New York Mets Continue Cutting Costs

In another attempt to save money and recover from the Bernie Madoff scandal, the New York Mets eliminated one of their minor league teams, the Port St. Lucie Mets. In 2010, the Mets lost $50 million and this past season the Mets lost another $70 million. The owner of the club, Fred Wilpon, said that the organization was "bleeding cash." Sandy Alderson made a statement saying that the Mets payroll will be around $100 million this upcoming season and they are already at $89.1 million. Johan Santana, David Wright, and Jason Bay account for roughly $51 million of the original $89.1 million. The Mets could not fund the Port St. Lucie club and that's why they had to get rid of it.

As a Mets fan, hearing your owner saying that your team is, "bleeding cash" is like a death sentence. Its so frustrating because how can you get any better with no money? You can only plug in role players if you have a few really good players that can carry the team for the most part. Because of the whole situation, it prevented the Mets from resigning Jose Reyes, who the team could obviously use.

I hope that Sandy Alderson is doing the right thing and that all this cuts will pay off in a couple years. This needs to be our last rebuilding period for a good amount of time because we have good young players at key positions.

The home of the Port St. Lucie Mets. Well, used to be anyway.

Mat Latos gets traded to the Cincinnati Reds

The Reds had to give away four good players to make Mat Latos a part of their baseball team. Two of the four were first round draft picks, Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal, and they also had to trade Edinson Volquez to the Padres.

This trade made no sense for the Reds. The stadium that the Reds play in is regarded as one of the best hitter's park in baseball. That's why acquiring a pitcher and trading away hitters isn't a good deal for the Reds. Their rotation is a good one and they have five pitchers with no obvious weaknesses and can all win your club a baseball game on any given night, but unfortunately, they play in the Great American Ballpark.

Mat Latos is the newest member of the Reds.

Yu Darvish

The Texas Rangers, who lost C.J. Wilson in free agency, have won the opening big for Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish. The bid was reportedly worth $51.7 million, which is the same amount as the Red Sox spent to talk to Daisuke Matsuzaka. Darvish will be well worth the money they pay him if he posts the same numbers that he did over in Japan.

For his career, Darvish has a 1.99 ERA. That number is no fluke either, Darvish has been posting on that earned run average since he was 18 years old. He is now 24 years old and put together his most impressive season to date. Yu struck out 276 batters in only 232 innings pitched.

Darvish appears to have all the tools necessary to become one of the best pitchers in the league instantly. But, like Matsuzaka, it will may be hard to get used to pitching every fifth day. I think he can handle everything though and I believe he will be a force in the MLB.

Ryan Braun tests positive for PED's

Ryan Braun, the National League MVP, has reportedly tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Sources say that Braun was told about this incident a month before accepting the award. When asked to comment about the report, Braun's reply was, "Its B.S."

I believe that Ryan Braun took performance enhancing drugs. Depending on who you talk to, some with say that baseball is done with the steroid-era and some believe it is still going on. I am one of those that still thinks steroids are way to involved with baseball. Every year, there are always a couple of players that test positive for PED's and until baseball goes a few years with no reports of steroid use, I believe that the player used it. I want to believe that steroids are out of baseball for good, but I just can't. Its not good for the fans, the players or anyone else. Get steroids out of baseball.

Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson to the Angels

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have signed two of the biggest free agents that were available this off season. The first person they were able to sign was 31 - year old Albert Pujols. Pujols was with the World Series winning Cardinals before deciding to leave St. Louis for Los Angeles. For the quality of player he is, he was underpaid his entire career and some people believe that he went where the most money was to make up for some that he may or may not have lost out on. He received a ten year deal from them worth approximately $254 million. Albert is exactly what the Angels needed. The Angels only were able to produce 67 RBI's from the third spot in the lineup last year and Pujols with have no problem surpassing that number this year.

The best pitcher on the market was C.J. Wilson and he signed shortly after Pujols did. Wilson will be the third pitcher in the five man rotation for Mike Scioscia. It was an even better signing for them because Wilson is a lefty and that will help them immensely. Wilson left the Texas Rangers, who were World Series runner up's for the second year in a row.

Pujols (Left) and Wilson (Right) being introduced in front of more than 4,000 fans.

Bobby Valentine and Ben Cherington

As a result of the collapse in September by the Boston Red Sox, Terry Francona was let go by the organization and Theo Epstein went to the Chicago Cubs. They decided that Ben Cherington would be the best general manager for them to have the most success. The Red Sox also thought that Bobby Valentine was the best manager that they could get, and they signed him to a deal.

