Baseball

The New York Yankees just found out who they will be playing to kick off the 2010 season: their old pals, the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees will open the 2010 season at Fenway Park for the fifth time in the last fifty years. 2010 will also be the only time in that span that the Bronx Bombers will face the Red Sox to open and close the season.

The Yankees, who currently sit atop a 7.5 game lead over their division rival Red Sox, play at home against the Blue Jays tonight at 7:05 ET.

September baseball can often feel like October playoffs. Monday night, Mike Scioscia managed his squad like it was the last game of the World Series.

On the cusp of what could be the most important week of the season for his Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Scioscia took over the one-game make-up contest against the New York Yankees as if his whole season was riding on it.

He pinch ran, pinch hit, and defensively substituted players all over the field. In every way, Scioscia outfoxed and out-managed his counterpart in the Yankee dugout.

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Workhorse.

In a season that has seen 12 different starting pitchers for the Los Angeles Dodgers thus far, that’s the only way to describe how Randy Wolf put the starting staff on his back from the end of June until early September.

Wolf, in 14 starts from June 29-September 5, tossed 93.2 innings—good for an average of 6.2 innings per start.

Under normal circumstances, winning a Sept. 14 game against the Baltimore Orioles would be a big one.

Under normal circumstances, David Price's seven strong innings or Reid Brignac's 4-for-4 night would be a cause for elation.

But under normal circumstances, the Tampa Bay Rays wouldn't be just getting over an 11-game losing streak.

What is there to get excited about any more this year?

Even a win reminds us that this team was only a few games out of the American League Wild Card spot less than two weeks ago.  

The minor league seasons are over, except for a few playoff games, so it's time to take a look at what some of the Yankees' draftees have accomplished so far.

Zachary Slade Heathcott

1st Round, OF: Heathcott signed at the deadline and didn't get much of a chance to start his career. He got into three games with the GCL Yankees and went 1-for-10 with a walk and two strikeouts. Next season, he will either start in extended spring training or with the Charleston RiverDogs.

J.R. Murphy

Now that the baseball season is winding to a close and the races are essentially over, it's time to look back and evaluate what went on in 2009.

The Sox were picked to finish in third place by most publications and that is exactly where they are right now. Though they were in the race for the division most of the year, they never built enough momentum to take a lead and fell out of the race in late August.

Today is why football will never touch baseball as far as greatest sport goes. Football has it’s moments...on Sundays. Today there is nothing on again until Sunday. That’s too many days without a game being played for me to really get into it.

It's like a splinter you just can't get out.

For whatever reason, the Detroit News' beat writer Lynn Henning just keeps picking at Curtis Granderson relentlessly. Henning just cannot get over the fact the fan favorite and All-Star center fielder is allowed to have an off-year. And by off-year I mean, he's only the second-most productive position player on the team.

In 2008, as the Chicago Cubs were well on their way to winning 97 games and being declared the best team in the National League, something suddenly happened. The team started struggling and completely laid an egg in the playoffs.

We now know that something was pressure.

The weight and burden of expectations from media, fans, and management for a team that hadn't been to the World Series since 1945 was just too much to bear. They collectively looked like deer in the headlights come October.

They CHOKED.

 Just because you’ve slipped behind in the Stolen Base category doesn’t mean you can’t catch up.  Here are some reasonably available SB threats.