David Ortiz

In the middle game of a three game set between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards earlier this week, a rubber match was taking place between Boston's Josh Beckett and Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie.

The home plate collision is one of the most jarring moments in all of sports, as you see the type of hits you expect on the gridiron in the tamer arena of the baseball diamond.

No collision is more memorable than when Pete Rose collided with Ray Fosse in the last play of the 1970 All-Star game, but there have been some big ones over the years.

So here are the 20 players playing today that I would least like to find myself in a collision with at home plate.

I have made a decision: The 2011 major league baseball season began on April 8th.

I don't need to hear you tell me that I'm crazy, or stupid, or ugly, or a pervert; the voices in my head tell me that all the time (especially Paul; he's such a jerk!) This is not about logic, this is about survival. And we all know that the most important thing any organism can do, after eating deep-dish pizza, of course, is to survive. Don't argue with me, I didn't make the rules.

The 2011 Boston Red Sox were supposed to bring balance to the Force, not destroy it. Sadly after a 0-5 start, people are beginning to doubt whether or not this team is the powerhouse that ESPN spent all winter screaming about. Luckily it’s only April, there is still a lot of baseball left to be played. The Sox need help though, help that only one man can provide.

Charlie Sheen

That’s right. When you are losing, who better to turn to than a man who knows all about winning? Duh.

Although the Red Sox began the 2011 season with an embarrassing three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers, the Sox still have plenty of time to validate the media’s enormous expectations and secure a playoff spot.

However, in order to emerge victorious from a competitive American League East, the Sox must step back from the spotlight and focus on winning each individual game.

If you’ve ever tried working out on a regular basis, you know that if you stop for over five months, you don’t start the same way you finished.

This is exactly like baseball.  If you haven’t seen a pitcher’s best slider or 12-6 curve in over five months, you won’t adjust to it very quickly.

Sure, spring training is supposed to help out both the pitchers and hitters, but the pitchers usually save their best stuff for simulated games and the regular season.

That’s right the Boys of Summer are back!

Baseball season kicks off this week and ladies, you have got to be prepared. The days of just knowing that A-Rod is a hottie, or that someone hit a home run, or who’s dating who are over.

Out-of-court settlements are usually the fate of frivolous lawsuits.

Today, the lawyers for two tempests in a teapot settled their dispute about as amicably as warriors in the longstanding baseball feud involving the Red Sox and Yankees could.

Yes, Jay-Z of rap music and friendly fan of publicity had sued Big Papi of the friendly Red Sox Nation for copyright infringement.

If you've read some of my other articles, you may know that I'm a big numbers guy; I love sabermetrics and I love breaking down stats to analyze players. 

When I set out to determine the best fastball hitters in baseball, I was immediately confronted with a choice; since players' stats on individual pitches were not counted before 2002, I had to decide whether to build this list based on numbers or reputation.

Being the numbers guy that I am, I decided to go strictly by the numbers (and thus this list is only from 2002 onwards). 

Marco Scutaro was the "highlight" signing of 2009's offseason. For those who are true fans and/or have played the game, you know that he was not the big solution. In fact, he should never have been signed in the first place. He is simply overpaid and overrated. If the Red Sox did want to sign him it should have been at a much cheaper annual salary.