Baseball

The Seattle Mariners made history Friday night as six pitchers combined on a 1-0 no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It was just the 10th combined no-hit game in Major League Baseball history and was the fourth no-hitter already of this still young 2012 season.

Pirates Prospects became the first major media outlet to update its top prospect rankings, reflecting both early-season performance and the results of this week's entry draft. My take on key developments on the farm over the first two months of the season is below.

Huntington Holds a Set of Aces

The Boston Red Sox carried last year’s horrendous momentum into the first month of 2012. The team was struggling for the most part due to their pitching and untimely hitting, and new manager Bobby Valentine was receiving most of the blame.

As of late, the Red Sox have been playing up to their potential. The team has started to put things together especially on the offensive end, but are still just a game over .500.

Sure, the non-waiver trade deadline is just about two months away. That doesn't mean the Boston Red Sox are not kicking the tires on some starting pitchers.

Their competition is, that's for sure.

The American League East division is a rat race right now. Only three games separate the first place Tampa Bay Rays and fifth place Boston Red Sox. Every team has their own respective strengths. (Interestingly enough, all are different.) 

In barely a day's work, teams all across the league have hedged their bets on players that will no doubt resemble the future of their franchises, even if they don't know which they'll be just yet.

While college players have certainly been taken in great numbers, teams always find the will to take chances on the sometimes unpolished high school stars that possess the talent to have a seemingly non-existent ceiling.

Day 2 of the 2012 MLB draft is in the books, as teams turned their attention to high-risk, high-reward high schoolers as well as sure-sign, high-floor college players.

Signability is a frequently talked-about issue in this part of the draft, as there were a handful of players who were expected to be taken in the first round and fell. Now, given the new CBA, those players won't get the big-time bonuses to convince them to sign, and more of them will likely be heading to college.

It certainly gets hot in the desert. Right now, things are starting to boil over.

Arizona Diamondbacks managing partner Ken Kendrick was featured on Prostopreps.com via telephone interview with Brad Cesmat on Monday. In the interview, he questioned Stephen Drew’s commitment to returning to the field this season and referred to All-Star outfielder Justin Upton as an “enigma.”

Heading into the series with the Rays, it was important for the Yankees to show they can hang with them because chances are, the Rays are going to be a potential playoff contender come October.

Andy Pettitte pitched on Tuesday night for the Yankees like he was in October form.

In the sporting world, we often exaggerate ultimately meaningless moments with lofty words like "redemption."

The Boston Celtics win back-to-back games at home to tie the Eastern Conference Finals? That's not redemption. Albert Pujols smashes a home run to break out of a slump? That's not redemption. Tiger Woods wins the 2012 Memorial Championship after months of struggling? That's not redemption.

After a miserable April in which he batted .217/.265/.304 with no home runs and four RBI, Albert Pujols rebounded in May, looking more like the hitter we've been accustomed to seeing in his previous 11 major league seasons.