Chicago White Sox Blogs

This could be a short post.  No, no one will bite and claim Bobby Crosby and his $5.25 million contract.  For the sake of completeness, though, let's run through who might conceivably pick up Crosby. 

Continue reading "Bobby Crosby on Outright Waivers...Will ..."

After reading article after article about how great an acquisition Swisher will be for the New York Yankees I think it is important to look at the trade from the perspective of the White Sox.

Continue reading "Why The White Sox Won't MIss Nick Swisher"

So this is my first official blog entry for this site.  Pretty exciting huh?  Yeah, not too exciting for me, either.  So in the rare occurance that by happenstance someone stumbles across my posts, I tip my virtual cap to you.  I hope to be updating this relatively frequently. 

Continue reading "Just Starting out"

There is no stove hotter than the one burning on the south side of Chicago this winter.  Coming off of an improbable division title the White Sox are a team some people would expect to return most of their lineup.  Despite making the playoffs for just the 5th time since 1959, last season’s White Sox were a flawed bunch.  At no time were those flaws more apparent than in their first round series against the Rays.  After four games the younger, faster, and better defensive team won and went on the win the pennant. 

Continue reading "What is Kenny Cooking?"

With the regular and postseason over, and the hot stove not quite on fire just yet, it’s a perfect time to pick my regular season award winners for the 2008 season.  Here are my MVP picks.

Continue reading "MVP Award Picks"

Hey Readers if you are out there,

First, I do apologize that I failed to update this through what may have been the most exciting series in Twins history and then what was almost the most improbable postseason appearance in Twins history.  If you missed it here's what happened.  The Twins were down 1 1/2 games to the White Sox going into the second to last series of the year, needing to sweep.

Continue reading "Season In Review"

So I normally title my Monday blog: Monday Mourning due to being hungover from a full day of drinking and watching sports, hence the “mourning” because I have to get up, go to work, puke in the bathroom, and subsequently fall asleep in all of my meetings and get absolutely no work done. But today is different, mainly due to the fact that CBS’s and Fox’s regional coverage of NFL games in my area was HORRIBLE. Games that had a spread of +11 with no fantasy implications at all were being aired, so I went and watched polo (you know, the sport where guys on horses trot around and whack a ball with mallets). I had never been to a polo game before but we decided to go due to the possibility of attractive females (there are always beautiful women at horse events). We mingled with a few and made up some elaborate lies that we were just checking out the competition and had our horses stabled a few miles away. We were obviously out of place, with our cheers of “nice pass man!” and “shoooooot it!” but we wholeheartedly plan on attending it every Sunday for the rest of the season – pending what NFL games are on of course.

Continue reading "Monday Mourning"

Jolly good to see you! My name is Daniel, and thank you for viewing my page. I'm pretty new to this blogging stuff, but i'm to give ol' Clayface a new body. <_< Anyway, Expect an analys

Continue reading "Hello!"

Well it seems as though the "Devil" in Devil Rays has officially been exorcised.  The Rays win their first playoff game in franchise history on the shoulders of rookie Evan Longoria.  Those who do not watch baseball would probably think that Longoria was a seasoned veteran by the looks of him.  He looked very comfortable as he tagged a homerun in each of his first two at-bats.  It seemed to me that the Rays were the more relaxed and more fired up team.  In defense of the White Sox, the Rays players were sitting at home resting, while Chicago was playing their butts off just to get into the playoffs.  But I've gotta say that Tampa looked as good as any other team in the playoffs.  They were hitting the ball, looked sharp defensively, and had good pitching.  Their bullpen did a great job in getting out of a bases loaded jam in the 7th inning, and other than one bad inning, the Sox bats were shut down.  My only question is, where did all of the Rays' "fans" come from?  I know they weren't going to games during the regular season.  I guess they didn't want to jump on the band wagon until this first playoff game.

Continue reading "A Little Bit Of H-Evan"

Well, the playoffs get going today, so I guess I should weigh in with my thoughts. I'll be rooting for the Rays and Brewers to get to the World Series, because I've never seen either of them there, and because it will cause the executives at Fox to collectively form a mass riot. That would be fun.

Continue reading "Playoff Predictions"

It was a close game throughout. Nick Blackburn pitched well for the Twins, John Denks was a little bit better for the White Sox.

Blackburn made one mistake, and Jim Thome made him pay with a homer. The Sox had only five hits, the Twins  two.

