Baseball

The Baltimore Orioles have held strong in their division the entire season, staying just behind the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, even with starting pitching woes and bullpen implosions.

Big Brown—one of Ryan Howard's many nicknames—was bestowed upon the first baseman during his reign as the Philadelphia Phillies' best power hitter.  Now a changing of the guard is in order. Big Brown Part Deux: The Real Big Brown is already underway.

In the wake of Memorial Day, new Kansas City Royals hitting coach George Brett sat before an outfit of reporters at Busch Stadium, controlled rage streaming from his glare.

With the Cincinnati Reds being one of the hottest teams in Major League Baseball in the month of May, Joey Votto is one of many players on the team who received excellent grades for the month.

The Reds went 19-8 in the month of May and actually lost a game in the standings to the St. Louis Cardinals. 

The Cleveland Indians were the hottest team in all of MLB at the start of May, going 15-4 for the first 19 games and grabbing first place in the AL Central.

The team has since cooled to 3-8 for the last 11 and has relinquished the top rung to the Tigers, but they had a solid month. The Indians had plenty of star players for the period but also had underperformers as well.

The Cardinals have had a pretty amazing May to say the least. In fact, they have had the best record in Major League Baseball for a while now. And they couldn't have gotten there without the performances of each individual player.

By comparing each major player's statistics from the past 28 days to their 2012 numbers, I've attempted to measure their success against what is expected of them. 

When the Atlanta Braves signed center fielder B.J. Upton last winter to a lucrative five-year, $75.25 million contact, they envisioned a young star who would provide solid production in the middle of their batting order for years to come.

They may one day rue that deal.

As I awaited the beginning of St.

May has come and gone, and the Washington Nationals are still struggling to stay above the .500 mark. At 27-27, it's time for Davey Johnson's club to step it up and play more consistent baseball.

It looks like CC Sabathia is back.

And this time, it might actually be for real. No funny stuff.