Baseball

The announcement was made yesterday that Nationals rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg is once again heading to the disabled list with a forearm strain.

After going on the disabled list in late July with an inflamed right shoulder, Strasburg was making just his third start since returning from that injury when he was pulled with the forearm injury.

Well, the Johnny Damon saga has ended here in Boston.

He is staying with the Tigers.

I, for one, am glad. Not for the fact that he’s staying with Detroit, but for the fact that I don’t need to hear about it anymore. The absolute foolishness of “Red Sox Nation” is absolutely staggering. It sometimes makes me ashamed to be a Red Sox fan.

The 2010 season has been kind to the Baltimore Orioles minor-league system.

This is great news, because the 2010 season has been a plague for the big league club, who aside from snagging manager Buck Showalter, has failed to incite any real excitement.

As such, the race for Orioles Minor League Player of the Year honors is heating up, and for the first time in a good long while, there are actually more than a few promising nominees.

Although the Atlanta Braves have been leading the NL East for some time now, they made a number of trades to try and strengthen their team for the stretch run.

With the Phillies getting key players back in their lineup seemingly every day, the Braves were looking for guys like Rick Ankiel, Derek Lee, and Kyle Farnsworth to fill in some holes that the team had.

In honour of the great hostile manager Lou Piniella retiring this weekend, we here at MWS have decided to count down ten of the best baseball manager ejections.

10. Terry Francona (Boston Red Sox, MLB)—2010 VS Toronto Blue Jays


Nothing too crazy here, though it is pretty funny to watch the usually collected Francona get tossed in Toronto, then sort-of mimick the umpire's tossing motion.

There's one thing that you never, under any circumstances, want to hear when scouting a pitcher.

Raw? That's not a big deal. The pitcher can be developed in the minors, as long as it may take, and it can still work out.

Wild? That's a problem, but again, it can be worked out, whether it's just a wild arm or something psychological.

Lack of Passion? We are getting close, but even this is not the worst; if the pitcher has talent it can still work out. After all, Rube Waddell was a Hall of Famer.

The Florida Marlins (62-61) begin a six-game road trip in Citi Field against the New York Mets (62-62).

The Marlins come in having won five of six and send their ace Josh Johnson to the mound. The Mets counter with knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey, who has been a pleasant surprise.

Johnson is coming off a good outing where he pitched eight innings of two-run baseball against the Pirates. That isn't saying much, but it's a great sign to see him bounce back from his worst outing of the year against the Reds.

There is a growing cry around Colorado Rockies nation. It has become louder and more accepted.

Who is the best hitter in Major League Baseball?

Well, that depends on several factors:

Are you asking for the most skilled hitter, or the most valuable?

Do you want a guy who can winning batting titles, or home runs titles?

Should hitting be judged by ability, or by production?

All good questions, and depending on your answers, you might conclude that the best hitter in baseball is Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, Ryan Howard, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, or Joey Votto.

With the final out of a classic pitching duel between the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Colorado Rockies, where the Diamondbacks lost 1-0, the team gathered their things for a difficult road trip beginning in San Diego with a three-game series against the Padres, after which they will travel up the coast to San Francisco for a three-game series with the Giants.