Alex Rodriguez

Cal Ripken, Jr., is one of the most celebrated players in baseball history.  Practically the Patron Saint of the state of Maryland, Ripken was beloved by home fans and road fans alike.  

Towards the end of his career, fans would flock to the ballpark in droves in order to catch a glimpse of what was palpably a living legend.

Why?  Because he played the game the right way, he showed up for work every single day, and in the 1990s, as his skills began to erode, he kept playing long, hard games every day, and kept working to get better.

Alex Rodriguez didn’t even get an at-bat last night, when the Yankees pinch hit for him in the second inning with Ramiro Pena of all people. After the game, A-Rod said that he left because of his groin, that he injured last week, was stiff. There was no pain, but it was stiff.

Here is more from Chad Jennings :

Evan Longoria was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 3rd pick of the 2006 amateur player draft out of Cal-State Long Beach. Rays fans knew as soon as they heard about this kid that he was going to be great.

After spending two years in the minor leagues, Longoria hit a combined .301/.386/.534 with 44 home runs and 144 RBI, all before his 22nd birthday.

Knowing what they had on their hands, with a team that they felt confident with, Andrew Friedman knew that he had to call up Longoria if the team was going to contend.

For many fans of America's pastime having an insight into the thoughts and daily lives of the players is highly coveted.

With the draft on the horizon it is the perfect time to take a look back at some of baseball's all time best #1 picks. Just because someone is drafted #1 overall doesn't mean they are going to be the next best thing just look at Brien Taylor. Sometimes, however, teams who did their scouting wind up with future hall of famers.

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A typical response to why someone is not a baseball fan is that the game is too slow and boring.

If they only knew that baseball loves the drama.

Right now, it could not be more of a soap opera. Teams are soaring when they should be collapsing, and vice versa.

Here is my list (in dramatic order) of the top five craziest things currently going on in MLB:

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I realize that A-Rod is a great player and has hit a ton of home runs over his career. Rodriguez strikes fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers.

But he is in his mid 30's now, possibly the twilight of his prime, and he just hasn't had the same power stroke this year.

Should someone else bat fourth in the Yankee lineup? I say yes.

The question is, who can do a better job than A-Rod? Not Teixeira with his struggles right now. Possibly Swisher. But Nick seems inconsistent year in and year out.

With baseball a full two months in the books, teams are starting to make their runs toward the All-Star break.

With so much parity in MLB, teams with nearly identical records are separated by a few spots, sometimes more.

There are still many teams in realistic contention for their division title, but I will narrow it down to five teams right now that we could see playing in late October.

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Sometimes players from different eras can be compared accurately because their eras were similar.

Lou Gehrig and Alex Rodriguez played when offense was dominant.

Gehrig played 14 full seasons, 1925-1938, while Alex, whose first full season was 1996, is in his 15th full season.

Rodriguez has already hit more home runs than Gehrig and may break Henry Aaron's career record for home runs, but those facts should never be used to conclude that Alex Rodriguez was better than Lou Gehrig.

The look on Mark Teixeira's face tells it all.

The Yankees are mired in a slump to beat all slumps. Not only has the lights-out pitching from early in the year disappeared, but the offense is sputtering right now as well.

Which is not a good combination.

I'd say the slump started with the Detroit series, which was won by the Tigers three games to one. Then it looked like the Yankees dominance over the Twins would never end, that is until Jason Kubel proved that Mo was in fact human by hitting a grand slam—the first ever slam given up by Mo at Yankee Stadium.