Baseball

Oh boy, the always panicked fan base of the Texas Rangers are all out of whack again...shocking I know.

One of the best quotes in the history of cinema was delivered by Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own, and I think it fits perfectly with the life of a Rangers fan.

"Of course it's hard, if it wasn't everyone would do it...the hard is what makes it great."

Is it hard to be a Rangers fan?

Anyone that isn't has no idea how hard it is. Even Cubs fans have experienced some success in the playoffs.

With the All-Star game quickly approaching, the Detroit Tigers have to feel confident with their lead in the American League Central. The key for the Tigers this year has been their pitching and defense. Beyond the resurgence of Justin Verlander, Detroit has had all-star caliber contributions from Edwin Jackson and Rick Porcello in the starting rotation.

Overall the Tigers are second in hits allowed, third in runs allowed, third in fielding percentage, and third in double plays turned. Clearly pitching and defense is the backbone.

After a memorable 2008 season that saw the Milwaukee Brewers make the Playoffs for the first time since 1982, expectations for the 2009 season were mixed.

Many people thought the Brewers wouldn't have enough pitching to make a return trip, while others thought their bats would carry them to the promised land for a second straight year.

The Brewers are about to begin a nine-game home stand that will see them try and regain first place after being overtaken by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Looks like the apparent blunder of nixing a Washburn deal with the Minnesota Twins last year was not much of a mistake. 

When Ruben Amaro was appointed general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies shortly after the team’s 2008 World Series victory, he knew the only way his inaugural season would be considered a success was if the Phillies managed to make it back to the World Series. Not an enviable position to be in considering the difficulties involved in repeating, let alone making it back to the World Series two consecutive years in a row.

Growing up in Toronto during the heyday of the Blue Jays run to the back-to-back titles, I was blessed with being able to witness both the building of a championship team from scratch as well as the ability of a wealthy team and city paying big bucks to keep the team together.

While the Blue Jays payroll was at or near the top of the league in '92 and '93 when they won their titles, the differences from top to bottom were nothing like they are today.

In this past month, the New York Mets have turned into the New York Bets; people all around the world are betting on when the next Mets player will find himself with all the others on the bloated DL. Some even go a little bit farther and pick a player. 

Some of the biggest names on the Mets' disabled list are Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, JJ Putz, Oliver Perez, John Maine, and the newest player to join the club, Carlos Beltran. 

It's almost July. That means we have almost three months of MLB highlights, wins, losses, and data at our disposal. From this we can draw conclusions, project outcomes, and try to figure out the Rubik's Cube that is the 2009 baseball season.

Tuesday afternoon, Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw was kind enough to take part in a live chat event at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on MLB.com.

For 39 minutes, the native of Dallas, Texas answered questions from fans that were logged into a chat room.

Clayton is in his second season with the Blue Crew. Drafted in 2006 by the Dodgers at only 21-years of age, Kershaw was the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year at Highland Park High School in Texas.