Continue reading "Twins done"

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

Suddenly it seems as though the Mets won't make the postseason yet again.  After winning again the Brewers now find themselves in the driver's seat and the Mets are on the outside looking in.&nbs

Continue reading "Brewers Hot, Mets Not!"

It didn't look good early. The White Sox scored all six of their runs in the fourth, and were up 6-1. I thought we were going to lose.

But as Jayson Stark said on ESPN tonight, whatever the odds are, never count out the Twins.

Continue reading "Twins win, in first place"

The Twins had to win this first game in the series against the White Sox, and they did, 9-3.

You have to spotlight three players. First Scott Baker, who allowed five hits and a run in seven innings to improve his record to 10-4. He's our No. 2 pitcher behind Francisco Liriano, and he pitched as well Tuesday as Liriano did Sunday against the Rays.

Continue reading "Baker cooks up fine start, win for Twins"

Hey Folks,

Sorry I've been away for a few days.  I really have no excuses other than busyness of life.  Anyway, on to matters at hand.  Our Twins embark on the most important and last week of their season starting tonight when they play host to the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox.  The Sox lead the Twins by 2 1/2 games coming into tonight.  Basically it comes down to this, if the Twins are to make the playoffs, they have to sweep the Sox or at least take 2 of 3, and then win more games this weekend than the White Sox do.   If they take 2 of 3 from Chicago then they have to sweep the Royals this weekend and hope the Indians take 2 of 3.  That's a lot to ask.

Continue reading "It all comes down to this..."

Hello Everyone!

If we haven't talked yet, my name is Zach "Z.V." Sanders and I have been writing here since May.

This past January I set up another sports site called 24/7 Sports Stop as a side project of mine. My current writing staff has gotten lazy and stopped posting, and I am looking to add new writers.

Continue reading "To All Bloggers"

So, yesterday, I mention how the Orioles get a rare well-pitched game from Radhames Liz, and I wrote up my recap on the AL East. Then, Chris Waters goes out and throws a complete game shut-out last night. So, that forces me to mention it, and to do the AL Central wrapup today. By my logic, that means Brian Bass should be lights out tonight. (Or, maybe what I do has nothing to do with how the Orioles play. We'll see.) Anyways, on to the AL Central.

Continue reading "It's AL Central Time"

The Chicago White Sox are contending for the AL Central crown with less than two weeks in this dwindling season.

With Minnesota trailing 8-1 to Cleveland, and the White Sox now ahead of The New York Yankees 4-2 in the fifth inning, every game counts.  Actually, every inning counts. The Sox have a slim game and a half lead over the Twins with 12 to play. And, it looks like the 3 game series with Minnesota on the road could be decisive in determining who will play in the post-season.  The White Sox aren't playing small ball this season, they seem to live and die with the long ball. Losing Carlos Quentin for the year was a tough blow. He currently leads the AL in home runs with 36. 

Continue reading "ChiSox Need Wins"

Black Sunday followed a terrific Saturday.

The Twins lost to Baltimore, 7-3, and the White Sox swept the Tigers to go a game and a half ahead of the Twins.

Alarmingly, the starting pitching wasn't good during the series with the Orioles. Glen Perkins allowed six runs in three innings in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader. Nick Blackburn gave up six runs in four innings against the Orioles on Sunday.

Continue reading "Twins hang on by their fingernails"

I apologize to those of you who have missed reading my blog over the last couple of weeks.  But I'm back with a vengeance, and I'll be writing through October and into the hot stove off-season.

Continue reading "Ayala Joins The Blown Save Party"

The Chicago Cubs found out that Carlos Zambrano's shoulder and arm are fine. He didn't get that finding in a simulated game. He didn't get that finding going down to Iowa to pitch to the minors.  He did it by pitching a no-hitter, 10 strike out gem.  The Cubs beat Houston 5-0 before a makeshift crowd of some 23,000 Cubs fans who "rented" The Brewers home park and cheered loudly and long as Zambrano mowed 'em down.

Continue reading "Cubs' Zambrano Tests Arm and Throws a No-Hitter!"

You have to win crucial games down the stretch on the road to reach the postseason.

The Twins did that, winning 12-2 and 12-6 over the Baltimore Orioles, who have been a welcome change from the Toronto Blue Jays, who have been beating everybody.

Continue reading "Twin-bill win for Twins"

You can't put lipstick on this pig: The Twins' bullpen blew a fine effort by Francisco Liriano to lose at home to the woeful Kansas City Royals.

