Baseball

Now that the rosters are set, we’ll take a look at what should be a very prolific Rays offense in 2010.

Manager Joe Maddon likes to shift his lineup around more than most, but this is a good guess as to what the typical batting order will look like. The first six spots are more sure-things, while the bottom three will be moved around more as everyone in those bench spots should see significant time.

1. Jason Bartlett – SS

2. Carl Crawford – LF

The Houston Astros will take the field for their first game of the 2010 season on Monday, April 5 against the San Francisco Giants at 6:05 p.m.

The Astros dropped their final spring training game 13-6 to the Toronto Blue Jays at Minute Maid Park on Saturday, completing spring training with a 13-15 record.

Let's look at the opening day starting lineup and how they performed in spring training.

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Working in a local supermarket, I have a front row seat for all the latest hollywood gossip and glamour. There are upsides and downsides to this.

For example: downside, I can name about twenty celebrities who have cellulite, and how many plastic surgeries Heidi Montag has had.

A clear upside: the Swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated, or any magazine that has Kim Kardashian on the cover.

The New York Yankees captured their 27th world championship in 2009, winning their first World Series since 2000.

With the Red Sox and Rays both looking strong, will the Yankees have enough to fend them off in the AL East?

In the National League, the Phillies made their second consecutive World Series trip last season, but should face more competition in the NL East with the retooled Braves and Marlins each looking to make some noise.

So, how do they stack up on the day before Opening Night?

1. New York Yankees

Drafted: 17th Round, 2006 (Middle Georgia JC)

Height: 6′2″; Weight: 180 lbs

Born: February 19, 1987

Josh Reddick hails from Effingham County, Georgia, which is located approximately twenty miles north of the magnificent Antebellum city of Savannah. He was born to be a baseball player.  It’s all he has wanted to do since he was four years old and it’s all he wants to do for the next 15 or 20 years.

It seems to me that he may get his wish.

A few years ago, the Red Sox front office decided to experiment with Bill James’ closer-by-committee theory, and we all know how THAT worked out for them.

This season, Theo & Company have decided to pursue the concept of run prevention as opposed to run production — and over the course of the next several months we will learn how THAT will all learn how THAT will work out for them.

It says here that it will work out just fine.

After winning their first World Series in nearly a decade, the Yankees refused to stand pat and spent the off-season making wholesale changes to an increasingly-aging roster. As a result, they re-tooled for another AL East title and put themselves in position to challenge for back-to-back championships.

Over the last few years, the Tampa Bay Rays have converted from an also-ran into a contender. Last year at this time, they were the defending American League champions. In my 2009 preview article, I posed a question: will they be able to win now that it is expected from them?

The answer was mixed: yes, they won…but just not enough.

The Orioles struggled through their twelfth consecutive losing season in 2009, finishing with a 64-98 record which, surprisingly, was four games worse than their record in 2008 (I say “surprisingly” as I had expected some minimal improvement from the O’s last season).

The upcoming season looks to be considerably better, as I expect the Orioles' rebuilding process will finally start bearing fruit after more than a decade. Just how much the club’s record improves will be directly dependent on how the starting rotation performs.

The Blue Jays finished the 2009 season with a surprisingly-decent 75-87 record, but it is really hard to imagine they can come close to repeating that performance this year.

Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos traded long-time ace, Roy Halladay (17-10, 2.79), this winter as part of a three-team trade.  He then flipped one of the prospects received in the Halladay trade (OF Michael Taylor) for another prospect (3B Brett Wallace). Those deals came on the heals of a pair of deals that shipped 3B Scott Rolen and OF Alex Rios out of town last summer.