MLB

In 2008, Derek Jeter would often range to his left on a ball up the middle, but fail to get his glove down in time to make the play. Even if the shortstop did get some leather on it, a throw in the dirt would rarely get picked by first baseman Jason Giambi and the runner would be safe with a single.

This season, however, it seemed like the captain got to a lot more balls and even if he short-hopped the throw over to first, Mark Teixeira would make the play nearly every time.

Sept. 19, 2009 has two very different meanings for the San Francisco Giants organization.

On one end of the spectrum, their High-A affiliate, the San Jose Giants, celebrated yet another California League championship after completely steamrolling the competition.

On the other, their teammate Angel Villalona, who was in the Dominican Republic after being sent home to visit family before beginning offseason conditioning, was being accused of murder.

From top prospect to being 19 years old and a possible murderer. Not exactly what you call an ideal situation.

It’s going to be a busy offseason for the Houston Astros franchise.

With reorganization and revamping on the hearts and minds of team owners and managers, the true tasks lie ahead.

Free agency, of course, is just a part of that process, as a handful of Houston Astros players have now officially filed.

Those names include: Jose Valverde, Miguel Tejada, LaTroy Hawkins, Jason Michaels, and Darin Erstad (Doug Brocail has also filed for free agency with the Astros declining his 2010 option and both Mike Hampton and Aaron Boone recently filed for arbitration).

Sports Satire by Christopher C. Wuensch

Months after a November photo revealed a drastic difference in Sammy Sosa’s now-lighter skin tone, the infamous Chicago Cubs slugger admits attempts to “desaparezca fuera de vista.”

Translation: disappear out of sight.

Note: This post will be updated tomorrow when I’m back at a keyboard.

I’ve been in California this week at a conference. I don’t know how these people handle football starting at 10 a.m. on Sundays. It’s just plain weird.

But the important thing here is that I haven’t had Internet all week. Sorry, hotel, but I am not going to pay a limb per day to get on the Interwebs. I’m actually writing this right now from my G1 phone.

Twitter. 

By this point you’ve formed some sort of opinion on the micro-blogging site. And that opinion is usually in one of two camps and only in one of two camps.

Camp No. 1: I hate Twitter. I don’t know why anyone would want to know what I’m doing all the time. It’s so stupid, I’m not surprised it’s popular in America. 

Camp No. 2: I simply cannot live without Twitter. It integrates perfectly into my life and is bountiful in its usefulness. Best invention of all time.  

One question, hundreds of answers. Which Brave had the greatest offensive season at his position?

Major League baseball has been asking fans this same question in an effort to choose each team's best ever collection of stars. They are calling it MLB 9s.

Here I have separated the contenders from the pretenders in an effort to pick my dream Atlanta Braves lineup. Have your say by commenting below or by voting on the MLB site here .

Early rumors flying out of the winter GM meetings in Chicago are all over the board concerning free agents, trades, and declining profits. But the most consistent noise on Monday was surrounding Chicago Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley.

Bradley? Consistent noise? Really?

The Hot Stove features one rumor being reported by a number of sources and it appears to have some legs to it. Three teams would be involved, with three players changing uniforms.

Much in the same fashion that CC Sabathia was the top pitching prize last winter, John Lackey will find himself in that position this winter. Lackey may find more suitors than Sabathia did, but he won't command nearly the same contract the big lefty did.