Baseball

Cliff Eastham just wrote a piece on the top 10 shortstops in the Hall of Fame and I was very interested in the piece.

One of the reasons it was so interesting to me is that I wrote a piece last week about the best 50 players in baseball history, but done considering positions so that I composed two teams who could theoretically play one another.

By doing the analysis in that way I had to consider who were the best catchers, who were the best third basemen, etc.

And of course, I had to consider the best shortstops.

32-29. That would be the Mets record through 61 games so far this season, sub par to many expectations. But fear not! There are still 101 games left in the season. 101 times we can scream out of immense joy, or out of even more immense pain. Because of this, I've decided to share my 6 bold predictions for the remainder of the season. Enjoy!

Angels fans suffered a blow this weekend, even while their team was romping on the field at home for a change, mercilessly sweeping a visiting Padres team from down the 5 freeway in San Diego.

What was lost in all of the positives this weekend, and also in the debacle that has been the Angels bullpen thus far, was the end of the season declaration from one Mr. Scot Shields.

Ever since the New York Yankees have moved across the street from their old home that hosted them for the last 85 years, the Yankees moved into the New Yankee Stadium, which contained the same dimensions as the old stadium, and had a staggering price of 1.6 Billion Dollars to build.

However, ever since the new stadium has opened, home runs have been leaving the stadium at a record rate as it has allowed 87 home runs in its first 23 games, which is a major league record. Also, it's on pace to break Coors Field's 1999 record of 303 home runs yielded in a season.

A player with 30/30 potential is not always easy to come by for fantasy baseball owners.  They are the type of players that everyone is looking to stock their roster with, driving their cost up.  Besides that, how many players even have that type of ability to begin with? 

Last season there were two players (Grady Sizemore & Hanley Ramirez) who achieved the feat.  That says a lot.

During the Mets' brutal loss to the Yankees on Sunday, something very rare happened: David Wright got in an umpire's face about a called third strike for only the second time in his career.

Manager Jerry Manuel has often said he will defend his players 110 percent if they are right. If not, so be it, which is fine. But why did he wait for Wright to return to the dugout before coming out to argue with the umpire?

The pitch to Wright in the sixth inning was definitely over the plate, but well below his knees, and the ball was dropped by the catcher.

In 1959, Mickey Mantle batted .285 with 31 home runs and 75 RBI. Mickey admitted that it had been a lack luster season for him.

"It wouldn't surprise me if the Yankee management traded me to another club this winter. It was my worst overall year in baseball..."

Mickey Mantle's Steady Decline

General Manger George Weiss responded.

On Sunday, in a move that can be described as nothing more than blaming the easiest target, the Chicago Cubs fired hitting coach Gerald Perry.

General Manager Jim Hendry threw around the cliche sound bites, saying that a "new voice" was needed and that the team's stars aren't performing to their historical abilities.

What Hendry didn't say was: "I paid $30 million for an overrated right fielder and, with a series of questionable moves, destroyed the chemistry on the best team in the National League."

But what was important was that he stuck to the cliches.

The Phillies mostly had one goal going into todays afternoon finale, do not get swept. Well, Philadelphia did its job. The Phillies beat Josh Beckett and the Red Sox 11-6 at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies broke away from the Sox with a massive six-run seventh that snapped a 5-5 tie. Slumping shortstop Jimmy Rollins hit a tie-breaking home run in the seventh, the blast snapped his 0-for-16 hit-less streak.