Reports came out that some of the Red Sox players were unhappy with the hiring of Valentine. I first heard that story and thought that the unhappy players were going to be the ones that had already spent a lot of time in Boston and had a sense of entitlement to different things and were afraid of a change in culture--which is exactly what that team needs. I think that Valentine is a good hire for the team because people that have been around him say that he is always the smartest guy in the room. Valentine knows a lot about baseball and knows how to put his players in a position to win.

Valentine and Cherington are walking into a great situation in Boston and don't need to make major changes to the team. The fact remains that the Red Sox still went 90-72 this past year. Going 90-72 in any other division would lead to a pennant. But with the American League East being so strong, it's hard to get into the playoffs. Plus, Boston fans expect their sports teams to play well and put a lot of pressure on them to win.

Ben Cherington (Left) introduces Bobby Valentine (Right) to Red Sox Nation.

National League Awards

Most Valuable Player - Ryan Braun (.332 AVG, 33 HR, 111 RBI, Milwaukee Brewers)

Ryan Braun also had a chance to win the batting title heading into the final game of the year. His numbers were outstanding across the board; he even stole 33 bases this year. Braun deserved this MVP trophy and was the complete player for the Milwaukee Brewers.


Clayton Kershaw (21 - 5, 2.28 ERA, 248 K's, Los Angeles Dodgers)

People involved in baseball all say that this pitcher reminds them of the great Sandy Koufax. I can certainly understand the comparison between the two because they are both left-handed and have a 12 -6 curveball that drops over a foot. This year was dominant for Kershaw, and he can shut down entire lineups.

Batting Champion - Jose Reyes (.337 AVG, 39 SB, 16 3B, New York Mets)

Jose Reyes was easily the most electrifying player in the major leagues and always had the potential to be this good. Unfortunately for Reyes and Mets fans, he hardly ever plays. When he is on the field, he is hard to stop because he has all the tools and is even spectacular defensively at shortstop. The Mets have to find a way to give him the contract offer that he wants but with incentives for him if he plays a certain number of games.

Rookie of the Year - Craig Kimbrel (2.10 ERA, 46 SV, 1.04 WHIP, Atlanta Braves)

Kimbrel set the rookie record for the number of saves in a year which is why he won the Rookie of the Year award. His WHIP was outstanding and exactly what you want from a closer. Someone who doesn't let people on base and doesn't blow saves for you when your team has the lead. Kimbrel was great in replacing Billy Wagner who also had a great year for the Braves previously.

American League Awards

Most Valuable Player - Justin Verlander (24 - 5, 2.40 ERA, 250 K's, Detroit Tigers)


Cy Young - Justin Verlander (24 - 5, 2.40 ERA, Detroit Tigers)

Verlander was simply amazing this year on the mound. Some people debated that a pitcher can't win the MVP award because they pitch only every fifth day, instead of playing every single day. I didn't believe that for a minute because when he pitched, he controlled an entire game. He took the mound, and you could pretty much guarantee a victory for the team. An MVP should a player who can take over an entire game and affect the outcome just because of his performance. That is exactly what Justin Verlander did this past season.

Batting Champion - Miguel Cabrera (.344 AVG., 30 HR, 105 RBI, Detroit Tigers)

Cabrera has been playing at such a high level for such a long time now. It seems like forever ago since he won his World Series ring when with the Florida (Now Miami) Marlins. The guy is only 28 years old and has everything you would like to have in a first basemen.


Rookie of the Year - Jeremy Hellickson (13 - 10, 2.95 ERA, 117 K's, Tampa Bay Rays)

Hellickson had the highest WAR (Wins Above Replacement) among any 2011 rookie this year. Hellickson will only continue to improve throughout his career and is projected by many to give the Rays yet another ace on their already good pitching staff.

Astros move to the American League

The Houston Astros were purchased by Jim Crane, but Major League Baseball was not going to approve the sale unless the Astros were willing to move to the American League. Which is exactly what happened. The Astros will now be part of the AL West along with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers. This move gives the American League 15 teams and the National League 15 teams. Based on records from last year, the Astros would have finished last in the division and 40 games behind the division leader.

The move will not be immediate, though. It will occur as soon as 2013, but things are always subject to change. That is just the original plan for the Houston Astros.

Jim Crane (On right) is announced as the new owner of the Astros.

Free Agency Begins - Pitcher's Edition

There is no denying that this class of free-agent pitchers is a weak one. Very few guys out there could be a team's best pitcher if they were to go to that organization. Sometimes, though, championships are won by the deepest team in the league, and the playoffs are always decided by which team has the better pitching. So even though these players are not the best in the league, they would definitely be able to help you win games.


Here is a list of the best pitcher's available:

1. C.J. Wilson - Wilson was easily the Rangers best pitcher during the course of the season and had an ERA under 3.00. By far the best pitcher on the market.

