Baseball

According to the NewYorkMets post on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/NewYorkMets/status/17272109005 , the Mets will begin the series against the Florida Marlins in Puerto Rico with the following lineup:

1. Jose Reyes —SS  Reyes has really become hot and is the Reyes we all know and are glad to have on the Mets.

According to the New York Mets post on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/NewYorkMets/status/17271561579, the Mets have four players who are returning to their home country of Puerto Rico this week.

Those four players are Alex Cora, Angel Pagan, Pedro Feliciano and Jesus Feliciano. It should be interesting to see how much playing time those four get in this series against the Florida Marlins.

Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and Brian Jordan are well-known not only for their accomplishments in baseball but also football.

They are the most recent two-sport stars.

Little known to many in the sports world, Scott Radinsky, former Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers reliever from 1990  until 2001 was also a two-sport athlete, sort of.

In keeping with today’s theme inspired by Dustin Pedroia’s three home run game against the Rockies, here is a list of every player to have hit three or more home runs in a major league game .

You will note that three home run games have been particularly common in the last 20 years, when the PED-fueled offensive barrage reached its peak.

Take a peek at the San Francisco Giants' active roster and you'll see a curious thing. You'll see Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey checking in at a green 23 years of age—the Kung Fu Panda's birthday is coming up in August whereas Gerald Demp the Third just had his in March.

There's also newbie reliever Dan Runzler, who's recently turned a grizzled 25.

In some ways, the Houston Astros 3-1 loss last night against the San Francisco Giants was business as usual.

Roy Oswalt pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out five. In other words, good enough for a win, but since he pitches for the punchless Astros, he fell to 5-9 on the season despite a 3.08 ERA.

I can't help but wonder if Oswalt kept waiting for his cell phone to ring with news from his agent that the New York Yankees wanted to trade for him and throw in, as a bonus, controlling stock in the Caterpillar Tractor Company.

With the season almost halfway over, it's a great time to start thinking about the end-of-season awards, so this week, Bleacher Report's featured columnists have prepared a mock Cy Young vote.

Using a scoring system identical to that of the BBWAA, we have determined an idea of not only the best pitcher in the AL, but how the other top arms rank. The top five vote-getters are featured here with commentary submitted by different writers.

One of the better ideas that Major League Baseball has had recently is introducing a "Futures Game" as part of its All-Star festivities. It really gives fans some insight into their favorite team's best prospects as well as the game’s best prospects.

Here is the roster breakdown by major league team:

When I first arrived at the Oakland Coliseum for Tuesday's game against the visiting Cincinnati Reds, the sky was mostly blue as the sun was successfully holding streaks of gloom at bay.

By the time the Athletics had finished batting practice about an hour later, the clouds had inflicted heavy casualties on the other side and were threatening to win the battle in a romp.

That seems like a pretty good metaphor for the tack Oakland's 2010 season is on at the moment.

What started off in azure warmth is beginning to go cold and gray.

While Angels’ southpaw Scott Kazmir struggled with a 7.20 and 5.97 ERA in April and May respectively, the 26-year-old has seemingly salvaged his season with a deceiving June.

In 23 innings (four starts) this month, Kazmir is 4-0 with a 2.35 ERA. What most fail to see is his 1.35 WHIP and 13/15 K/BB ratio, both of which raise red flags.