Baseball

Today is "Jose Reyes Day" at Citi Field because it's the first time Jose Reyes will be playing at Citi Field as a member of the Miami Marlins, whom he signed a six-year, $100 million contract with in the offseason. So far, Reyes has gotten off to a cold start, but assuming he stays healthy, he will likely get back to being the best leadoff hitter in the game and baseball's best shortstop whose name is not Troy Tulowitzki.

Cleveland was, once upon a time, a baseball town, featuring a team on the cusp of the World Series and perennial All-Stars like CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez.

Those days are a distant memory.

It took Tim Lincecum four tries, but the diminutive right-hander mercifully registered his first win of the 2012 season. He went five innings against New York's junior varsity squad, whiffing eight Mets, surrendering four hits and suffering just a single earned run.

This is where the good news starts to turn, though.

With the Boston Red Sox's bullpen basically still in shambles, moves need to start being made. The Boston relievers are among the worst in the league statistically, and Daniel Bard's week in the bullpen might not be a permanent move.

So who should Boston pursue for more help? Mike Gonzalez.

To the delight of many Red Sox fans across Red Sox Nation, we heard an announcement in the eighth inning of last night’s meeting against the Minnesota Twins: Daniel Bard was warming up in the bullpen.

I have not had good experiences with fantasy baseball in the past.

First and foremost, I was terrible at it. I would say that I could identify a comfortable 95 percent of current players by name, but that doesn’t mean I know how to fashion them into a successful fantasy franchise.

Albert Pujols has gone 65 at bats to begin the season and has yet to hit a home run. Can Pujols fill out the home run column in the series about to begin against the Tampa Bay Rays?

Unfortunately for Pujols, he will be facing some of the most dominant pitching in the American League. Here is a breakdown of the starting pitchers that he will face in the series.

Over at Baseball Prospectus today, the estimable Sam Miller has a (free) piece on Albert Pujols’ slow start and whether it’s due to an expanding personal strike zone. He concludes that it just might be:

Mickey Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956, batting .353 with 52 home runs and 130 RBIs. My brother and I often heard some of our friends that didn't exactly root for Mantle or the New York Yankees claim that Mantle usually hit home runs when the Yankees were well ahead or far behind.

The Oakland A's have not been in the playoffs since the 2006 season. This could have been the year to make it back had they not traded away Gio Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was the ace for the A's before the offseason trade to the Washington Nationals. Now he is the Nationals' second ace, behind Stephen Strasburg, and will pitch his fourth game for Washington on Tuesday night.