This one really hurts. Now the team is a game and a half behind the White Sox, with the Sox playing the Jays later tonight.

Continue reading "Horrible loss for Twins"

You may have noticed the small icons at the bottom of your blog posts linking to MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Stumble Upon and other social media websites.  These icons allow you to quickly link your blog post to these sites.  You should be using these links a lot.  Submitting to social media sites is free and easy and can really increase the traffic to your blog.  Consistently using them is the easiest way to build a following and increase your traffic.

Continue reading "How to use social media websites ..."

Hey People,

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything and I do apologize for that.  My life got pretty busy.  Okay enough excuses, let's get on to the good stuff!  Since our last encounter, the Twins have gone from a game up to two and half games out to one game behind the Chicago White Sox after a 7-2 win over the Kansas City Royals last night and two losses by the White Sox to the Toronto Blue Jays.  Tonight the Twins will face the Royals again as the White Sox take on the Blue Jays again.  Hopefully tomorrow morning I will be singing the praises of a team that is tied for the AL Central lead once again! 

Continue reading "I'm back! And hopefully so are our Twins!"

It started so well, with back-to-back wins against the mighty Angels in Anaheim. It ended calamitously, with the Jays sweeping the Twins in Toronto, with the final game a 9-0 blowout.

The Twins finished the road trip 5-8 -- 2-2 against the Angels, 1-2 against the Mariners, 2-2 against the Athletics and 0-3 against the Jays, who won all six games against the Twins.

Continue reading "Twins out of gas as Road Trip from Hell ends"

It's my opinion that the Reds don't think about what they are doing when they trade away a player. So far I have agreed with most of the trades they have done. Especially the Griffey trade. I know most Reds fans adore Ken Griffey, but I think it was a good idea at first, but when we finally got him he was injury prone and wasn't that great of a player. Yeah I know what your saying, he is a future hall of famer, but come on the money we were paying him could of got us a good pitcher and we all know that is what the Reds need to be sucessful!!! The one trade I didn't like was Josh Hamilton. He was an excellent player and got even better at the Rangers. If we kept him we could have been a little better than what we are now. Now I wasn't a big fan of Adam Dunn, but he was a decent player. Now the next year we would not be able to aford him, but I don't think we got anything good out of the deal. But now that we have gotten rid of Dunn and Griffey. I think the Reds can focus on more important thinks like pitchers. With our very young team I think we can have a good chance to go somewhere next year.

Continue reading "Reds management don't think before trading!!!"

The Twins earned a split in their four game series with the A's in Oakland today with a 12-4 win. The win, along with a White Sox win and a Red Sox loss means the Twins are 1/2 game behind the White

Continue reading "Twins finish off so-so weekend with ..."

Does anyone remember that commercial where two teams are playing a game in the pouring rain?  As it continues, a player goes over to a pay phone, says something (that I can’t remember) and then decides he’s going to play all out?  The song “take me out to the ball game” comes on, with electric guitars and all that jazz (I guess it’s not really jazz…you get the picture) and the show the player sliding into the mud and having a blast.  As the song concludes, you hear an announcer saying “What a game!”

Continue reading "“What a game!”"

    Remember July 7, when the Mets nearly blew a 10-1 lead against the Phillies, and barely held on by the skin of their teeth to win 10-9?  Well last night was very similar--but not similar enough, because the main difference was that yesterday the Mets actually pulled off the monumental collapse that they were able to avoid on that July night.  Although the bullpen will probably take the most heat for this loss, every facet of the Mets' play was at fault last night.  The 8-7, 13-inning loss highlighted the Mets' three biggest problems throughout this season.

Continue reading "Seven Runs: Too Little, Too Early"

    The Mets blew leads of 3-0 and 4-3 on Sunday, and Pedro Feliciano gave up two solo bombs in the 10th inning to give New York their second straight loss against the Astros.  Oliver Perez had just one rocky inning, allowing a sacrifice fly to Mark Loretta and a two-run homer to Hunter Pence in the fourth, but Aaron Heilman couldn't hold the one-run lead in the seventh.  He allowed hits to both batters he faced, but was credited with recording an out when Fernando Tatis gunned Geoff Blum out at the plate in the seventh.  The homers Feliciano allowed in the 10th came from two players who had combined for a total of three taters all season until their extra-inning blasts.  You know you don't have your best stuff on a particular day when you give up a go-ahead home run to a defensive replacement (Brad Ausmus).

