MLB

June 6, 2006.

Justin Morneau and the Minnesota Twins sat comfortably in forth place in the American League Central, 11.5 games behind the first-place Tigers.

Their record was 25-32. They had lost three in a row and had been outscored by 41 runs on the season.

Fast forward to the end of the year and Minnesota not only won the division by exactly one game over the Tigers,. 

The Twins lead the division for all of one day—the day that mattered.

Entering the holiday weekend, the Rays came in as one of the hottest teams in baseball.

When it was over, the Texas Rangers were in first place, and the Rays fell further behind in both the AL East divisional race and the AL wildcard chase.

Texas swept Tampa Bay by silencing the red-hot bats of the Rays and taking advantage of uncharacteristic defensive lapses in their three-game sweep.

On Saturday, the Cincinnati Reds Micah Owings launched his third home run of the 2009 season. He also hit four home runs in 2007, putting him in a rare group of pitchers who have homered three or more times in multiple seasons. In the last 30 years, just five players have done so: Owings, Carlos Zambrano, Mike Hampton, Tim Lollar, and Rick Rhoden.

I've decided to take a look at the top power hitting pitchers in the Post World War II era.

The list isn't arranged by total home runs but rather a combination of how prolonged their power surge was and also their career best year.

We all remember how it ended.

There was the flatly refused contract offer after the 2003 season. There were the protracted flirtations between the Red Sox and Alex Rodriguez. And there was a frustrated phone call to sports talk radio from Nomar Garciaparra’s honeymoon, of all places.

Since it seems like Reds all-time player lists are all the rage these days, I thought it be best to hop the band-waggon before it fills.

Forget those other guys. They aren't even Reds' fans. My list is the one, the only, and the best.

For starters my catcher...wait, how do I make this list stuff? 

Since I don't know how to create a slide show I'll just list them by name and reason. 

Catcher:  Bo Diaz

Why? 

The dude died for his family. 

For those of you who haven't heard, the 2009 San Francisco Giants are built on pitching and for the most part, their pitching has been nothing but dominant.

Both the starting rotation and bullpen have been rock-solid all season long, but not without their fare share of weak spots.

One of those weak spots was recently replaced when rookie pitcher Ryan Sadowski took over the fifth spot in the rotation from a struggling Jonathan Sanchez.

"Manny was of a mind, 'Just let me take batting practice.'  I encouraged him to play games.  If he's going to miss 50 games, then he's going to have to do something."  Joe Torre stated this in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated's Dan Patrick.

Yes, Manny should continue to play and practice baseball.  With him missing 50 games, that is a lot of time to get out of shape.

Why should Manny get to return before his 50-game suspension?

As is the case every season, the official announcement of the rosters for the All-Star game has created some controversy.

The fans and players votes have been tallied and some glaring omissions need to be mentioned.

So without further adieu, let's take a look at the five biggest All-Star game snubs of 2009.

Amidst their current losing ways, a star burns bright in Camden Yards.