Baseball

In a showdown of American League's "best," it probably comes as a surprise to very few (living outside of New York) that Joe Mauer won the Most Valuable Player Award walking away. The only other first-place vote went to Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers.

Catchers seem to have a bone tossed their way on a regular basis, don't they?

What's that? You disagree, you say?

For years, the BBWAA picks for the Cy Young Awards and MVP were the subject of incredible scorn, especially among the sabermetric community.

The 2005 AL Cy Young, for example, saw Bartolo Colon, armed with a 21-8 record, beat Johan Santana despite being subordinate to him in every category besides wins—three wins worse according to Baseball Prospectus’ Wins Above Replacement Player. Every team has their example, every year seems to bring new controversy, but 2009 seems to have been a big step in the right direction.

• Year: 1976
• Record: 74-87
• Win Percentage: .460
• Win Percent Change: +102
• Run Differential: -100
• Pythagorean Record: 69-92
• AL Finish: 10th of 12
• Manager: Ralph Houk
• Best Transaction: Drafted Alan Trammell, Dan Petry, and Jack Morris.  The Tigers didn’t make a lot of moves in 1976, so this stellar draft will have to do.  While Trammell and Morris were both Tigers for over a decade, led them to a World Series and won numerous awards, the Tigers also let one get away in this draft.  In the seventh round the club drafted
  

The 1952 World Series is usually remembered for Billy Martin's great catch of a Jackie Robinson pop fly with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning of the seventh game.

The catch saved the Series for the Yankees, but the 1952 World Series was memorable in many other ways.

Joe Black Started and Finished Game 1

Rookie right hander Joe Black started Game1 at Ebbets Field against Yankees' ace Allie Reynolds.

The Clay Buchholz rumors are flying again.

The Red Sox are interested in a big hitter, like Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers or Adrian Gonzalez of the San Diego Padres.

Trading for either Cabrera or Gonzalez would likely involve a huge package of young players, almost definitely including Clay Buchholz.

Buchholz has taken steps back from his no-hitter in September of 2007. But down the stretch in 2009, Buchholz was great, anchoring the Red Sox staff behind Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. 

Professionals in the game of baseball, managers perhaps more than players, will hate to admit this. But it was fantasy baseball that shaped a lot of how we now think about the actual sport. And while few, if any teams are as yet run by amateurs, it must be conceded that the amateurs to the game revolutionized the way the game is currently run.

The good news is that Stephen Strasburg doesn’t need surgery on his injured knee . The bad news is that this is the second injury for the pitching phenom and it has the potential to linger for years.

Conducting his second television interview in as many days, Manny Acta sat on the set of All Bets Are Off with Bruce Drennan knowing full well he was about to drop a bombshell.

The idea was brought up in the past few weeks and was even denied by Mets general anager Omar Minaya. However, when push came to shove, the idea was about to become a reality much to the delight of the entire city of Cleveland.

Gary Sheffield was quoted in the Boston Globe over the weekend saying he could hit at least 25 home runs if a team gives him the chance to play every day.

He even went so far as to say that he could hit upwards of 40 home runs in the proper situation. 

I hate to say it, Gary, but it's time to hang it up. 

To put the current length of his career in perspective, Sheffield was drafted sixth overall in the amateur draft by the Milwaukee Brewers just four months after I was born in 1986.