Continue reading "Feliciano Blows Up In 10th"

Just picture it: it’s the top of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays are holding a slim 2-1 lead over the New York Yankees. Up to bat is Derek Jeter with Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez on deck. Cito Gaston, in order to shut the door on the game and the series gets on the phone and brings in the big gun, Pedro Luis Lazo, winner of two Olympic Gold medals with Cuba and current closer of the Blue Jays. And even if he gives up a run its okay, because leading off the bottom of the ninth for the Jays is Alexei Bell, who hit 30 HR with 100 RBI with Santiago del Cuba last year.

Continue reading "Part Time Jays: How to add a little ..."

    The mystery of how Jerry Manuel will manage the bullpen was put on hold for a day, as Mike Pelfrey pitched his first career complete game Wednesday.  Pelfrey didn't even seem to have his best stuff, but he worked economically throughout the game and kept his pitch count down.  He only struck out three batters, mainly relying on aggressive Braves hitters putting the ball in play early in the count.  The only blemish was the sixth inning, which still could have been much worse.  Atlanta loaded the bases on a bunt single and two walks, but Pelfrey induced a double play grounder from Brian McCann, and he had a chance to escape with only one run allowed.  But he bounced a wild pitch to the next batter and Yunel Escobar scored from third, before Mark Kotsay lined out to left to end the inning.  Pelfrey settled down thereafter and cruised through the next three innings, retiring all nine batters on just 25 pitches.

Continue reading "Pelfrey Goes The Distance"

    The Mets' woes with the bases loaded finally ended Tuesday night when Carlos Delgado doubled off the wall in left to score two and put New York ahead 4-3 in the eighth.  Prior to Delgado's two-bagger, the Mets had just three hits in their last 42 at-bats with the bases loaded.  Then, after an intentional walk to Fernando Tatis, Damion Easley came up with a bases-loaded hit of his own, singling into left center to score two more runs.  Ramon Castro topped the five-run inning off with an RBI double down the line in left, and the Mets completed the comeback from a 3-2 eighth inning deficit.

Continue reading "Delgado, Easley Spark Comeback Against Braves"

We've added some additional functionality to our " Headline Widget" so that our bloggers can now promote their blog posts through the widget.  Simply go the "Headline Widget" page, type in your username in the appropriate blank, and copy the HTML to any webpages (i.e. your MySpace profile page or your personal blog) where you want your blog posts to appear.

Continue reading "Headlines Widget updated to include ..."

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

Continue reading "Inbound link contest winner announced!"

    Well, it's become quite obvious that the Mets desperately need to find someone else to close in Billy Wagner's absence.  When Wagner had to miss a game against the Phillies three weeks ago with forearm stiffness, Duaner Sanchez dropped the ball.  Since Wagner was placed on the DL last week, Heilman has been awful in two of his four ninth inning chances.  In order to put an end to the bullpen's pattern of implosion, Jerry Manuel offered two other options after yesterday's game:  Eddie Kunz and John Maine.

Continue reading "Mets' Season May Depend on Kunz"

    Since when is a four-run, seventh inning lead against a team 17.5 games out of first place not safe?  Since the Mets' bullpen hit rock bottom.

    The Mets' plan for Monday afternoon's makeup game against the Pirates was to get on top early and send Pittsburgh packing quickly.  When David Wright knocked a three-run home run to right center in the first, and Pedro Martinez allowed only one run through six innings, the game seemed to be following how it was scripted.  But then on came the New York bullpen.

Continue reading "Heilman Heads Up Another Bullpen Meltdown"

Below is the original blog I wrote about last night's game.  Upon finishing the blog, I learned some disturbing news about Tim Wakefield.  I thought I'd share that first:

“Tim Wakefield has been scratched from his scheduled start on Tuesday with tightness in the back of his shoulder, the same injury that kept him off the World Series roster. Wakefield has already been sent back to Boston, where he'll be examined by Dr. Thomas Gill.

Continue reading "Dice-K dominates, but Wakefield goes to the DL..."

As I sit here watching the Futures at Fenway game on NESN, it’s nice to see the minor leaguers get a taste of the big leagues – especially after our own big leaguers lost 5-3 last night.

