Baseball

The Minnesota Twins have spent most of June slowly gaining ground on the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central.

Early next month, the Twins could quickly gain ground on the rest of the Major League Baseball when it comes to high-profile international signings.

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Matt Cain is coming into tonight’s start against the Texas Rangers as a rising star. His stock around the league is rising, and fans across the nation are starting to know his name.

Yet Cain should not be looked upon as a new arm. After all, he’s compiled almost four full years of major-league service time, and has been playing professionally for the last eight.

In the first game I have attended since moving back to Seattle, the Mariners rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit a two-run pinch hit homerun in eighth inning to tie the game and Rob Johnson had the go-ahead RBI as the Mariners earned a victory in their MLB-leading 27th one-run game.

The Diamondbacks drew first blood, scoring two runs in the third inning after a costly throwing error by Mariners SP Jarrod Washburn. A Miguel Montero solo homerun in the fourth inning gave the Diamondbacks an early 3-0 lead.

As we are now approaching the half way point of their first full season, I thought it would be a good idea to check up on some of last seasons highly regarded draft picks.  Among the many 2008 Draft picks was a solid core of arms again. 

Dave Dombrowski drafted solid relievers that could be MLB ready soon to put some Neosporin and a band aide on a wounded Tiger bullpen. With that said lets take a look at some of our newest Tigers that are earning their stripes.

Since its inception the American League has dominated in season inter-league play.  Up through the 2008 season the American league had a record of 1536 wins and 1420 losses.

The American League has also dominated the All-Star game having not lost since 1996.  However, this isn't a fair measure of which league is better because a league can easily have the best group of 25-35 stars but still be the weaker league. 

After the events of the past few weeks, Mets fans are genuinely concerned about the 2009 season. Injuries have decimated the team, key players have been out for some time now, and their return is questionable at best.

Many of the doomsayers are already getting the other teams' rosters and trying to figure just how to break up the "core" players who are at fault for our lack of winning ways. I don't believe that a blow-up is necessary, but that's not the subject of this article.

We've hated him for a long time. From the time he arrived in Boston from Montreal in 1998, Pedro Martinez has been among the most prominent names on the Empire's list of public enemies.

From 1998 to 2000, he went 60-17 with a 2.25 ERA and an unearthly 11.49 strikeouts per nine innings, giving the Red Sox arguably the best pitcher in the American League. Though his numbers declined afterward, he remained a thorn in the Yankees' side and Boston's most prominent face of the rivalry for years afterward.

San Francisco Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez has a 5.43 ERA and a 1.73 Whip to go along with his 2-7 record. Many expected Sanchez to improve upon his 5.01 ERA of last year, but although some facets of his game have gotten better, the overall product has taken a turn for the worse. 

We’ve tracked Jhoulys Chacin in our Prospect Reports (click here for the latest), but as he continues to impress in the minor leagues the time has come to give him his proper respect.  After opening the season at 1-3 with a 4.87 ERA at Double-A, he’s responded by going 4-2 with a 2.41 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 55 K over his past 9 starts (56 i

Photo above from espn.com