2. Mark Buehrle - He is now 32 years old, but he is still able to give a team a good outing and give them a chance to win. He might have several different teams interested in him this winter.


3. Francisco Rodriguez - K-Rod was traded away from the Mets at the trading deadline to the Brewers, and he was able to produce very well in the closer and set-up role for each team respectively. With the good, though, comes some very bad.

4. Chris Young - In my opinion, this pitcher is one of the most underrated in the game today. Young spent some time in San Diego before coming to New York, and he has always been able to produce. There is a slight injury risk, though.

5. Chris Capuano - This is another Mets pitcher that I believe the team needs to re-sign, along with Young. Both pitched very well, and with this being a weak free agency, they need to keep these two very good pitchers.

6. Bartolo Colon - Here is our fourth straight pitcher who pitched in the city of New York at some point. But Colon has bounced around from team to team and was a very important part of the Yankees pitching staff and helped them get to the playoffs this year.

7. Heath Bell - As always, you have to worry about age with pitchers, and Bell is 34. If a team were to give him a lengthy contract, they would be crazy. Bell is still a good closer, but he is up there in age.

8. Hiroki Kuroda - Kuroda has not been in the MLB very long, and that is because he pitched overseas for most of his career, but the transition has not been very difficult for him. Kuroda is 36 years old.

9. Edwin Jackson - Jackson, as you may remember, is the man who threw a no-hitter for the D-Backs before he was traded around. He is still 28 year's old and will get attention.


10. Joel Pineiro - When he was with the St. Louis Cardinals, he could be dominating for a stretch of games. It seemed though, that when he started to put it all together, he would suffer an injury and that has been the story of his career this far.

Foreign player to keep an eye on:

Yu Darvish - In the Japanese league, he has posted an ERA under 1.88 for five straight years now. For his career, his ERA is under 2.00. Many, many teams should be interested in this kid since some teams have had their eye on him since he was in high school.

Free Agency Begins - Batter's Edition

It's that time of year when teams start to make their move and start talking to free agents in the off season. There are a select few must-have players this year. The player pool is not very deep, but for the most part, the ones in it are must-have, big-name guys.

Here is a list of the best hitters available:


1. Jose Reyes - When he is healthy, he is simply one of the best hitters in the entire league. Electrifies a crowd and sells tickets as well. Teams will approach with caution here.

2.Albert Pujols - Regarded as the best all -around hitter in the game. Hits the ball with power to all parts of the field. The man will get paid.

3. Prince Fielder - Most powerful hitter in the market. Hit for a surprisingly high average this year, and he will get paid Pujol's money.

4. Aramis Ramirez - Easily the best 3rd baseman on the market. He still can hit for a decent amount of power and is still good defensively. You could do worse at 3rd.

5. Kelly Johnson - Underrated in the baseball world because he doesn't play for a major market team and doesn't have a big name, but he is a very good 2nd baseman.

6. Jimmy Rollins - Comes with the name and a good history, but the numbers aren't really there anymore because of the age factor.

7. Josh Willingham - The clock keeps ticking, and so does Willingham. The Hammer is still consistent with his power numbers and might be sought out by many teams.

8. Grady Sizemore - Sizemore is like Reyes. He will win your team games, but he is hard to keep on field due to numerous injuries. He has had far more than even Reyes has had. Still a great player when off the DL.

9. Carlos Beltran -  Although he is getting up there in age, he had a productive year in New York and then in San Francisco because of the trade. Will not get paid the big bucks, but teams will be asking for his service.

10. David Ortiz -  Another hitter that still produces, just not the monster numbers that he put up in his prime. He is one of those professional hitters you hear about (Synonym:  Jason Giambi or Matt Stairs). Will most likely be signed by a team this off season.

Foreign player to keep an eye on:


Yoennis Cespedes - Scouts are saying that this 26-year-old Cuban is full of talent and has the perfect balance of athleticism and power. Without his even taking a swing in the major leagues, scouts are also saying that the kid has 30 - 30 potential. Teams will definitely offer Cespedes a contract off season.

The Untouchable Record

Joe DiMaggio is the holder of what most people consider the unbreakable record. DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consectutive games. The streak began on May 15, 1941 against the Chicago White Sox. The streak continued up until July 16, 1941. During that time span though, DiMaggio went an amazing 91 - 223, which figures out to be a .409 batting average. For a career, if a player maintains a .320 batting average, they are talked about to be a hall of famer, just to put that batting average in perspective. Joe was even able to keep the streak going despite the death of Lou Gehrig on June 2 of that same year. The previous record was 44 straight games before DiMaggio went on an amazing run.

I personally find it more amazing what he did after the streak ended. He went on to start another streak, a much shorter one, but still spectacular. He hit safely in another 16 games before that small streak came to an end. That means that Joe DiMaggio got at least one hit in 72 of 73 games during the 1941 season. People say that records are made to be broken, but this one might last forever.

