Baseball

Rocktober has never felt so far away.

The Rockies fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 3-1 on Monday night, losing their second straight and their seventh in their past eight games. 

The Rockies won ten in a row earlier this month, but never were able to eclipse or tie the teams that were in their playoff path.  Now, with just six games remaining, the Rockies sit four games out of the Wild Card, and five out of the top spot in the National League West.

Monday night, the Philadelphia Phillies won the NL East for the fourth straight season in a row.

Up in Toronto, the New York Yankees evening could have been a champagne party too. Instead, AJ Burnett imploded worse than ever on the mound and the Blue Jays won the game 7-5.

Burnett could not even get out of the third inning, and he was to blame for all seven runs scored.

Rock bottom?

The Boston Red Sox are for all intents and purposes finished with their 2010 season. It has been a long and tough campaign which saw them virtually eliminated by their own inability to stay on the field.

Too many key injuries will derail any team let alone a team faced with a game of musical chairs with Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees.

The Red Sox still retain a solid core of players and with the chance that Tampa Bay may not be able to afford some its talent with expiring contracts, those Red Sox fans already moving onto the 2011 season have a few reasons to smile.

They trailed the Atlanta Braves by as many as seven games after the All-Star break. They had an extremely mediocre record of 48-46 on July 21.

Their hitting was terrible, their pitchers were struggling, and they couldn't stay healthy.

Despite three consecutive National League Eastern Division titles, two World Series appearances, and a world championship, the Phillies appeared to be done.

Think again.

“There are three kinds of lies,” the age-old adage goes, “lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

While Sabathia’s poor outing (5.1, 10-7) against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night probably put an end to his AL Cy Young Award aspirations, the Hernandez vs. Sabathia debate was certainly a fascinating one while it lasted. What it all seemed to boil down to which statistic is more important: Felix Hernandez’ 2.31 ERA or C.C. Sabathia’s 20 wins?

Before the past week, Houston was one of the hottest teams in the league since the All-Star break.

But the last six-plus games reminded fans, media, players, and coaches alike of the Astros of 2010’s past—and proof that there’s still some room to grow before the team gets to where it wants to be.

Regardless of the team’s poor play as of late, the Astros absolutely appear to be heading in the right direction.

Youth and talent abound on this promising group of Houston baseball players.

There has been a lot of chatter pertaining to the relatively uninspiring play this month by the Reds, and how their lack of " momentum" could lead to a short postseason run.

Well, based on history, there isn't really any "right" way to get into the final field of eight.

All that matter is getting there, and it doesn't matter if your mode of transportation is via a Corvette, or Geo Metro.

A California jury returned a guilty verdict today on three counts of second-degree murder in the death of Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher, Nick Adenhart and two others in April, 2009.

Gallo was charged and convicted of the more serious second-degree murder charges rather than manslaughter because he has a previous DUI conviction and was known to understand the specific dangers of drinking and driving from his own experience.

Sunday afternoon's game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Chicago White Sox may have had no bearing on the playoffs, but it was certainly historic in nature.

The Diamondbacks lineup, when healthy, is fairly potent. They are right in the middle of the pack in runs scored (16th with 694 through Saturday) and fifth in home runs (175).

Their home ballpark helps to inflate power, so using a spot start pitcher against them never seems like a very good idea.

Over the final week of the season, though, things may be different.