Continue reading "Frustrating loss for (Red) Sox in series opener"

You know, I was just thinking about how the White Sox are going to be a lot tougher to play than the Royals.  They're a first place team who are fighting to keep their spot.  They have hitters like Orlando Cabreara, Jim Thome, and the All Star Carlos Quentin.  Oh yeah, they also picked up Ken Griffey Jr. 

Continue reading "Sox against the Sox - Game 1 preview"

Theory of the Week:  Relief Spending

    Every winter the free agent frenzy escalates as contracts rise to astronomical amounts and lengths.  Some MLB executives balk at the dearth of talent and exhorbitant contracts, while others jump at the opportunity to sign what they think are the missing pieces, for whatever the market demands.  Swarming the headlines this past off-season were some of the questionable contracts signed by relief pitchers.

Continue reading "Are Relief Pitchers Worth Their Contracts?"

    Sure enough, just after I wrote about how I’d like to see Jerry Manuel try to stretch Aaron Heilman for some more two-inning relief appearances, Heilman blew a tie game in his second inning of work on Friday night.  After getting through the seventh inning cleanly, Heilman loaded the bases in the eighth and gave up a game-winning grand slam to pinch hitter Mark Loretta.  To add insult to injury (literally, considering the ailing arms of John Maine and Billy Wagner), Heilman was tagged with the loss again on Saturday in another collapse of sorts from the Mets’ bullpen.  This one was a group effort though, with Scott Schoenweis and Billy Wagner contributing to the blown 4-1 lead.  After yet another solid, but insufficiently long, outing from Johan Santana, Schoenweis allowed a solo home run to Kaz Matsui, who has killed the Mets, hitting .438 against his former team over the last three years.  Wagner then gave up a bizzare two-run single to Geoff Blum with the bases loaded in the ninth to blow the save, as both runners crashed into one another and Ramon Castro all at once at the plate.  Then, in the tenth, Heilman put the first two runners on base before handing the ball over to Pedro Feliciano.  Feliciano actually did not pitch poorly, striking out the first batter he faced and then allowing the game-ending sacrifice fly on a weakly hit liner by Darin Erstad.  Fernando Tatis made an excellent catch on Erstad’s sinking flare, but was unable to throw Lance Berkman out at the plate.

Continue reading "Shaky Pen Gets Mets Swept By 'Stros"

For the first time since May 13, the Minnesota Twins--the team that stood pat during the recent Trade Deadline Sweepstakes--assume first place in the NL Central today.

Chicago had been waiting for its bats to heat up all season, and both Swisher and Konerko have had a few streaks of hot hitting, but they couldn't get the whole team hitting at the same time. So they grabbed Ken Griffey, Jr., a move that was part consummation of a long-time love affair with Junior by GM Kenny Williams and part best-choice trade.

Continue reading "Twins in First"

In my opinion, its only one game, and im not too shocked, but it got me thinking...are managers like Gardy bad for the game? In my opinion, no. He is fiery yes, but I wouldnt call him unreasonable. He has never come close to making a spectacle of himself like that minor league manager a while back, i believe the hat-kicking fiasco was the farthest i think i have seen him go. Whenever I have seen him come out to argue a call, I have always agreed with him, at times i have been nearly as mad. The call the other night that led to the hat-kicking and fans throwing things was a horrendously bad call. I saw that, everyone I was watching the game with saw that, and obviously Gardy saw it. I dont think you can blame what followed his ejection on Gardy. Our fans...Minnesota fans...of all sports, at all levels...need little provocation to act like morons. (See the Hockey riots at the U of M when they won the Championship). I thought it was funny, and hopefully, but doubtfully, it will serve as a small wakeup call to Umpires to open their damn eyes. This whole thing about instant replay is rediculous. I have a better idea, give the umpires glasses or fire them all and hire people that can do the job better. Baseball has been around for what, 130 years? This problem hasnt been this bad for 130 years, or even five years. It seems like in the last year or two, umpires have gone blind. Fix that problem before you go to the video tape folks.

Continue reading "Gardenhire Suspended"

You're chasing the top team in your division. They come to town for a four-game series. You must win three of four at least.

That's just what the Twins did by winning 10-6 on Thursday. But it was the way they did it that's so hopeful for the Twinkies.