Tony LaRussa Retires

LaRussa won his third world championship and decided to call it quits. In his career, he has managed 5,097 games, winning 2,728 of them. Most people consider him one of the top 5 managers in all of baseball history and a sure hall of famer. He trails only Connie Mack and John McGraw in number of win in baseball history. Tony LaRussa was a one of a kind manger that was still able to mange in the ever changing game of baseball.

Game 7 of the World Series

The Cardinals are World Series Champions!

After coming off such an emotional loss, everyone was expecting the Rangers to come out and lose to the Cardinals. Tony LaRussa decided to pitch Chris Carpenter on three days rest. That proved to be the right decision as Carpenter was strong for as long as LaRussa let him pitch. When LaRussa went out to get Carpenter, you could see how upset he was to come out of the game, he wanted to finish the inning. If not the entire game. Only like Tony could, he used his bullpen to perfection and was able to finish out the game to win Game 7 of the World Series.

One of the best World Series games ever

Game 6 of this 2011 World Series was a memorable one. The Rangers had the lead 7 - 4 at the end of the 7th inning, 7 - 5 at the end of the 8th inning and that's when the magic took place for the people of St. Louis. The Cardinals were down to their last strike two times, but somehow and some way they found a way to rally. David Freese had the two-run triple in the bottom of the 9th to tie it up. Josh Hamilton came up in the top of 10 and delivered what seemed to be the game-winning home run, but St. Louis had a different ending in mind.

David Freese especially did. He wanted to be the hero and save the series for them. He hit a long, towering fly ball, no doubt about it-- shot right over the center field wall. The Cardinals bench erupted along with Busch Stadium. It was a Cardinals victory.

As famously predicted right here, I chose the St. Louis Cardinals to beat the Texas Rangers in 7 games. Game 7 takes place tonight at 8:05 P.M. in St. Louis. The Cards send Chris Carpenter to the hill to take on Matt Harrison of the Rangers. Who wants it more?

The before.

The after.

Game 6 of the World Series is postponed

Game 6 was scheduled to take place tonight, but it was postponed because of rain in the forecast for most of the night. This is unusual to see a game canceled well before people arrive, but the Cardinals staff said they wanted to give people time to make arrangements. The game was rescheduled for Thursday, October 27, 2011, at 8:05 p.m.The pitching matchup is the same with Colby Lewis set to face Jaime Garcia.

If a Game 7 were necessary, it would take place on October 28, 2011, at 8:05 P.M. on Fox. With the extra day off, that gives the managers a few more pitching options to choose from. They both could be able to start their men on 4 days' rest or someone on 3 days' rest or just keep with their original rotation. It will be interesting to see how this rain-out will affect the pitching situation.

World Series Game 5

The Cardinals offense is nothing but Albert Pujols, and the Rangers offense is nothing but Mike Napoli. These two players need to be MVP, depending on which team wins the series. Napoli almost had another home run last night in the 6th inning that would have put his team ahead. Then he came up again in the 8th inning, and that's where the drama began.

Tony LaRussa called the bullpen to tell them that he wanted Jason Motte and Marc Rzepczynski to begin throwing to get loose. Normally this is a very easy thing to take care of and almost never happens during the regular season and rightfully should be. Cardinals bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist heard Rzepczynski, but did not heard Motte. He somehow heard the name Lance Lynn instead of Motte. LaRussa said after the game that Lance Lynn was unavailable before the game even started, and that's why Lynn just threw four straight intentional balls. Rzepcynski, a left hander, had to then face the right-handed hitter Napoli.

That was not the situation that the Cardinals organization wanted at all, and Napoli made them pay with a long double through the right-center field gap. That was all that the Rangers needed to win Game 5 of the World Series.

I'm not too sure how that happens. This isn't LaRussa's first game as a manager; it's actually the complete opposite-- he's been around forever. The bullpen coach needs to know that Lance Lynn was not available and needs to know that he may have misheard LaRussa and asked him if that's what he actually meant.

Some people might say that it was the crowd or that the phone wasn't working properly, but I don't buy that at all. In response to the crowd: Yes, they were loud. Yes, it might have been harder to hear than normal. The bullpen needs to know what is going on in that situation. They are not all rookies out there. In response to the phone not working: It has worked all year long, and nobody has ever complained about it not working. So I would find it hard to believe that it would stop working in Game 5.

The Texas Rangers hold a 3 - 2 lead in the World Series. Game 6 will take place at 8:05 P.M., October 26, 2011 on Fox. Jaime Garcia (0 - 0) will face Colby Lewis (0 - 0) in Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri.

