ups of Buffalo at Kansas City, Detroit at Baltimore, Jets at Tampa, St. Louis at Tennessee, and Washington at Oakland is a perfect example to show how boring late season pro football can be. Viagra couldn’ t get football fans up for these garbage games.

The Washington Redskins - a perfect blue chip stock posted by Pablo Rotondaro

BAILOUT the Redskins! Such is the state of things in Washington DC. Like most of the stocks traded on Wall Street, there are many assets that have no real value but continue to produce millions for its shareholders and owners. The Redskins are just like the stock market, look great on paper and generate millions to the owner but filled with high price, former blue chip stocks that have no real value when put to the test. This team is worse than bad, they are horrible and with no young, up-and-coming players to pin our hopes on, no star QB in the making, no player ready to bust out, if there was ever a time to blow the whole thing up it is definitely now!

Fans of the Washington Redskins have grown accustomed in the past decade or so to expect that their team with have a fighting chance to squeak into the playoffs and then, as the cheesy and cliché statement says, anything can happen. This is the hope that fans of this once-proud franchise held, probably fooling themselves into believing that this system, one where the owner is GM and often plays with the team the way that some us enjoy our fantasy football leagues, could ever and will ever work. More and more people are coming to the realization that this is nothing more than a pipe dream and that this system in place will never and has never worked. 

Unlike some of the horrible teams in the NFL, like the Lions or Chiefs, the Redskins are not in rebuilding mode, they do not have a rookie quarterback with a lot of promise (Stafford, Detroit Lions) or a team filled with young defensive players that get better week by week (Chiefs). The Redskins are a team full of over-the-hill, over-paid players with no fight and little talent. The performance that Jason Campbell put up in one half yesterday was one of the most pitiful performances by a starting QB in the NFL this year, he looked like the twin of JaMarcus Russell (Raiders). He couldn't hit a single open receiver, even though he was constantly under pressure thanks to the porous offensive line, he couldn't even hit the receivers when he had the time.The best decision of the day was to bench him to at least give the offense a quarterback that can make the reads and pick a receiver, though the results were not much better, at least he looked like a real quarterback.

Nobody’s perfect posted by David

Last week I saw Andy Pettitte throw six and two-thirds innings of perfect baseball at against the Orioles at Camden Yards.  With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Adam Jones hit a ground ball to third.  Alex Rodriguez was getting the night off, and his replacement at the hot corner, Jerry Hairston, booted it.  Having grown up an Orioles fan and somewhere along the way developing into a Yankee-hater, one might think I would have been rooting for the Birds to end Pettitte’s bid for perfection; however, this was not so.  As a fan of the game, I wanted to witness history.  Sure; I would have preferred seeing an Oriole pitcher throw a perfecto (though even a shutout by one of this year’s starters would have been historic), but I can’t expect miracles.

How ‘bout that?

How about Jonny Gomes?  Called up by the Reds on May 22nd after not making the team out of spring training, Gomes has crushed the ball to a tune of a .563 slugging percentage and 19 home runs in just 240 at-bats.  His former team, the Rays, could sure use his bat right about now; they’ve lost eight games in a row and have all but eliminated themselves from the Wild Card race.

How about Chris Carpenter?  The Cardinals’ righty has put together a strong case for the National League Cy Young Award: mainly a 16-3 record and a major league-leading 2.16 E.R.A.  Additionally, he’s allowed less than one baserunner per inning pitched (0.97 WHIP), he’s surrendered only seven home runs in 24 games started, and he’s thrown three complete games – which may not seem terribly impressive but he’s tied for third in the N.L.  If all goes well for him and Adam Wainwright (18-7), the duo could become the first pair of teammates to each win 20 games since 2002, when the feat was accomplished in both leagues: Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling did it for the Diamondbacks, and Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez did it for the Red Sox.

"Barry Zito has been Stellar Since the All-Star Break" posted by Michael McGauley

  Six shutout innings and just two hits allowed Wednesday for Barry Zito, who didn't figure in the decision, as the Giants pulled-out a 1-0 win over the Reds. Since the All-Star Break, Zito has been dealing, posting a 2.73 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and with three wins prior to tonight's start.  In the other recent games he has either lost or didn't get the decision - Zito has kept the Giants in almost every game he's pitched since that July 12th disaster against San Diego.  While Lincecum and Cain haven't quite been their usual, outstanding selves in recent starts; Zito, Sanchez, and even Joe Martinez have helped turn things around on this road trip.  The Giants are now 4-and-2 on the trip, and looking for the sweep Thursday.   All arms on deck for this weekend's four-game showdown in Colorado, and the bullpen appears to be returning to form just in time.  Zito was cruising along Wednesday, matching zeroes with Cincinnati's Bronson Arroyo, but was pulled in favor of a pinch-hitter with two on and two out in the 7th-inning.  Zito had only thrown 77 pitches, but Manager Bruce Bochy had another hunch.  The same decision proved to be a game changer Monday against the Mets, when Bochy pulled Joe Martinez, and inserted pinch-hitter Nate Schierholtz with the bases loaded.  Schierholtz proceeded to line a double high off the right field wall scoring two runs, and helping put the game out of reach.  Wednesday's decision however didn't work out quite as well when "Fresno Freddy" (Fred Lewis) popped out weeklyContinue reading ""Barry Zito has been Stellar Since ..."

Votto vies for baseball's Triple Crown (CBC.ca)

Canadian Joey Votto and the Cincinnati Reds will start the unofficial second half of the baseball season with a one-game lead in the National League Central, while fans debate the first baseman's chances of making history. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Phillies top Reds in 12th

Brian Schneider hit a game-ending homer in the 12th inning, giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 4-3 victory over the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for MLB

Santana provides own offense in shutout

Johan Santana lined his first major-league homer, providing his own run support while pitching a three-hitter that led the New York Mets past the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0, on a blazing Tuesday night. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for MLB

Reds hit 7 homers in rout of Cubs

Drew Stubbs had an idea of what might happen Sunday when he watched the ball carry over the fence at Wrigley Field during batting practice.When the game started, Stubbs belted three of the Cincinnati Reds' season-high seven home runs to lead a 14-3 romp over the Chicago Cubs. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for MLB

Reds hold off Cubs in 10th

Disgruntled fans bade a not-so-fond farewell to Dusty Baker after the Cubs sent him packing. Four years later, he has returned to Chicago for a little revenge.Now he's managing the first-place Cincinnati Reds. And when his new club beat his old one 3-2 in 10 innings Thursday, fans at Wrigley Field seemed angrier than ever. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for MLB