Baseball

We are not quite mid-way through the season and Alex Rodiguez is less than two months removed from his time on the disabled list, and nowhere near removed from the media's flaming maw.

After blowing a nine-run lead Tuesday night, the Red Sox showed the Orioles how it feels as Boston rallied in the ninth inning Wednesday to win 6-5.

Baltimore starter Brad Bergesen pitched lights-out through eight innings. The rookie held Boston to just one run on four hits, no walks, and six strikeouts. He left the game with a 5-1 lead.

Those of you that follow the Sox closely may have heard the reference to the "three-year board" before. General Manager Kenny Williams has mentioned in the past that he has a board that he uses as a reference with all of the players in the organization and which ones he expects to be a part of the roster over the next three seasons.

I will now create my own three-year Board with my own guesses concerning the following:

-Which Sox players will still be around for the 2012 season

-Which Sox prospects we can reasonably expect to contribute to the team

If you've read my first two articles, "The Stolen Base: A Lost Art. Will we ever see a 100 Steal Man Again?" and "Gimmie Five!

You'll have to excuse Pittsburgh Pirates fans for not knowing quite how to react to a front office with a plan.

Tuesday's trade that sent the speedy and affable outfielder Nyjer Morgan and left-handed reliever Sean Burnett to the Washington Nationals for sidetracked prospect Lastings Milledge and righty Joel Hanrahan was met with predictable discontent from many followers of the maligned Buccos.

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The bottom line on the ESPN SportsCenter screen scrawled by and the White Sox versus Indians score blinked an all too familiar array of crooked numbers. 

The 11 runs scored by the White Sox, in a rain shortened game to boot, helped cement a growing 2009 pitching legacy that bathes in futility.

It's been well known, the struggles that the Indians pitching staff has had this year. The Indians have given up 440 runs in 2009, which is exactly 80 runs more than the next highest allowed run total of anyone in the American League Central. 

We're just about halfway through the MLB season. The Yankees and Red Sox are having their perennial fight for the top of the American League East (and the Rays are catching up too). The Tigers, White Sox, and Twins are all duking it out while the Angels and the Rangers are swapping punches.

Then you have the National League.