Baseball

Yankees catcher and emotional leader Jorge Posada was very vocal in his beliefs regarding Joba Chamberlain's future.

Posada felt that Chamberlain belonged in the Yankee bullpen, regardless of the widely spread intrigue with transitioning him into a starting pitcher.

April 6, 2009.  A day marked on my calendar since November.  And while some will be celebrating National Caramel Popcorn Day, or observing the anniversary of the first modern Olympics, an unofficial holiday takes place that you won't find on your calendar.  I speak, of course, of opening day—the most wonderful day of the year.

We have entered the Twilight Zone of spring training.

This is the time where most of the players still getting time on the fields are just looking not to get injured before the season starts while still getting enough work in to earn their paychecks when the games finally start to matter.

Since we have arrived at this most agonizing of hours when Opening Day can be seen on the horizon, but five days still await the first pitch, it's about time for an official, dyn-o-mite 2009 preview of yours, mine, and our Colorado Rockies.

On Tuesday, March 31, the Phillies parted ways with veteran outfielder Geoff Jenkins, an underproducing hitter who wasn't worth the eight million dollars he commanded in 2008.

This piece is definitely not meant to show any disrespect for J.D. Drew and what he has accomplished for the Red Sox. 

When he is in the lineup, he is a very good hitter. The obvious problem is, he's not in the lineup nearly as often as he should be and, therefore, should not be holding down the five-spot in the Red Sox' lineup.

The Red Sox lack power in the middle of the order as it is, so it seems unusual that they would stuff Jason Bay, arguably their best, most reliable power hitter, in the six-spot. 

While I know Bleacher Report is not really for full length books, I thought I'd review a baseball book I just read, entitled Theology: How a Boy Wonder Led the Red Sox to the Promised Land.

Red Sox fans, this is your kind of book. Not only does it go into detail on Theo Epstein's early life right up to the present, but it does this in a way that everyone can understand.

Bob Sheppard has been the voice of the New York Yankees since 1951, and has been referred to as "The Voice of God" for equally as long.

His smooth voice has announced virtually every single Yankee immortal, and his eyes have witnessed most of the stadium's greatest moments.

Sheppard will be forced to miss another timeless moment in Yankee history, as an illness will prevent him from doing on Opening Day what he has done for more than 50 years.

I can't wait until the spring training games are over. I'm ready for the season. The Yankees know who they want at certain positions and it's time to play.

A+: Joba Chamberlain

He gave up two earned runs in 5.1 innings, but his velocity was great and he struck out 6 batters. Great joba by him. Get it? Great joba?

A+: Phil Coke

He pitched one perfect inning and struck out two batters. Coke is it.

A+: Melky Cabrera

In my opinion, Lou Gehrig was one of baseball's greatest players. Let's not worry today about his wonderful stats, but what he told a huge crowd of Yankees fans, while staring death in the face:

This speech is featured on American Rhetoric as one of America's top 100 speeches. 

Delivered 4 July 1939, New York

I watched last night's game against the Orioles and came away impressed by several things I saw.

Although Oliver Perez still wasn't throwing his best fastball, he certainly looked much better than he did his first couple of outings back from the WBC.

The first thing that I noticed was that Perez was throwing a lot of strikes and getting quite a few ground balls. I watched Perez in the WBC a couple of times and it seemed that keeping the ball down was a priority for him this spring—not that it worked that well for him in that tournament.