Baseball

I will start off by giving credit to Alex Akita, who's article "Top-11: Most Randomly Awesome Seattle Mariners of All-Time" was the inspiration for this article.

CHICAGO—The Chicago Cubs cut the St. Louis Cardinals' lead in the National League Central to two games after they beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2, behind the arm of rookie pitcher Randy Wells and the bat of Derrek Lee.

Wells (4-3) has won four straight starts after going 0-3 in his first six outings with the Cubs. 

The 26-year-old rookie has really lacked run support from the Chicago offense, but lately, it's been just enough. He went six strong innings, struck out four batters, allowed two runs, and did not allow any walks.

The Giants sit seven and a half games out of first place and hold the lead of the wild card.

They have 44 wins with seven games left before the All-Star Break.

Did anybody expect them to be here? If anybody says yes, they are lying to you and themselves.

Pablo Sandoval has been more than advertised and Tim Lincecum has been his Cy Young-self again. Not to mention Matt Cain has started to show the potential we all knew he had.

The New York Yankees have reached the halfway point of the season at 48-33, four games better than last season at this time (44-37), and have won 10 of their last 11 games entering their Monday afternoon tilt against the Toronto Blue Jays.

With the team at the exact midpoint of the season, now is a great time to assess how the players are performing this year.

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Every time I watch a baseball game I always have the same question: What is that thing on the hitter's thumbs? After being told, "I don't know" and, "Move your face off the screen" for the hundredth time, I took it upon myself to investigate.

As you watch some of your favorite hitters, check out their thumb on the hand closest to the end of the bat. Some of them are sporting a little tab of plastic that sits between the bat and the space between the thumb and the rest of your fingers.

Yesterday, on our three hour ride back from the postponed Scranton AAA doubleheader, my friend Brent and I got into an argument about Alfredo Aceves.

I maintained that the best comparison for what he's done this season is Ramiro Mendoza. Brent suggested the 1996 version of Mariano Rivera. As you might have imagined, I laughed it off completely.

Then Brent got me the stats:

BY DOUG RUSH

As the calendar turns to July, the Major League Baseball trading deadline looms. Most people are expecting the Yankees to be active players near the deadline.

They already made one deal, landing Eric Hinske from the Pittsburgh Pirates for two minor leaguers.

It gives the Yankees more depth on the bench and a chance for Alex Rodriguez to get a day off here and there like Joe Girardi planned.

The only problem is Hinske is another left-handed bat, as is their current starting right fielder, Nick Swisher.

On a weekly basis, I co-host a weekly sports-talk radio show called the Sports Zoo here in Las Vegas, with former Major Leaguer Rich Perez & former Minnesota Viking Great Joey Browner. We spend an hour talking sports like guys would at the bowling alley when their wives or girlfriends are not around.

On Bleacher Report, I try to write opinionated articles about things that I need to get off my chest—sort of like therapy.

After reading Dave O' Brien's (Atlanta Journal Constitution writer) latest, I am convinced that the sooner Jeff Francoeur is released, the better.

Francoeur was benched for the third straight game in part because he's not good enough to start on some church softball league teams right now. But mostly because Matt Diaz is tearing the cover off the ball of late.

Francoeur told O' Brien that he "wasn't happy" with the decision. He went on to say, "I cant do anything about it."