Baseball

As the waning weeks of spring training come to a close, we are reminded of the troubles that Philadelphia Phillies have trying to fill openings in the starting rotation, and bullpen.

A lot of players' major league lives are on the line. A bad outing here, a blown game there, and the next thing you know your back to triple-A trying to figure out what exactly went wrong, and how to fix it.

Whoops, I guess this is the danger of writing for public consumption—you run the risk of looking like an utter jackass. Even when you think you're taking the necessary precautions, every now and then, risk yanks your card.

Today is apparently 'every now and then.'

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when baseball observers conjectured that pitchers who attain 300 or more career victories will be fewer and fewer with each passing season.

The primary reasons given were the preference of five-man, rather than four-man, rotations, and the increasing frequency in which managers these days pull a starter in favor of a reliever in late innings.

This state of affairs may be so, but there has been a bumper crop of 300-win talents in the last half-dozen years.

There are certain iconic phrases and images whose mere mention will produce galvanized memories among most. 

The line "I'll be back" makes us all think of Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Terminator."  The phrase "Do you believe in miracles?" is forever screamed in Al Michael's excited register and in reference to the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. 

Unless you have lived in a cave since the late 1990s, the image of a bloody sock makes you think of Curt Schilling.

Today, Schilling announced his retirement. 

Dear Roger Clemens:

I've had enough: I'm leaving you behind. It's time to say goodbye. You chose to go the route you did and drag everyone that loved watching you compete down with you.

In the words of Fleetwood Mac, "You can go your own way." 

You were once a paragon of athleticism and hard work. You symbolized what ability, hard work and arrogance could accomplish not only in baseball, but also in life. You were an artist on the mound that mixed perfect mechanics, a blazing fastball, splitter, fear and location into 300-plus wins.

The general consensus around fantasy circles is that second base is a deep position. To a degree, I understand the sentiment—the top tiers of players are crowded with guys who stuff the stat sheet to the gills. However, when you look at the overall draftable players, the position is almost as thin as the catchers...

THE SECOND BASEMEN

So obviously not everyone agreed with the Yankees missing the '08 playoffs in my AL East predictions. We'll see if the AL Central draws as much ire, which, before reading this I'll just say, this was absolutely the hardest division to call. 

Without further adue, the AL Central for 2009 will shake down like this.

Division winner-

The Cleveland Indians

My dad and I talk sports almost every night.  We discuss all the topics of the day.  Who signed where, what was said, who won the big games, etc..  He even sends me text messages during the day so he can be the first to break sports news to me.  I do the same in return, sending him Chiefs scores when he's away from a TV or computer.