Alex Rodriguez

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We aren’t even a full month into the 2009 MLB season and we’ve already seen scandals, big innings, great games, and unexpected division leaders. Baseball’s recent purge of steroids has considerably lowered the league’s offensive output, as well as attendance.

However, the sport is still surviving and looks to bring fans yet another great year. Here are a few things worth noting so far this season:

1. Check the Standings

The 2009 baseball season has started off with a splash. Thus far many teams have had good starts to this season, such as the Marlins and Blue Jays who have had solid hitting and good quality pitching.

Then we have the New York Yankees. The most active team this offseason; thus far their big time acquisitions haven't been up to the caliber of the 26 time world champions.

Sabathia and Burnett have not been able to lead a predicted top five rotation in the league.

Questions about Wang and his injury, as well as Joba's future in bullpen does raise eyebrows.

Two games versus the Boston Red Sox in April does not mean anything.

As far as I am concerned, without Alex Rodriguez and the struggles of our number two starter Chien-Ming Wang, I am satisfied with a 9-8 start heading into Sunday.

Watching the last two games has been tough, because both games the Yankees could have easily won and they let them get away.

The positives I am seeing aren't outweighing the negative, but it is close.

Robinson Cano is hitting .366 and tearing the cover off the ball, adding two home runs and five RBI in yesterdays loss.

“Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win, it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game.”

That famous song, by Jack Norworth (I bet you did not know that, and I am impressed if you did) is sung in the middle of seventh innings from early March to late October in ball parks all over the United States.

Alex Rodriguez will break Barry Bonds’ career home run record—and he won’t need to hit 73 in one year to do it.

If he can play seven more years and average 30 home runs each year (he’s averaged 44 so far), that’s all he’ll need. Even assuming he’ll decline a bit in his 30's, he still looks a good bet to get there.

Keep in mind that from age 33 to 39, Bonds averaged 47 home runs per season. Rodriguez would break his record by averaging 17 fewer over the same period of his career.

New Stadium Playing Much Differently Than Planned

Three games have been played at the new Yankee Stadium thus far and 17 HRs have been hit. Add the eight hit in the exhibition games against the Cubs and that's 25 HRs in five games, or for you shellshocked Yankee fans, five HR per game.

The Yankees lost a miserable game today to the Cleveland Indians in the opening series of their New Yankee Stadium by the score of 22-4, with a 14 run second-inning put up by the Indians (the most ever given up by the Yankees in a single frame).

Normally, I'm not one to put down the Yankees in April considering for the past 5 years or so they've struggled in April and soared in the second half.

However, the new stadium epitomizes in every way that the New York Yankees are a business related franchise.

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This was a research paper I had to write for my ENC 1145 class. Its quite lengthy but it is very interesting. The topic was to pick a source that satirizes something and analyze the satirical elements. I received an A on this paper and A's are hard to come by in this class. I chose the episode of South Park where they made fun of steroids in baseball and well, here it is:

So, what would you do if you were baseball commissioner for a year? Well, I sure know. Actually, there are three major things that as the commissioner I would attempt to do. Actually, these would happen, I would make sure of it.

Sorry to say it, Bud, but you're fired!

On each of these slides is one thing that I will do.

Hey, if you like the ideas, vote for me as baseball commish!

If not, then comment! Tell me all of your fury and rage against my ideas.

So, without further ado, I present Shanan H.'s tenure as baseball's brans, spankin new commissioner!

From the AP: