MLB

"Three Up, Three Down" is our Tuesday topic at the sportspa.blogspot.com during the MLB season. In these articles, we attempt to showcase three of the hottest hitters in baseball, and also three players whose fantasy stock has taken a hit.

These players are Up/Down in my eyes.

Michael Young has plenty to smile about as the Texas Rangers open a big homestand against the American League West, and for a change, it has nothing to do with offense.

My friends in the world of sports caution me constantly about expecting a playoff run from the Rangers, but I've always been a little reckless so I'm going to ignore their warnings for now.

What does a team have to display at this time of the season to be considered a true contender?

If we're talking drafts that teams wish they could redo, 2004 is the granddaddy of them all.

At least nine of the first 10 picks went awry in one form or another, and some pretty good players were found in the lower rounds. It all adds up to a spectacular re-draft!

1. San Diego

So who is the hottest team in the NL East?

Before tonight many writers, personalities, and fans would have said the Mets.

And I might have agreed. With seven straight wins and Johan Santana going tonight, I can think of no one that would disagree with that sentiment.

That is, until those upstart Braves came into town.

The Braves have easily been the East's second hottest team, since leaving Atlanta for the road last week.

On Monday night, they became the hottest with a 8-3 win in Queens.

As we all know, yesterday we all celebrated Mother's Day. Since all 30 teams had scheduled games, making a day to spend with their mothers impossible, Major League Baseball had something different in mind.

The MLB has been issuing pink bats on Mother's Day for some time now, but I feel that it has never meant more than this year. It is not only a great thing to do for Major League ballplayers, but it has become a fashion statement.

In the brave new world of the steroids era, nobody is above suspicion in organized baseball.

Not when five of the top 12 all-time fence busters (Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmiero, and Alex Rodriguez) are suspected of amassing their home-run totals under questionable circumstances.

Not when the pitcher who's ranked ninth in career wins, Roger Clemens, may forever have to pay the admission price to Cooperstown when he wants in.

1. New York Mets (17-13, Last Week: No. 24)

They're not necessarily the best team in baseball, but they certainly are the hottest, winning eight of their last ten games. I picked this team to be the top contender for the National League Championship and they are starting to make me look like a genius right about now.

2. Toronto Blue Jays (22-12, Last Week: No. 2)

Offense is still the key.

In the wake of the 50-game suspension handed down to Major League Baseball star Manny Ramirez, children are left scratching their collective head trying to decide which professional athletes to look up to.

Barry Bonds posters once pinned to cork board walls have been torn down and replaced by Alex Rodriguez's poster, only to be torn down and replaced with Ramirez's, only to be torn down and....

Being only 20 years old, I was all of one in 1989 when the Cubs made the playoffs, so for me 1998 was my first taste of postseason baseball as a Cubs fan.

The 1998 season was quite a season for the North Siders, and it all culminated in a one game playoff with the San Francisco Giants.

As I watched Steve Trachsel pitch the game of his life and saw the Cubs punch their ticket to the playoffs, it was then that I knew I would be a Cubs fan for the rest of my life.

So here is a look back at what I'm sure will be fond memories to the first Cubs playoff team of my generation.

The San Francisco Giants were never expected to tear the cover off the ball coming into the 2009 season. There were reasons to be optimistic, but they were never expected to be a team that would improve a little bit.

Well, that hasn't really happened.

The Giants are currently the lowest-scoring team in Major League Baseball by a pretty good amount. Even a trip to Coors Field saw the Giants struggle to score runs on two of three occasions.

Big Money has been money