World Series Update

In Game 3 of the World Series, played Saturday night, the St. Louis Cardinals went off and destroyed Ranger pitching. The main problem the Rangers had was getting Albert Pujols out. Pujols had a historic performance-- easily one of the best performances of all time in a World Series game. Albert went  5 - 6, with 3 home runs and 6 RBI's. The home runs that he hit were not cheap home runs either. Each and every one of them were long shots that went over 420 feet before they hit the bleachers. It was not only his amazing performance though that won the Cardinals the game. The Cards scored a whopping 16 runs. In the Seahawks and Browns football game this Sunday, those two only combined for 9 points. There is a final thought as to how good the St. Louis Cardinals offense was in Game 3.

After hitting the ball all over the place in Game 3, most people would think that the Cardinals would have another good offensive showing the night after. Maybe not the 16 run outburst, but that they would score a good amount of runs. If you thought that was going to happen, you turned out to be completely wrong. Derek Holland (1 - 0) was exactly what the Rangers needed. He had great command of each and every one of his pitches. Mangager Ron Washington said that his pitcher had excellent control and worked every corner of the stike zone. Holland ended up going 8 1/3 innings, not being able to finish the game because of a high pitch count and he walked the leadoff man, Rafael Furcal, in the 9th. I thought that Ron Washington made the right decision to pull his man in that situation. Its not about stats and finishing the game and letting him try to do it because he deserved to, its about winning the World Series. In the regular season, I probably would of left him out there to finish it, but this is the World Series and when you have a chance to win a World Series game, you take it.

The series between these two teams is tied up 2 - 2. Game 5 will take place on Monday, October 24, 2011 at 8:05 P.M. in Arlington, Texas. Chris Carpenter (1 - 0) faces C.J. Wilson (0 - 1) on Fox.

Game 2 of the World Series

The pitching in Game 2 of the World Series was a lot more than any manager could have asked for. Both pitchers held the other team scoreless for six innings. In the seventh, Colby Lewis was tagged with an earned run. Their were two men on, and then Ron Washington pulled Lewis in favor of Alexi Ogando for the second night in a row. LaRussa also went to his bench for Allen Craig to face Ogando with the game on the line. Ogando threw him basically the same pitch in the same location, and Craig did the same thing, a base hit to right field, scoring David Freese. It remained 1 - 0 up until the 9th when Jason Motte (0 - 1) was called on for his second save attempt in as many games. He was not able to close the door, allowing both Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus to score. The Cardinals were not able to rally in the bottom of the ninth against Rangers right hander Neftali Feliz (1).

An interesting local side note from Game 1:  Allen Craig and Jason Motte were both members of the 2006 State College Spikes.

Game 3 of the World Series will be played on Saturday, October 22, 2011, at 8:05 on Fox in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers, Matt Harrison will face the Cardinals, Kyle Lohse (0 - 0).

Ron Washington after winning Game 2 of the World Series.

St. Louis takes Game 1

The World Series started out a cold one with the temperature at 49 degrees. The pitching was not bad from either side, but it was not perfect or dominating either. It was just good enough to give both teams a chance at winning the game. Tony LaRussa won the game for the Cardinals, though. The Rangers pitched around the Cardinals eighth hitter in the line up, David Freese, in order to have Chris Carpenter step up to the plate with two outs. After C.J. Wilson threw the fourth ball, Carpenter was still in the on deck circle warming up and taking practice swings. The Rangers, still expecting Carpenter to bat, got Allen Craig instead. LaRussa caught Ron Washington off guard, and it paid of. Craig hit a RBI single down the right field line. After that single, it was 3 - 2 in favor of the Cardinals in the bottom of the 6th. Jason Motte (1) shut the door and got the save to end the game by getting Nelson Cruz to line out to right field. C.J. Wilson (0 - 1) took the loss for his team. Chris Carpenter (1 - 0) got the win.
The World Series is now 1 - 0, St. Louis Cardinals. Game 2 will be Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 8:05 on Fox. Jaime Garcia (0 - 0) will oppose Colby Lewis (0 - 0).

This is how close Nelson Cruz was to catching Allen Craig's RBI single.

The World Series is set

We have now eliminated 28 other teams in the race for the World Series, and the final two remaining are the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Rangers were the first of the group to punch their ticket by defeating the Detroit Tigers, winning the series 4 - 2. The MVP of that series was Nelson Cruz and rightfully so. He could not be stopped at the plate, no matter who the Tigers put in to face him. He set a MLB record by hitting seven home runs. Cruz did all of that in six games and not even a full seven as the series could have gone. I thought at some point the Tigers were going to pitch around Cruz or even intentionally walk him, but they kept pitching to him, and he kept making them pay.

