MLB

Perhaps it is unpopular with the fans and the players in the clubhouse, but no one can accuse Pittsburgh Pirates' General Manager Neal Huntington of being without vision and purpose.

Huntington, who has recently been almost vilified in Pittsburgh by fans and players who have nothing but disdain for his trades of popular major league players for high-ceiling talents and loads of prospects, maintains that he knows exactly what he's doing.

In a first half of mostly pleasant surprises for Giants fans, Jonathan Sanchez's no-hitter is by far the best story. Sanchez's struggles and demotion were all forgotten for nine magical innings, made much more special for Jonathan by the presence of his father, who joined his son in the dugout after the game against the San Diego Padres.

In a move not often associated with contending ballclubs, the Seattle Mariners traded their incumbent starter at shortstop on Friday, sending Yuniesky Betancourt to Kansas City in exchange for two minor league pitching prospects.

Though it seems a peculiar deal for a team closing in on first place in their division, Betancourt had long ago punched his ticket out of town with inconsistent play, a lack of focus, and an injury that kept him out of the lineup for the past month.

The venerable Milo Hamilton used to describe close games and plays with one amusing line. Back when Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams had his brief stint in 1994 as the Houston Astros closer and (too often) threw gasoline on fires, Mr. Hamilton would declare, "Williams would make coffee nervous!"

Last night, the Astros certainly did make coffee nervous. I can imagine Astros' wives won't need fingernail polish for the next few months since they chewed off all their fingernails.

I know the first thing is getting past the spelling of his last name.  Marc Rzepczynski.  Once you handle that, you are going to find a pitcher that has the potential to make an impact in all fantasy formats, potentially this season.

This article is about no-hit bids by young or not ussualy good pitchers. Some of the weirdest no-hitters ever, like the Houston Astros 2003 bid, Dock Ellis's LSD game, and Bill Stoneman's 1969 no-hitter was in just the 9th game for the Expos.
You probably won't agree with me on most of my selections, and this article is in chronoligical order.
If you there's a major 'weird' no-hit pitcher that you think I've left off, just leave me a comment and I'll add them.

Is it a coincidence that just as Ryan Ludwick went down with an injury at Pittsburgh, the Cardinal offense began to struggle?

Is it a chance happening that while Ludwick struggled once coming off the disabled list, the Cardinal bats were quiet?

Finally, is it pure luck that as soon as Ludwick began to find his stroke, the Cardinals finally began to churn out runs again?

Just 24 hours ago, a pretty good portion of San Francisco Giants fans were wondering what the heck Jonathan Sanchez was doing back in the rotation after struggling so mightily before his demotion to the bullpen.

But because Randy Johnson was placed on the disabled list and, with much fanfare beforehand, Sanchez was put back in the rotation for the immediate future. It was one last shot to either show he is a valuable trade commodity or an arm that can stick with the club through the rest of the season.

Long gone are the days of being a plumber by day, baller by night. Whether that 'baller' be basket, foot, golf, or otherwise related, the players are paid too much.

Now, when someone sees an NFL player getting paid less than $1,000,000 per year, they say "wow, he's getting screwed."

It never should have come to this. The money and commercialized culture of sports will be the death of the selfless athlete.

Remember when all an athlete needed to be happy was a ring, trophy, or medal?

Neither do I.

The Chicago Cubs looked like a steaming pile of hot garbage on Friday in an 8-3 loss to division leading St. Louis Cardinals in the first game of a crucial four-game series before the All Star Break.

Whether it's been Rich Harden's inability to gets outs past the second inning, Ryan Dempster's high jumping ability or Geovany Soto's new love handle contusion, the Cubs are giving off the vibes of a team completely out of it in the National League Central.