Baseball

Over the past two years, Jon Lester has been one of the best pitchers in the game of baseball. In both 2008 and 2009, Lester won at least 15 games while maintaining an ERA under 3.45.

Last year, Lester struck out 9.96 batters every nine innings while allowing just 2.83 walks. His 3.15 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching, a statistic combining strikeouts, walks and home runs) was better than all but fours pitchers in the American League.

At the young age of 26, Lester is one of the most promising stars of the game.

With the 2010 season less than two weeks old, this seems kind of premature, well, unless you're me than you're chomping at the bit to put a list together like this.

There are several managers that should be on this list, maybe more than 10 but we'll stick to 10 and see where that leads us.

After a rough road trip, the Mets came back to Citi Field and took care of business as they rolled over the Cubs 6-1.

Jon Neise pitched decently. Though he gave up eight hits and walked three, he managed to strike out seven and make it through 5 2/3 innings.

Fernando Nieve , who relieved Neise in the sixth, ended with the win, as the Mets would all but seal the deal in the seventh inning with a five run rally. Angel Pagan's two-run homer was the spark that got the team rolling.

I was originally going to title this piece, “Five Reasons Houston Astros Fans Should Be Happy Right Now,” but during that momentary lapse of reason I guess I forgot the team is still 3-9 (regardless of playing well lately).

However, there are reasons to be optimistic, and we’re now going to quickly count down five positives as Houston heads back to Minute Maid Park for their April 20 series opener against the Florida Marlins.

Brett Myers, boasting an impressive 3.46 ERA, will take the hill on Tuesday as Houston aims to begin their home-stand on the winning track.

If the As

The picture shown here could very well be the last time that Prince Fielder greets his teammates on Opening Day in a Milwaukee Brewers jersey.

There, I wrote it.

This is not a reality that I look forward to.

In fact, Fielder playing Major League Baseball in a uniform other than the Brewers is probably the thing I'm least looking forward to as it relates to the Brewers since Robin Yount's retirement.

I'm not quite sure what Giants GM Brian Sabean was thinking he would get when he signed pitcher Todd Wellemeyer in the off-season. If he was expecting a quality starter, then he made a big mistake.

The only time Wellemeyer was successful as a starter was in  St. Louis under the tutelage of pitching coach Dave Duncan and he barely managed a 4.31 ERA and a 23-21 record. Being away from the best pitching coach in the business has not been good for Wellemeyer in the past (never posting an ERA below 5.00 away from St. Louis) and is not working so "well" in San Fransisco.

If you tune into any one of the Cubs' four upcoming games against the New York Mets, you may get the impression that the umpires misread the calendar and bumped up the first pitch.

But, no fear, Cubs fans, the umps did indeed start the game on time, and, no, they aren’t playing any tricks on you.

That job is left for Lou Piniella, whose latest tinkering of the Cubs lineup may leave you experiencing a slight bout of déjà vu and a sudden onset of nausea.
 

Like a Nor'easter, they blew in wrecking everything in sight and leaving nothing but rubble in their wake.

Their bats thundered, while their pitchers blew the rawhide by their Boston adversaries as if they were tornadoes twisting the night away.

It was just four games in April, games that perhaps at the end of a 162 game season may not mean a whole lot.

Still, that whooshing sound you heard from Fenway Park was Red Sox Nation's collective gasp, "Ruh-roh."

Ike Davis, the name alone brings shivers down Met Fans spines. Today he will be making his first start of the season and hit sixth behind the hot Jeff Francoeur.

The Red Sox were booed as they left the field today. They've suffered five straight losses, including a sweep by the Rays, and now they're six games out of first. 

The Sox are now 4-9 this season. You have to go back to 1996 to find a Red Sox team that got off to worse start after 13 games than the current edition. 

Of specific concern, the Sox are 1-6 against the Yankees and Rays this season, with all games played at Fenway. The Boston locals are currently facing their worst home start since the 1932 team started 1-9 at home.