Baseball

For the last couple years, my dad and I have kicked around the same uncomfortable conclusion regarding Matt Cain and his lack of offensive support.  The gist was, with so many obvious talents at such a young age, perhaps it would be better for the Kid to ply his wares in a more pitcher-friendly environment.

We were not speaking, of course, about the home park because there are few diamonds more hospitable to the guy on the bump than Pac Bell Park (some call it AT&T).

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Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse on the injury front. It looks like Carlos Beltran will be held out of today’s starting lineup due to a stomach virus that caused him to leave yesterday’s loss to the Marlins. Instead, the Mets will put Angel Pagan in center field, and they will hope for the best.

The Mets had been on a roll so far this homestand, sweeping the Nats and taking the first one in extras against the Fish.

So it makes sense to send out their B squad to face Marlins’ ace Josh Johnson, who has manhandled the Mets so far this season, right? 

It seems like every player who has been on a hot streak got the day off. Sheffield was replaced in the lineup by Tatis, who hit clean-up and played third. David Wright sat because his last few games have been out of character for him.

Jerry Manuel has made it abundantly clear that Fernando Martinez was punished enough for the big mistake that he made during Wednesday’s game against the Nationals.

Martinez hit a high pop fly and didn’t run, and surely enough, the ball wasn’t caught, and Martinez was thrown out. The crowd booed as they didn’t appreciate the lack of hustle by the young rookie.

When the Oakland A's brought in Jason Giambi as a free agent they knew what they were getting. He was going to strengthen the lineup and add a powerful left handed hitter into the lineup as well.

Also, what was known was Giambi's excellent eye at the plate. Well his plate discipline has been horrific and he's been far from impressive in the start of his second stint as an A.

In tonight's game against the Seattle Mariners the A's had an excellent chance of getting some runs back after starting pitcher Dallas Braden allowed two in the top of the first.

Peoria's got something cooking that might look nice at Wrigley some time soon.

The Chiefs have a young, not-yet 20-year-old kid at third base that was named the Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week last week and his knocking the cover off the ball.

Josh Vitters, the Cubs' top draft pick in 2007, is dominating Double-A ball right now, living up to his billing as the top prospect in the Cubs' organization.

Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick is most likely facing one of the most difficult decisions that he will ever have to make.  He will have to finally make a significant change in an attempt to address the problems plaguing Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and the Amp Energy No. 88 team.

Junior had a miserable run in the Coca Cola 600. He battled a wicked race car throughout, sawing on the wheel and asking his spotter to just keep him out of the way of the other cars that could actually compete on the track.