Continue reading "Twins come back, take three of four from Sox"

A few trades of note for Mariners fans--the ones made, the ones not made, and the ones made by other teams. Here are the Top 3 Seattle Deadline Stories:

1. Rhodes is now a Marlin. This was the guy everyone figured the Mariners would deal, and it came through. It makes complete sense, as the Mariners don't need Rhodes down the stretch, for a handful of lefty specialist innings, while the Marlins do. In return, Seattle gets Gaby Hernandez, a once-well-regarded starter who's scuffled at Albuquerque (where every pitcher scuffles), and he'll get a fresh start with Tacoma and the Mariners. He's nobody special, but Rhodes is an aging lefty in a one-year deal, so Lee Pelekoudas got who he could. Nice job, Lee.

Continue reading "Mariners Deadline Analysis"

Well that was a surprise...

Nice win by the Yanks followed by a very unexpected trade with the Tigers to acquire Catcher, Pudge Rodriguez for P Kyle Farnsworth.

The more I think about this trade, the happier I get...you can take the angle that the Yanks (like any other team in baseball) can't afford to give up a quality arm...That is true, however this 'quality arm' is not exactly what I would call consistent and not someone that i want pitching meaningful innings in, in October.

Continue reading "Delayed Reaction to Pudge"

Most people would say the surprise team of the year in baseball is the Rays. The Twins are a close second.

This series against the White Sox is crucial. After this, they play only one more series. This is the team the second-place team must catch up.

Continue reading "Twins come back to knock off Sox"

    Monday night in Miami was an all-around bad experience for the Mets.  John Maine cruised into the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead, and looked just fine to the naked eye.  But after Maine missed with a 1-0 fastball to John Baker, Jerry Manuel, Dan Warthen and Ray Ramirez, the trainer, jogged out to the mound to consult with Maine.  He appeared to say he was fine, and stayed in the game for the time being.  But after his next pitch to Baker left the yard for a solo home run, and his 1-2 pitch to Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco chased Endy Chavez to the warning track to make the catch, Manuel and Warthen decided they had seen enough, and pulled Maine in favor of Carlos Muniz.  Maine is listed as day-to-day with shoulder stiffness, and Warthen said he was most concerned that Maine might develop further injuries if he tried to compensate in his delivery to protect his shoulder.  In all likelihood Maine will miss a start in order to rest his shoulder, and hopefully pitch again next week.  After the game Manuel was adamant that Maine will not pitch through any pain.

Continue reading "Mets Fried By Fish, Maine Leaves Early"

Recently, I also did a rundown of a few of the teams that could be the busiest come deadline day. Now, a look at the specific players that could be moving:

Catcher

Bengie Molina, Giants:

Continue reading "The Trading Post: Player Edition"

    When the Mets traded for and signed Johan Santana in January, tonight's game was exactly what they had in mind.  The ace will take the mound tonight at Shea to face the Phillies, who are tied with the Mets atop the National League East.  Tonight would be a perfect situation for the type of start Mets fans are itching for out of Santana.  Overall, despite his 3.10 ERA, Santana's season has been a disappointment to this point.  His 8-7 record is mediocre, his strikeout rate is down, his batting average against is up, and his solid ERA is also misleading in that it does not reflect the grand slam he allowed to pitcher Felix Hernandez of the Mariners.  Santana has only pitched into the eighth inning once this season, and Duaner Sanchez ultimately blew that game in the ninth.  Tonight is an opportunity for Santana to turn his sub-par season around, and show Mets fans that he is worth his exhorbitant contract

Continue reading "Johan Santana Takes the Hill With ..."

   After splitting the four-game series in Cincinnati, the Mets are back in a first-place tie with the Phillies for the lead in the NL East.  Lately it hasn't only been Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran leading the offense; Carlos Delgado has been on fire recently and came through with the clutch, game-tying hit in the seventh inning on Sunday, and the Mets' bench players have been carrying the torch as well.  The "irregulars," (as Mets television broadcaster Gary Cohen puts it) such as Fernando Tatis, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley and Ramon Castro, have been igniting the Mets' offense for the past three weeks.  But two new players with anything but household names were just as instrumental to the Mets' success in Cincy as anyone getting paid upwards of $12 million per year:  Argenis Reyes and Robinson Cancel.

Continue reading "Makeshift Mets Back In First, But ..."

I used to believe I had already gone through the greatest sports books already, but a summer read has changed my mind.

"Eight Men Out," by Eliot Asinof, is quite unlike most great sports books and movies, which tend to be inspirational. This is nothing of the sort — it’s a cynic’s delight, the kind of book that reinforces your sense that the world is screwed up, no one has pure motives and problems are not so much solved as dealt with by finding convenient scapegoats.

