Baseball

It was one of the biggest mysteries concerning Josh Hamilton‘s ability on the field. During the past couple seasons, he was a superstar during night games but looked somewhat mortal when the sun was up.

It should be noted that Hamilton’s at bats during the evening more than double his amount during day games. But, his stats still told an interesting story. 

The St. Louis Cardinals have played 21 of their 22 games this season against NL Central opponents en route to a division-leading 14-8 record.

That trend won’t change this week, with the Cardinals taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates have struggled their way to a 10-12 record this season, good for fourth in the NL Central.

Before the 2012 season began, an early May series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves would've been expected to be a big matchup, one that would help determine the NL East winner and likely a postseason wild card. 

With Evan Longoria expected to miss anywhere from six to eight weeks with a hamstring injury, the Tampa Bay Rays are left without their most consistent offensive performer.

Longoria's April put him in the running as an early AL MVP candidate, but any chances of that happening now seem slim to none.

After a career that seemed to be built on toughness and durability, all of a sudden, Boston Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis is becoming a major question mark health-wise.

Albert Pujols was having one of the greatest starts to an MLB career of all time. In Pujols' 11 full seasons, all with the St. Louis Cardinals, he hit at least .299, 30 homers, scored 99 runs and drove in 99 more in all of them. 

However, it's clear Pujols' skill-set is rapidly declining, and faster than we could have ever imagined. 

The Giants have discussed permanently moving slugger Buster Posey from catcher to first base, according to MLB.com's Chris Haft. That day may not be too far away. 

The first month of the MLB season is a time for evaluation. Clubs will see what they have out on the field, what works and what doesn't and what kind of adjustments need to be made going forward.

April is over now. Teams know what they have and they know what they don't have. The question in the coming months is, how will the league's would-be contenders find the pieces that they don't have?

I remember it like it was yesterday.

It was the first day I opened my first pack of baseball cards. The pack was 1989 Topps. The first card I pulled was a Randy Johnson baseball card from when he was with the Seattle Mariners.

I thought, “Sheesh, this man looks scary…I wouldn’t want to face him on a bad day.”

Dante Bichette’s rookie card was also in this pack. It was significant because my dad said rookie cards were a baseball player’s most significant cards.

According to Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Ryan Howard is starting to get back into the swing of things both literally and figuratively.

The power-hitting first baseman has been cleared for baseball activities and will be heading to Florida on Sunday.