Baseball

Did the ball hit the ground?  Does it matter? 

We all saw it, or at least we think we did. 

2005 American League Championship Series, game two, White Sox versus Angels.  It's tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. AJ "always in trouble" Pierzynski is batting with two strikes.  Angels pitcher Kelvim Escobar throws a low pitch; AJ swings and misses. Strike three, inning over, extra innings here we come...but no.  Pierzynski has advanced to first base. 

After weeks of speculation, the Orioles finally signed their first baseman to finish the rebuilding of their infield. 

Derrek Lee will join recent signings J.J. Hardy and Mark Reynolds in making up the Orioles new infield, and more importantly, inject some power into an offense that was horribly stagnant in 2010.

The Washington Nationals figure they are one big bat and one top-of-the-rotation pitcher away from reaching respectability, perhaps even contending. Many believe, though, that were it not for former General Manager Jim Bowden, there would be no hole in the rotation to fill.

I have not actually done full-on rankings in a couple years on the blog. This year, I decided to take the challenge. Why not add some fun to my life and debate to the comments section? We have to start slow and Catchers seem to be a good way to do that. These are not final yet; I reserve the right to update them as we move towards the Spring and more jobs are finalized.

The latest MLB rumors on Adrian Beltre, Rafael Soriano and Derrek Lee are here, and Bleacher Report has the inside track on where these players may be headed, for how many years and for how much. 

Beltre leads the class of remaining free agents, and although there are only a few teams reportedly in the sweepstakes, there may be a few dark-horse candidates that no one else is talking about.

It is becoming painfully obvious that the Washington Nationals are doing everything they can to sign a competent major league first baseman this off season and the two players remaining—Adam LaRoche and Derrek Lee—are doing everything they can to avoid signing here.

I mean, the math isn’t that difficult. The Orioles and Nationals need a first baseman and the only two left are Lee and LaRoche.

The weather here in the northeast is unbelievable. I hope everyone is staying safe and not trying to travel in this snowstorm and the aftermath of it.

As the 2010 season approached, it was expected that the American League Central division race would come down to the final games. The division had been decided by a tie breaking 163rd game in 2008 and 2009, so there was no reason to believe that 2010 would be any different.

One of the all-time great sports debates has always been as to who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and who doesn't.

With the acquisition of Zack Greinke, the Milwaukee Brewers are telling the rest of the National League they are a team to be reckoned with in 2011.

With Prince Fielder being a free agent after the 2011 season, the team could look a lot different in 2012. So why not go for it?