The St. Louis Cardinals simply dominated the Milwaukee Brewers throughout the series. Every game they simply went out and outplayed the Brewers. Even during the games that they lost, they were still very competitive and made it difficult for the Brewers. The main question for the Brewers now becomes this, "What do we do about Prince Fielder?" Prince has said that this will most likely be his last year in Milwaukee. Of course, though, the Brewers would like to be able to afford to keep such a good player. Could the Brewers allow C.C. Sabathia to leave and then have Prince leave just a few years after? How will they tell their fans that they didn't keep him? Will they be good without him? These are just a few of the questions that the Brewers face now.

Game 1 of the World Series is Wednesday, October 19, 2011. First pitch is set for 7:57 p.m in St. Louis. If you would like to watch the game on TV, it will be on Fox. If you are in the car or like to listen to the game on the radio, you need to tune into ESPN radio. Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals will face C.J. Wilson of the Rangers.

My prediction: The St. Louis Cardinals will win the World Series in seven games.

Theo Epstein Out

In had been reported yesterday that Theo Epstein has left his position as General Manager of the Boston Red Sox to take a position for the Chicago Cubs. The deal is reported to be worth $20 million over five years. The Cubs have not announced what position Epstein will take in their front office.

This surprised me because there was no real reason for Epstein to leave a successful organization with an amazing fan base. The Red Sox still, and always will, have money as well. Theo was not in a tough situation at all. I believe that he wanted a new challenge, if you will. The Cubs have not won a World Series in 103 years, and he wants to be the man to end that extremely long streak.

Things that have happened since the Chicago Cubs last won a World Series:

• Baseball added 14 new teams
• Haley's Comet passed Earth twice
• The NBA, NHL, and NFL were all formed, and Chicago teams won a championship in each
• 16 presidents have been elected
• There have been 11 amendments to the Constitution
• The Titanic was built, sank, and then discovered
• A combination of 40 summer and winter Olympic Games have been held
• 13 players have won the triple crown
• The Cubs have played over 14,000 regular season games
• Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Oklahoma and New Mexico have become states

In you are interested in the Cubs and the Steve Bartman play, there is a good documentary on ESPN about this incident. I watched it myself and found it very interesting.

Down to four

The Major League Baseball playoffs has only four teams left. The National League Championship series has been dominated by hitting to this point. In game one, the big bats of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder each had important home runs that were the key to their victory. Game two of the series was taken over by Albert Pujols of the Cardinals. He went 4 - 5, three doubles, a home run, and five RBI. Pujols proved to everyone in America why he is one of the best, if not the best hitter in all of baseball. Only four people in the history of baseball have had four extra base hits in one game: Frank Isbell, Bob Robertson, Hideki Matsui and now Pujols. Pujols also made history by having two career postseason games with three or more extra base hits. The other's to do so are: Babe Ruth, Duke Snider, George Brett, Evan Longoria, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols.

The American League Championship series has been much closer. Game one was delayed by rain two separate times and ended up resuming around 11:45 and ended in the early morning hours. Justin Verlander went in game one for the Tigers, so he was only able to go four innings. In game two, the Tigers had the lead until Nelson Cruz hit a home run to tie it up. The game remained tied until Cruz came up again, with the bases loaded, a chance to win the game. He then went on to hit a walk off grand slam to give the Rangers the win at home in Arlington.

Playoff Update

Last night, October 4, all eight teams were in action. The first game that took place was the Rangers at Tampa Bay. This was a decisive game for Tampa Bay, because if they were to lose, they would be eliminated and their season would be over. The Rays sent their young right hander Jeremy Hellickson to start the game. He opposed Matt Harrison of the Rangers. Hellickson was shaky at the beginning and never was in control. He allowed three solo home runs in only four innings of work. Two of those were hit by Adrian Beltre who tied a major league record by hitting three home runs in a series-clinching game. The Rays kept battling back and were never really down by more than one run. They just didn't have enough hitting to win the game. If you were to read just the box score of the game, you would find that Casey Kotchman singled to center field, and Sean Rodriguez scored. What actually happened was that Kotchman hit a line drive towards the gap in right - center field, Rodriguez was standing on first and was going home on the play, no matter what. Nelson Cruz had a perfect throw to Ian Kinsler who had a perfect one-hop throw to Mike Napoli. The play couldn't have been any closer than what it was. As soon as the ball hit Napoli's glove, Rodriguez was there to meet him, and the two collided. The ball popped out of Napoli's glove because he didn't have enough time to really squeeze the mitt and get a grip on the ball. The two were fine and not injured. The trainers for the Rangers came out to see whether Napoli was okay, and when they did, you could see he was smiling and laughing because of the play.

