Major League Baseball

It's starting to look like Joe Torre is running away with a 14th consecutive trip to the playoffs as a manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They've been straight up dominating the opposition in the NL West. Some might say, "Oh, the NL West has the worst teams in baseball. It's the easiest division." Regardless, the Dodgers are where they're at 79 games into the season. All this and they're doing it without Manny Ramirez. They're hasn't been a superstar in the lineup. Everybody on the team is pitching in. Over the past 14 years, Torres had a knack of making things happen with the players given to him yet still make the playoffs.This team is starting to remind me of Torre’s 1998 Yankees. How’s does this Dodger team compare? Let’s take a look.

Continue reading "Are Joe Torre's Dodgers looking like ..."

You'll notice that at every mention of someone in Major League Baseball passing away, there will be a mention of prayers and condolences. I believe it was because of prayer that the Angels were able to press on and continue the season. Longtime Yankee fans will remember the death of Thurman Munson. He died in a plane crash in the late '70s. The day it was announced at the old Yankee Stadium, everybody was crying. The fans were crying. The players were crying. If you watch Yankeeography, you've probably seen clips of Reggie Jackson crying in the outfield. I believe it was the prayers of the fans that gave Lou Piniella the strength to spark up the team by getting the game-winning hit the next day.

Continue reading "Yankee fans for Jesus, arise! Pray for your team!"

What are some of the Braves other needs before the season opener against the Phillies on April 5? Adding an outfield bat seems to be Wren's top priority, but who could it be?

Hopefully not Andruw Jones, who just hit the free agent market yesterday. I just don't think he's worth taking a shot on. After all, the Dodgers did agree to pay him the rest of his contract as long as he stopped hurting their team by taking up a roster spot.

Continue reading "What's left for the Braves?"

Yes, it's great for the Atlanta Braves that Derek Lowe is their rotation's new ace. He's better than what they have now — with the exception possibly being Jair Jurrjens, who might be really, really good one day but is still just 22 years old — and there aren't too many other options out there. Randy Wolf isn't that great, neither is Oliver Perez, and Ben Sheets is exactly what the Braves don't need, another starter who will spend more time on the DL then he will off of it.

Continue reading "Braves overbid for Lowe - but they had no choice"

Much like the Designated Hitter, the announced introduction of instant replay to Major League Baseball will likely have calcified supporters and detractors forevermore, and it seems just as inevitable that it will remain. MLB may begin reviewing home run calls this season, possibly as soon as August 1, according to a report in USA Today.

Continue reading "On The Merits of Instant Replay"

ATLANTA -- With a swipe of his pen, Mike Woodson will remain as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks.

Good move.

When things go wrong, the coach often gets the blame. But has any coach in recent professional sports history inherited more of a mess than Woodson, whose four years on the job has been marked by a complete overhaul of the roster, a 13-win season, mostly empty seats at Philips Arena, a failed move by then-general manager Billy Knight to fire him, and a nasty ownership spat that still sits unresolved in the courts.

Continue reading "Woodson has earned the right to stay ..."

Josh Anderson can run.

The speedy outfielder stole 40 bases at Triple-A Round Rock last season. Called up to Houston in September, he hit .358 in 21 games. This season, at Triple-A Richmond, Anderson stole 13 bases in 16 attempts.

Continue reading "Roster shuffle leaves Anderson out ..."

Two games down on the current road trip. Eight games to go. One baseball team, sinking fast.

The Braves ran their losing streak to five games Wednesday night and never had a chance against the team with the best record in the bigs. The Cubs lit up emergency starter Jeff Bennett for seven runs and seven hits in two-plus innings, Atlanta falling 7-2 to drop two games below .500.

Continue reading "The beat goes on ..."

Yep, the injury bug now has bitten one of the Braves' youngsters.

According to some reports on the Web this afternoon, Jair Jurrjens injured his ankle while leaving Wrigley Field last night and will not make his scheduled start tonight against the Cubs.

Continue reading "New starter for tonight's game"

By Bud L. Ellis 

ATLANTA -- As the Atlanta Braves prepared to leave Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and close spring training, the franchise that built its success on pitching felt pretty good about 2008.

Continue reading "Braves learning a hard lesson on aging pitchers"

Nick Blackburn of the Twins was felled on Sunday by a line drive off the bat of Yankee Bobby Abreu, who's enough of a nice guy to show obvious distress as he ran to first. It's one of the greatest fears of any pitcher, as few have the instincts to get out of the way of a ball traveling 100+ MPH from fifty-five feet away (recall that the pitcher typically lands much closer to the plate than the sixty feet, six inches from the rubber to the plate).

Continue reading "Dangerous Projectiles"

Over the next several weeks I will preview the upcoming Major League Baseball season on division at a time by addressing the key issue each team faces this summer. I’ll wrap it up with my post season picks and predictions for award winners. First up is the National League West.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Preview Part One: National League West"