Baseball

Congratulations to the New York Yankees for sweeping the Minnesota Twins and moving on to the American League Championship series.

Throughout the 2010 season, the New York Yankees had many pitching issues.  Like with A.J. Burnett, he was about as frustrating a pitcher you can come across.  What about Andy Pettitte, going down with an injury mid-season and forcing a spot-starter to go in his place.

And then there's Javier Vasquez.  After starting the season much like Chien Ming-Wang did last year, Vasquez had a stretch when he was as good as anyone pitching on a mound.

Mariano Rivera is a 16-year Major League veteran, and at 40 years old he is still dominating hitters in their 20s, but the question is how long can this continue.

Take a look at Rivera's career, and it's easy to tell this is a future Hall of Famer on the mound. What he has been able to do while seemingly only throwing one pitch has been incredible. Rivera has a career ERA of 2.23 which accompanies his 559 career saves. 

My friends always ask me how I know all the words to every song on the radio.  I explain to them that I was raised on the radio.  I have spent an incredible amount of time in my life either in a tractor or in the barn, where whatever radio station comes in basically waged a war of attrition on my ears.

It has also led me to a conclusion:  Baseball was made for the radio—more specifically, postseason baseball was made for the radio.

The New York Mets are in the beginning stages of a complete renovation. Don't mind the appearance. This may look like a professional baseball team in shambles right now, but...yeah, actually it is.

Leadership is a word that gets tossed around in sports.

When a player does well in a game, it’s described as leadership. When a player talks to the media often, people perceive it as leadership

The definition of leadership in sports terms should be a player who takes his team to the postseason not to mention leading them to postseason victories.

Jamie Moyer has continued to prove his doubters wrong each and every time he picks up the baseball, but after another surgery his career may just be over.

In the beginning of the season Moyer, 47, had the same amount of wins as perennial Cy-Young contender, Roy Halladay. Moyer and Halladay may have been members of the same team, but they could not have been more different.

As baseball fans know the Omar Minaya era has came to an end in New York after six years.  Though the Mets had one of the highest payrolls when Minaya was in office the team never really established themselves other than in 2006. 

As a Mets fan, I must say Omar did bring us some good times but he definitely brought us some bad times.  Minaya brought in the likes of Johan Santana and Carlos Beltran but on the other end he also brought in the likes of Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez. 

Rick Ankiel was never supposed to be an outfielder.

Troy Glaus was not supposed to be a third baseman.

Brian Wilson was not supposed to be human.

The National League Division Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Atlanta Braves is not supposed to be tied—but it is.

In a completely anti-Game 1 sort of way, the Philadelphia Phillies pulled off an unprecedented win against the Cincinnati Reds Friday night at Citizens Bank Park. 

In a way, the Reds revealed a Phillies-like resilience about them.

In what could have been a culture shock for fans transitioning from Game 1 to Game 2, the team turned into the same old Phillies that they've come to know in the last four years.