MLB

Many people just want to side with the winning team, many even skip Church on Sundays, because the game is on, and will feel more resolve in the fleeting of sports victory rather than the eternity of spiritual victory.

Some Florida Gator fans have even seen the spiritual meaning in the Tim Tebow led victory over the LSU Tigers at night, after Tebow had been injured with a concussion.

Cole Hamels took the mound with the poise and confidence of a rock star on a blind date. He sailed through the first inning—three up, three down; beaned A-Rod with a pitch to staunch any intention he had of snuggling up to the plate, and then held the Yankees to one hit over three innings.

He was dominant in game one at Yankee Stadium, shutting down the vaunted New York Yankee lineup in a complete game victory. In going the distance, Cliff Lee struck out 10 hitters (including Alex Rodriguez three times), allowing only six hits and a single unearned run.

He is in his prime and is basically a win waiting to happen every time he takes the mound. The best bet for Philadelphia in winning this World Series is to have Lee pitch as often as he can.

Freddy Sanchez is a good "sport." The Pittsburgh Pirates' management is not.

Sanchez re-signed with the San Francisco Giants at a total of $12 million for two years, or $6 million per. This compares to the $10 million that FanGraphs values him at for 2009 alone.

My readers know that I would have gladly offered Sanchez $12 million for ONE year. Given a limping second half, after his strong first half, that may represent an overpayment for his baseball contributions. It would probably fairly values his baseball AND civic contributions to the city.

For the first time since they were down 2-0 to the Colorado Rockies in the first round of the 2007 playoffs, the Phillies find themselves in a very uncomfortable position. They are behind for the first time in six previous playoff appearances, and instead of having their ace to bring back for a tying series victory, they are forced to start a guy who has given up only 30 home runs during the regular season.

              1953 Detroit Tigers Statistics:

• Year: 1953
• Record: 60-94
• Win Percentage: .390
• Win Percentage Change: +65
• Run Differential: -228
• Pythagorean Record: 57-97
• AL Finish: 6th of 8 teams
• Manager: Fred Hutchinson

Best Transaction:  On June 19, 1953 (just three months after my dad was born), the Tigers began their relationship with a man that is still involved with the club, Al Kaline. 

Although the Yankees may be leading the World Series 2-1, Phillies fans have completely dominated Yankees fans in terms of the noise and energy exuded so far.

Yankee Stadium sounded more like a wake during the first two games of the series when compared to the pure madness seen last night at Citizens Bank Park.

And I’m not talking about an Irish wake either.

The first thing I noticed when flipping on the television to watch Game One at Yankee Stadium was all of the empty seats.

I'll admit, as a longtime Phillies fan, I am more familiar with failure than I am with success.

I even predicted a 6-3 Yankees win Saturday afternoon, because as much as I hoped not, I knew Andy Pettitte would pitch better than Cole Hamels.

Hamels was staked to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a Jayson Werth homer that Werth almost one-handed the ball over the left field fence and a base loaded walk and sacrifice fly.

Last offseason, I started writing a series of columns that profiled each member of the Mets bullpen and analyzed their performance in the previous season.

At the conclusion of each article, I would make a determination on whether or not I thought the pitcher should be brought back.

The articles, for the most part, were met with solid reader reception so this year we will continue the tradition.