Baseball

Joe Blanton had a renaissance of sorts in 2009, though it’s impossible for me to say that he was impressive.

He was solid, but is that enough to make him relevant to fantasy owners?  Before we answer that we have to take a closer look at his results.

It was his first full year in the National League, leading to his third-best ERA of his five-year career. The stats:

• 12 wins
• 195.1 innings
• 4.05 ERA
• 1.32 WHIP
• 163 strikeouts (7.51 Ks/9 IP)
• 59 Walks (2.72 BBs/99 IP)
• .302 BABIP

I grew up and fell in love with a Rangers team that was much different from this one. Back then the outfield was the offensive strength of the team, much like it was for most teams.

I remember watching Juan Gonzalez, Ruben Sierra, and the fan-favorite Rusty Greer. Jose Canseco was also out there for a little while, but we’ll just forget about him.

In recent years, the outfield has been somewhat of a revolving door.

Red Sox starting pitcher Josh Beckett missed his start on March 14 when he came down ill.

He made his scheduled start last Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he pitched in a weakened state and was largely ineffective.

So all eyes were on the big Texan this afternoon in Bradenton—hoping to get some indication as to whether he will be ready to take the ball on Opening Night against the Yankees, just 11 days from now.

The play looked innocent enough when it happened. Last night, Minnesota leadoff hitter Denard Span ripped a one-hopper that seemed destined for right field until Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia made one of his patented diving stops—ranging to his left to snag the ball and then popping up to throw the ball to first base. The fact he threw wide of first for an error was irrelevent…it was a classic defensive effort by the Sox gritty second baseman.

Pedroia played the rest of the frame, but failed to come out of the dugout for the second inning.

I received "Giants Past and Present" in the mail yesterday from MVP Books . In all honesty, I plowed through the book in one night. In many ways, it is not a very dense book. It runs 144 pages long and for the most part, it is very picture-heavy.

We wandered in here the week of the UW vs Arizona State game after walking two miles from 3rd and Mill to East Apache Blvd. and Rural in 100 degree weather, in search of liquor and food. Fortunately for us, this place specializes in both.

The Baers Den is a must stop if visiting just for Game Day or for Baseball's Fall and Spring training camps.

The thought is that I would do a follow-up to my article that was written on October 22, 2009.

We spent 11 days in Tempe for Spring Training and St. Patrick's day in the desert.

Budding young stars seem to be a trend in not only baseball, but in numerous sports. There is something to be said for harvesting your own players and having them shine. It has been a long time coming in baseball, where again exciting youth have arrived to sell out ballparks.

One of the top organizations in the business the Los Angeles Dodgers, have been to the League Championships in consecutive years.

This is interesting given the fact that the third largest market in sports has spent relatively cheaply.

The credit is due to the players and the managerial staff.

One of the best things about being a Yankees Featured Columnist here on Bleacher Report is being able to bring up and address certain rumors that float around.

This will be another story pertaining to one of those rumors currently floating around, which now will be addressed by me, and I'm sure will be addressed amongst the Yankees B/R community here as well. I'm looking forward to it.

Lately, a certain big-named pitcher who will be a free agent pitcher after the 2010 season is now being linked to the Bronx.

I come at this with a bias; this I admit willingly.

You see, I am a Tampa Bay Rays fan.

I would love nothing more than to see the Evil Empire crumble and fall and watch Hank Steinbrenner go off his meds and give his best "like father, like son."

Every year I hope that the "aging" Yankees finally, well, show their age. 

Every year people wonder when these three players' stars will begin to dim.

Once a proud franchise that spent much of the early part of the last decade as contenders in the American League West, once a franchise that was hailed all across the world of baseball as a club that practiced the once revolutionary method of "Moneyball" under the direction of general manager Billy Beane, once a franchise that fans could count on to challenge the New York Yankees for American League supremacy, the Oakland Athletics are now one of baseball's failing franchises—a downward spiral that has taken place over a mere three seaso