Baseball

Bryce Harper continues to improve with every game that he plays, as does every one of the Washington Nationals.

After the Nats were swept in Miami at the hands of the Marlins, they have won eight of their last ten and the last five in a row.

The A's came back from a four-run first inning and played long ball en route to an 8-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

When your favorite team stinks, it leads to a heated discussion over who should be the "best of the worst" and be the representative for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

The rule requiring that one player from every team must be in the event has lead to healthy debate and getting somebody like Ron Coomer to rub elbows with people who deserve to be there.

Anyone want to see the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox battle this weekend at Wrigley Field? If you want to sit in the Budweiser Bleachers, this "marquee" game will set you back $280 for a pair.

Does anyone think a matchup between the Cubs, with a 20-40 record and last place in the NL Central, and the last place Red Sox in the East at 29-32 is a premium game that should be priced that way?

After another great outing from Adam Wainwright, the St. Louis Cardinals fall again after bullpen struggles and defensive miscues continue to plague the team.

Wainwright put together a big night going seven innings giving up only two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts. By any stretch, that's a great night. Not only was he pitching well, he got an early base hit and made a pair of key defensive plays.

One St. Louis Cardinal is rapidly making his way toward a rather exclusive club this season. Carlos Beltran is within hitting distance, no pun intended, of the 300-300-2000 club.

This status is reserved for players who have hit 300 home runs, stolen 300 bases and amassed 2,000 hits over their career. Lots of talk has floated about Beltran hitting 300-300, but the 2,000 hasn’t gotten much attention.

Could Ryan Dempster actually be the best player traded prior to the 2012 MLB Trade Deadline? According to David Schoenfield of ESPN.com, that may be the case. 

I want to like Dee Gordan, I really do. But the 24-year-old Gordon just isn't getting the job done for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In just his second season as a major league ballplayer, Gordon is obviously struggling at the plate as well as on defense. Gordan has put up a meager .234 average in his 57 games thus far in 2012. He has also committed 10 errors on the defensive end.

That doesn't seem to fit in what the Dodgers are trying to do.

Last Sunday, the unthinkable happened. 

Seated at AT&T Park, I watched as Tim Lincecum turned-in his latest disaster on the mound. More worrisome than the hits were how erratically he allowed them.

In the first inning it was three walks, the second three strikeouts.

By the time a booming Josh Hamilton double made the score 5-0 in favor of not the Giants, I turned to my friend and said the impossible:

Ivan Nova was a revelation for the New York Yankees in 2011. He had a breakout season, finishing 16-4 with a respectable, if not lights out, ERA of 3.70.

One year, however, doesn't make a career. No one was penciling in Nova for another 16 victories this season until he showed he wasn't going to be a one-hit wonder.

Nova is on pace to duplicate his first full season in the majors. He is 8-2 and allowed only one run in 15 innings of his last two starts.