Continue reading "'Eight' good enough to be among best sports books"

    The Mets are riding their longest winning streak since 2000 heading into the second half tonight in Cincinnati, and they will have their ace on the hill to try to extend it.  Johan Santana is a disappointing 8-7 so far this season but still boasts a fantastic 2.84 ERA, good enough for fourth in the National League.  Despite a relatively lousy second half last year (5-7, 4.04 ERA), Santana has excellent career numbers after the All-Star break.  He is 50-17 in 108 starts, with a 2.79 ERA and 642 strikeouts in 606.1 innings.  The Mets hope that their improved play of late will only help Santana reach those lofty second half expectations, and lead the team through a pennant race.  Santana gets the start tonight against the Reds and rookie starter Johnny Cueto.

Continue reading "Johan Looks to Start Second Half Strong Tonight"

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

Continue reading "Inbound link contest - Win $100!"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

    Mike Pelfrey pitched another gem Sunday night, throwing eight shutout innings in the Mets' 7-0 victory over the Rockies, and won his sixth straight start.  New York cruised through their six-game homestand, outscoring the Giants and Rockies 31-4 with four shutouts to boot.  They now stand just a half game behind the Phillies for first place in the NL East.

Continue reading "Big Pelf and the Mets Take Nine Into ..."

As promised, Ill continue to trapeze my way through all 15 American League clubs, stopping and giving credit where credit is due to the biggest blood-suckers in the game-- the All-Underachievers.

Continue reading "All-Underachieving Squad (cont.)"

    This time last week the Mets were 4.5 games behind Philadelphia entering their pivotal four-game series with the division leaders.  After Johan Santana gave up a 2-0 lead and Duaner Sanchez allowed the winning run in the ninth, the horizon looked bleak for the orange and blue.  However, since that devastating defeat, New York has racked up six straight wins and the Mets now find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Phillies in the NL East.  During the winning streak the Mets have scored an average of seven runs per game while yielding only three per contest, including back-to-back shutouts of the Giants on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Continue reading "Mets Go For Seven Straight Tonight at Shea"

For some of you who don't know, I am a fantasy sports fanatic. I enjoy the crunching of number, and the drafting of players. This is an example from one of my leagues (my team is SPeff Starz, having an unusually bad season for my standards.)

Continue reading "All Stars and Winning Fantasy Baseball: Relation?"

The closer position in baseball is a relatively recent development, one which has only come about as a full-time position with specific duties in the past twenty years. There were closers before then, guys who came into the game in tight situations, but they might appear in the sixth or seventh inning as the ninth, and (at least early in this century) might be starters pitching on their off-day.

Continue reading "K-Rod: King of Saves"

All right then, it’s almost July, which means it’s almost time for yet another midsummer classic, which once again will pit the National League against their arch-rivals, those bums from the junior circuit.

Continue reading "All-Star foppery"

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella on national TV on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball was ejected for arguing a check swing call.  Technically you cannot argue balls and strike calls but technically this is NOT A BALL AND STRIKE CALL - it is a CHECK SWING call.    Did he swing or not-  the ball itself was clearly outside the strike zone.  Lou approached the first base umpire who warned him and then Lou turned around to head back to the dugout.  He had already been ejected by the home plate umpire who then flashed the second ejection sign in Lou's face.  Clearly on the replay the umpire at first base blew the call.   Clearly also Lou was heading back to the dugout and the first base umpire had exercised control of the situation and there was no need to proceed further.   Unbeknownst to Lou, home plate minor league fill in Rob Drake decided this was his day to make a name for himself on national TV and become part of the show.   He had his mask off and ready for a confrontation with Lou as he first threw him out behind his back and then again in front of him.  

Continue reading "Lou ejected by minor league umpires ..."

                Although baseball has a long and cherished history, the thrill of going to a baseball game is the chance of seeing something unique and unexpected.  Last night the sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium saw the Dodgers win despite recording no hits, and broadcaster Vin Scully claims that in his fifty-plus years calling baseball games he’s never seen such an occurrence (though with the way his memory is aging these days, he might’ve years and years ago). However, seeing such unusual history only takes on meaning when contrasted with the everyday normality that is the slog of a six-month baseball season. The extraordinary only becomes noticed when compared to the ordinary.

Continue reading "Dodgers Wallop Three Singles Off ..."