The second game of the night was the Phils and Cards. This game was played in St. Louis at Busch Stadium. No scoring took place until the 7th inning because Cole Hamels and Jaime Garcia were locked in. Ben Francisco came up as a pinch hitter with two men on, and that's when trouble came for Garcia. He was getting tired and left a pitch at waist level; Francisco made him pay with a three-run shot to left field. Then in the 7th and 9th, the Cardinals scored one run in each inning to make it 3 - 2. The Cardinals had a great chance to win the game, though, because they stranded an amazing 14 runners on base. In the playoffs, you have to score those runs, not leave them stranded. I believe that is why the Cardinals lost this game.

The Yankees and Tigers played the third game. The Tigers had a chance to move on with a win over the Yanks because it is only a best of five series. The Yankees season rested on the arm of A.J. Burnett, and that was a very shaky arm all season long. Burnett received a lot of heat from Yankee fans and New York media all year for his inconsistency. This was a chance for him to win over his critics with a good start. I went into that game thinking that he would start out okay, but they would not let him lose them the game-- exactly what they did. Burnett went 5.2 quality innings. The Yanks had faith in their bullpen to keep the lead that they had, and they didn't disappoint. The offense jumped on 22-year-old Rick Porcello for four runs, then Phil Coke for three runs, and Al Alburquerque for two more runs. The final score was 10 - 1 Yankees.

The final game of the night was the D-Backs at home against the Brewers. Paul Goldschmidt carried the offensive load for the D-Backs by hitting a grand slam and driving in another with a single. Shaun Marcum got shelled and let up seven earned runs and going only 4.2 innings. The Diamondbacks went 5 - 10 with runners in scoring position, a key to their victory. Josh Collmenter certainly helped by pitching seven innings and only allowing two hits.

Summary:
Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays. Series over, 3 -1, Rangers.
Philadelphia Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals. Series is 2 -1, Phillies. In St. Louis.
New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers. Series tied 2 -2, heading back to New York.
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. Series is 2 -1, Brewers. In Arizona.

The Quest Begins

In the American League, the Detroit Tigers made a trip to New York to play the Yankees. The highly anticipated pitchers' duel between Justin Verlander and C.C. Sabathia was put on hold due to the rain. Doug Fister and Ivan Nova were sent to the hill once play resumed. It was 2 - 1 Yankees heading into the 6th inning of play and that was the end for the Tiger's. Brett Gardner drove in two to make it 4 -1 Yanks. In that same inning Robinson Cano came up and delivered a grand slam. That ended any hopes for a Tiger's victory and the Yankees went on to take game 1, 9 - 3.

Another American League battle put the Tampa Bay Rays in Texas to play the Rangers. The Rays started rookie Matt Moore and nobody could have expected him to do what he did. Moore ended up going 7 innings, while only allowing two hits and no runs. I was very impressed with the young right hander. He showed control of the game and no nerves at all. He was definitely the key to the Rays taking game 1 from the Rangers, 9 -0.

To the National League now. The first NL game was the Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks. Pitching, as usual, was the story in this playoff matchup. Ian Kennedy of the D-Backs pitched well for them up until the 7th inning when he gave up a 2 run home-run to Prince Fielder. I was surprised that they decided to pitch to him because they had first base open. Prince then made them pay by hitting a laser to right field. That was the end of the night for Kennedy. Gallardo of the Brewer's went 8 innings and only allowed a home run by Ryan Roberts. John Axford came in to shut the door with no problems for the Brew Crew.

The next game to take place was between the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals in Philly. The game started out extremely shaky for Roy Halladay and the Phils. Rafael Furcal hit a single to right to lead things off. Then, two batters later, Albert Pujols took a four pitch walk with Lance Berkman coming up to bat. He wasted no time at all by hitting a three run homer on the first pitch he saw. This surprised me as well because Halladay is such a dominating pitcher, and to see the Cardinals jump right on him was surprising. Like I said before though, it all comes down to pitching. Kyle Lohse was cruising right along until the 6th when he let five Phillies cross the plate. Halladay settled in nicely going eight strong and allowing those three first inning runs. The final score was 11 - 6 in favor of the Phillies.

Game two of the Rays, Rangers series took place as well. James Shields went for the Rays and Derek Holland for the Rangers. Tampa Bay had a 3 - 0 lead in the 3rd inning, but the Rangers scored seven unanswered in the next three innings to take the lead. Evan Longoria continues to swing a hot bat by hitting a three run home run in the 7th. That wasn't quite enough for the Tampa Bay Rays to take game two. The Texas Rangers won, 8 -6.

I've mentioned it already, but you can't stress this enough. Pitching wins you games in the postseason. Another perfect example of this was Max Scherzer throwing six no hit innings for the Tigers. The Yankees got their first hit in the 7th on a blooper by Robinson Cano. Miguel Cabrera went 3 - 4 with a home run and three RBI's to carry the offensive load. Jose Valverde came in during the ninth and was very shaking allowing two runs to cross, but he did not implode, sealing a 5 - 3 victory for the Tigers.

