Baseball

Former Mets pitcher and current SNY broacaster, Ron Darling, sat down with the Good Day NY crew to talk about his new book called The Complete Game: Reflections on Baseball, Pitching and Life on the Mound.

I personally love Ron Darling and the insight he brings to the Mets telecast. I think he's arguably one of the most articulate color guys in baseball and has the ability to explain pitchers' mechanics and mentality like few others on TV.

During the 2009 season, Luke Jones will present Nine Orioles Innings every Monday, sharing his thoughts on what’s happening with the Baltimore Orioles. It will feature a mix of serious analysis and the lighter side of Orioles baseball.

1. It’s hard to believe it was only two years ago that Jeremy Guthrie was an unknown heading to Baltimore on Opening Day 2007 as a long man in the Orioles bullpen. The Opening Day starter now represents the only safe bet in a rotation that is still deciding on the three starters to fill the back end.

This is easily the best prediction for the NL Central I have encountered so far. Here is what he has for Houston and where each team will finish:

Houston Astros

According to ESPN's Jayson Stark, Philadelphia lefty Cole Hamels is officially out of consideration for opening night versus the Atlanta Braves.

After injuring his pitching elbow a few weeks ago, Philly "phans" were sure their ace was going to be good to go on Apr. 5.

However, after allowing 10 hits against the pride of Philadelphia's farm on Mar. 30 in four innings (he also walked one and Kd five), pitching coach Rich Dubie said the Philly Phenom's control just wasn't good enough for the season's first game.

Year after year, fans seem to really dig the long ball and completely forget about the players who will pitch almost half of the game, the bullpen.

The bullpen is home to some and a foot into the door (AKA starting rotation) to others. As for the 2010 Seattle Mariners, they have three stud closer prospects in the same bullpen.

If I remember correctly, the last team to have only two stud closers was the 1998 New York Yankees, and one wasn't even a prospect. They were John Wetteland and Mariano Rivera.

I usually don't like predictions because I am really bad at them. These are just numbers, not backed up by statistics from last year because, frankly, I don't give last year much thought. Especially because I'm a Mets' fan.

So I made these extraordinary picks. Not too many surprises, that's why I still have three out my four final four picks still in there.

I'm all for nostalgia, so I have my two favorite teams to relive some brilliant baseball history, and after another drug-filled offseason, I think everyone would agree that we need some excitement this season.

I'm hoping this spring means something and that all these Yankee wins could help build momentum for when the regular season starts. We know that these games don't prove much, but I'll take what I saw.

I have Andy Pettitte as one of my bench pitchers in fantasy baseball and I'm wondering if I should make him a starter.

A+: Andy Pettitte

Total domination. He reached his pitch count and then came out of the game with only one earned run against him. I guess you can say he's ready for the season.

A+: Mark Teixeira

Well something strange happened. It is actually pretty funny, too. I'd like to talk about it. This is the talk. The Orioles Talk, that is. Isaac Barrow, I hope you enjoy this one. Laugh your heads off on this one.

Rob Neyer had this to say in response to Bill Madden's article this weekend in which he called Ramiro Pena the Yankees' short stop of the future.

Well first let's look at a couple quotes from the Madden article: