Baseball

When Nyjer Morgan joined the Washington Nationals last July, the team was a moribund 23-55 and paralleling the record of the worst baseball team of all time, the 1962 New York Mets.

They couldn’t hit, they couldn’t pitch, and they certainly couldn’t field.

Baseball fans know that the beautiful game isn't generally decided by which team makes the most errors, either of the physical or mental variety. That's because this particular diamond is plagued by flaws—observers often point out that Ty Cobb's lifetime average is .366.

That means the all-time greatest hitter-for-average failed in his expertise at a 63 percent clip. That about sums up how immaculate even the best splinters are.

Level of difficulty and simple statistics take care of the rest.

AJ Burnett is 33 years old, 2010 will be his 12th season in the major leagues, he’s played for two World Series winning teams, and despite all of that experience he is still learning valuable pitching lessons to this day.

Is it better to be optimistic and be disappointed by the results, or pessimistic and be pleasantly surprised?

I find myself asking that question a lot these days, and not just about the Washington Nationals.

There is an awful lot of optimistic talk coming out of Viera right now, and on the interwebs, about the prospects of significant improvement for the upcoming Nationals season.

Chan Ho Park spoke with reporters about becoming a Yankee even though he had a better offer from the Phillies and also had an offer from the Washington Nationals.

Here are some quotes from his first day in camp :

Entering the 2010 season one can rest assured that there will be a dark horse team that pushes for a wild card spot till seemingly the last day. In the past few seasons it's been the Florida Marlins and of course the Tampa Bay Rays with their miracle run in 2008, so who is it this year?

With the calendar flipping to March and the Olympics a thing of the past, we can call look settle in for Spring Training and the upcoming baseball regular season. While fans will be watching their favorite pitchers, hitters and coaches prepare for the season, behind these select players are smoking WAGs who will catch plenty of attention in her own right.

These players attached to these WAGs will face various successes and failures during the season, but they all return home to a woman that will make them feel like winners.

There’s much to dislike about Manny Ramirez, from the absurd drug-related bust to the ridiculous antics, to the worthless quitter he is.

Losing much sleep on whether he’ll return next season to Dodgertown is pointless, and dwelling on the disturbing topic creates a ruckus with spring training a week away.

Over the next couple of weeks or so, I plan to write up a full report on my all-time favorite Mets team. Pulling from players across generations, I plan to build a 25-man squad that, well, makes me happy. You'll notice the list is light on pre-1985 Mets which is mostly because I haven't been a fan of the team for much longer than that. Even learning the history of the team cannot give me the proper appreciation of those guys that's needed to make them my favorite players.

Yesterday, I wrote a piece about Robinson Cano being the best Yankee second baseman in the history of the franchise.

That made me think about the rest of the infield. If you look at the numbers, this Yankee infield is the best that the New York Yankees have ever had.

When you consider overall talent, both offensively and defensively, there has never been an infield to compare to the one now assembled to play in the Bronx.

And the primary reason is the left side of the infield.