Baseball

Game No. 17 of 162 in Fantasy Baseball Insiders’ summer-long journey featured a revived Jose Reyes and an impressive pitching performance from this week’s hottest pickup: Mike Pelfrey .

Game No. 17 – Chicago Cubs vs. New York Mets

1.(↔) Minnesota Twins (9-4): The Twins continue to look impressive holding the top spot for the first two weeks of the season. If this were the MLB power rankings I would have them right behind the Yanks and Phils. These gentleman can do it all posting 123 and 125 points offensively and pitching wise respectively.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Clevelanders love to complain.

We certainly have just cause: with rampant unemployment and poverty, miserable weather, and heartbreaking sports teams, Forbes recently named us the most miserable city in America.

But as I listened to the increasingly drunk fans sitting behind me at Progressive Field the other night (they were pretty loud, it was kind of hard not to), I realized that some of their beefs really didn't hold water.

Some of their complaints were about things that were preventable, others were hypocritical, and the rest were simply stupid.

Here's

Many of you have been asking me how come I have not written about the Boston Red Sox slow start to 2010. The reason I have not written about the team yet is because I wanted to gather all my thoughts and really think about what has happened so far.

If I wrote about how I really felt at times, then something like “I would love to punch J.D. Drew in the face to wake him up” would have been written. I would probably write the same thing about Alfonso Soriano if I was a Chicago Cubs fan.

So here are my thoughts on what is going on Boston so far this year.

In typical New York Mets fashion, the opposite of what was expected is now becoming a reality.

If someone were to tell you last February that Jason Bay and David Wright would be the problem during the early days of the 2010 season and not the pitching staff, you would have probably looked at them as if they had spent the last 12 months on the moon.

But as we should have expected, the opposite is once again ringing true with this ball club.

Another year, another former All-Star suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Last year it was Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez who was suspended for 50 games, and yesterday it was Cincinnati Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez who was suspended.

Obviously Volquez’s suspension isn’t as big of news as Manny being suspended, but it’s still pretty significant nonetheless.

Here is the statement that was released by Volquez’s representatives:

Here’s a look at the unheralded players who played well yesterday.

Cristian Guzman, Washington Nationals
This cat just keeps on hitting. He went 4 for 5 with a run and an RBI. The move to second didn’t affect his hitting. His average is .362.

Mike Pelfrey dazzled the Cubs Tuesday night, allowing no runs on three hits and three walks in seven innings. He also struck out six en route to his third win in as many starts. The 26-year-old now has a 0.86 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with a 16:8 K:BB ratio through 21 innings.

The question all fantasy managers are asking now is: How good is Mike Pelfrey ?

Caption: Tonight’s hero, CF Darnell McDonald, drove in the last three Red Sox runs—with a two-run home run in the eighth inning and a wall-ball scraper in the ninth—in the Red Sox' 7-6 win. Here, he is mobbed by Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, and the rest of his Red Sox teammates.

Tonight’s contest between the Red Sox and Texas Rangers was one for the books on so many levels that it may be difficult to do the game justice.

Since starting this blog, a door has been opened for several great opportunities. One such opportunity has been to review several books.

As a college student, I can't tell you how much I hate reading boring material. We've all been there.