The Brewers allowed the D-Backs to hit three home runs during game 2 of the NLDS, but still went out and won 9 - 4. Neither of the starters for either team were impressive, but the bullpen decided this one. The Brewers bullpen went four innings with no runs scoring. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks bullpen went two and two thirds of an inning, allowing the deciding four runs to score. Pitching counts people. Ryan Braun went 3 - 4 with a homer in this one, along with 3 RBI's.

That sums up all the weekend action that took place from September 30th to October 2nd. With the exception of game 2 of the Phillies vs. Cardinals series. That one is currently in the top of the 2nd, with the Philadelphia Phillies holding a 3 - 0 lead. If anyone is interested in watching that one, it is on TBS.

Summary of all the action:

New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers. Series tied 1 - 1, heading to Detroit.

Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays. Series tied 1 - 1, heading to Tampa Bay.

Milwaukee Brewers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. Series 2 - 0 in favor of the Brewers, heading to Arizona.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals. Series 1 - 0 in favor of the Phillies. Game 2 is taking place now.

The Magic of the Playoffs

What a wild night in baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals opened up an early lead on the Houston Astros by scoring five runs in the top of the first inning. Chris Carpenter was on the hill for the Cards so the outcome of the game was never really in question. They came out firing and never looked back, they wanted to be in the playoffs. That came was the first to end of the four, so they just got to sit back and watch the action unfold like the rest of America. The Braves gave themselves a 3 - 1 lead in the 3rd inning, but scores in the 7th, 9th, and 13th for the Phillies dashed playoff hopes for the Braves. To make sure we all get that straight, the Cardinals are in the playoffs, and the Braves are out.
The real action of the night was in the American League wild card race. All of the action happened within 10 minutes of each other. At the beginning of the night, the Red Sox took a 3 - 2 lead in the fifth. Meanwhile, in Tampa Bay, the Rays dug themselves a 7 - 0 hole by the fifth inning. Four of those runs came off the bat of Mark Teixeira in the form of a grand slam. Then there came a rain delay in Baltimore. It occured in the bottom of the 7th innning and lasted for 1 hour and 25 minutes. Back in Tampa, the begin to mount a furious comeback scoring six in the 8th inning. Including a two run home run by Evan Longoria for the final two runs of that inning. Heading back to Baltimore now, once the rain passed, the Red Sox brought in Jonathan Papelbon to shut the door on the Orioles. He retired Adam Jones and Mark Reynolds without issue. At the same time, Dan Johnson steps up to the plate as a pinch hitter for the Rays in the bottom of the 9th inning. He had two strikes on him, down to what could be the last pitch in the season for the Rays. Instead of it being the last pitch, Johnson ripped a homerun off of New York Yankees pitcher Cory Wade. The score was now tied 7 - 7, heading into extra innings. Right after Johnson hit the home run, Papelbon allowed two hits and allowed one run by that point. Robert Andino was next up to bat for the O's. All the Red Sox outfielders were playing shallow to prevent the ball from going over there heads to take away any chance of throwing a runner out at home. Andino hit a ball to left field at Carl Crawford, he dove for the ball, and it simply bounced out of his mitt allowing the O's to beat them.
Evan Longoria steps back up to bat for the Rays in the 12th inning facing Scott Proctor. A chance to send them to the playoffs because of Boston losing just minutes before. Longoria hits a home run, 8 - 7 Rays. The Rays won. Down 7 - 0, they mount a miraculous comeback to win 8 - 7 in extra innings. That is what baseball is all about, no matter how far out you are, or however small the odds, anything is possible and the Rays proved that. A magical night in baseball.

Playoff Match-ups:
New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers.
Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays.
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks.
Philadelphia Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals.

Race for the Pennant

The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays came into today with identical records: 89 - 71. There are two games left on the schedule for these teams. The Red Sox are only 2 - 8 in their last 10 games and only 6 - 19 for the month of September. The Rays meanwhile are 6 - 4 in their last 10 games and 15 - 10 during September. It will be a very interesting two games to decide who gets the American League wild card spot. In the National League, the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals are fighting for the NL wild card. The Braves are 3 - 7 in their last 10 and the Cardinals have gone 6 - 4. The Cardinals record is 88 - 72 while the Braves are 89 - 71. These two have two games to go as well, another tight race. Many people, including myself, feel like the Red Sox are the better team, but the Rays are playing good baseball and deserve a spot in the playoffs. In the National League, I feel like the Braves would fair better than the Cardinals. Regardless of opinions, the hunt for October is on.