Baseball

Tony Massarotti said on 98.5 The Sports Hub this afternoon that the odds were stacked mightily against the Red Sox heading into Friday night's critical series opener at Tampa Bay.

For all intents and purposes, the 2010 Arizona Diamondbacks have been a disappointment. There have been high points such as the no-hitter by Edwin Jackson on June 25, 2010 and the emergence of young pitching such as Ian Kennedy and Barry Enright, but overall, the team has failed to live up to expectations.

No one expected that the 2010 team would not only fail to be competitive for the National League West, but would actually be worse than the 2009 team that finished in last place, 25 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Looking back, it's astounding to think that the Yankees ever let Andy Pettitte get away.

He's only been the guts of every championship rotation the franchise has assembled in the past 15 years, after all. Not to besmirch the dead, but Pettitte's regrettable sabbatical in Houston fell directly on The Boss, who never did fully appreciate what the lefty meant to the Yankees.

Fans had to wait longer than they wanted to see Stephen Strasburg make his MLB debut.

Well, now they will have to wait even longer to see him pitch again.

The Washington Nationals' rookie phenom has a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament, which will require Tommy John surgery.

While Strasburg will seek a second opinion, he will likely be out for at least a year, and up to 18 months. 

Strasburg threw 68 innings in 12 starts, going 5-3 with 92 strikeouts, 17 walks and a 2.91 ERA.

Somehow, I saw this coming. It wasn't what I was hoping would happen, but I just had a feeling this kind of news was coming.

Today, it did come. According to Brent Gambill, an executive producer of MLB Network Radio, is reporting that former San Diego State standout, and the first overall pick of the Washington Nationals in the 2009 Amateur Draft, Stephen Strasburg, will undergo Tommy John surgery.

Are you hurting in the RBI category? Here are some reasonably available players that can help you out.

Jhonny Peralta, 3B/SS, Detroit Tigers
Peralta had 14 RBIs over the past 15 days while hitting .289 with 7 runs and 4 HRs. On the year he’s hitting .244 with 47 runs, 13 HRs, 61 RBIs, and 1 SB. Jhonny is owned in 12 percent of ESPN and 46 percent of CBS leagues.

Major League Baseball wasn't necessarily meant to be enjoyed with one finger extended in an attempt to find a target for today's round of criticism.

Oh, the 2010 San Francisco Giants have made it easy for fans who want to affix blame, find solutions to every potential problem, and moan about what will go wrong next from Opening Day through the dog days of summer.

Joe Blanton, the pitcher most notably remember for hitting a homerun vs. then Tampa Bay Ray, now White Sox Pitcher Edwin Jackson.

Blanton has had his fair share off up and downs, but I'm here to let you know if his ups and downs, may produce an up or down for the Philadelphia Phillies.

This week, I went to my first Angels game in almost two months and for a number of reasons, the trip was surprisingly difficult.

First of all, despite the fact that Los Angeles is listed first in its formal name, the team still resides in Anaheim. It's a fun little town in north Orange County, but it is hardly convenient to me in my suburban home in Temecula.

As soon as media outlets started reporting that Shawn Chacon was traded to the New York Yankees for two prospects, reporters and critics started to rip the Yankees apart. They claimed that Chacon was just going to hold up in the Yankees rotation for a bit like temporary starters. 

Enter Shawn Chacon vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the first time in pinstripes. He did not allow a single run through six innings. Silence goes over the doubters.