MLB

Paul Maholm is arguably not a front-of-the-rotation starter. Ian Snell is certainly not a No. 2 starter, even on the weak Pirates staff. That's one reason why the Pirates have lost the last few games. But that may be exactly the point.

Zach Duke and Ross Ohlendorf are decidedly better than the average three and four starters, and Jeff Karstens is a legitimate No. 5. These pitchers are "coming up," bringing the Pirates to the "better" part of a still-questionable rotation.

The first thing the Milwaukee Brewers general manager said to the media about Ryan Braun upon his call-up in 2007 was, "he is a very confident young man."

In the two years since, no one is disputing that claim by Melvin.

Ryan Braun won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2007, despite missing the first six weeks of the season while still in Triple-A Nashville. He followed that up last season with MVP-type numbers and led the Brewers to their first playoff appearance since 1982.

More than a month into the season the Blue Jays have seen 3 pitchers make their MLB debut and are still on top of the AL East, the toughest division in baseball. How have they done it? The Jays came off a terrible offensive year in 2008, and the line-up did not change that much.
What did change is Cito Gaston is back, and so is hitting coach Gene Tenace. With them they brought an approach that the entire team has bought into, going to every at bat with a plan. It sounds simple enough but the proof is there, the Jays averaged a run more under Gaston than Gibbons in 2008.

"Flamethrowers" is our Monday topic at thesportspa.blogspot.com during the MLB season. In these articles, we attempt to showcase some of the hottest, and not so hot, pitchers at the time.

These players, in no particular order, are Hot/Not in my eyes.

Projected by many analysts to finish atop the AL Central, the Indians have certainly not lived up to expectations. With their current four-game losing streak, they have fallen to last place in Major League Baseball.

With a team ERA of 5.83, good for last in the league, and a team batting average of .263, the blame can be spread to both ends of the team.

Syracuse.com is reporting that outfielder Lastings Milledge fractured his right hand while attempting to bunt on a pitch from Ty Taubenheim in the first inning of the Chiefs game against the Indianapolis Indians at Alliance Bank Stadium on Monday morning. 

There is no word as to how long Milledge will be out.

The Detroit Tigers are having fun, and the fans are taking notice.

Coming off of their disastrous 2008 campaign, most prognosticators and fans alike had low expectations heading into 2009.  Most baseball people predicted that the Tigers would finish near the bottom of the American League Central.

Looking back on my days as a recruiter that specialized in placing candidates in the accounting field I will always remember one candidate’s quote that “the numbers tell a story” and regardless of what you are being told the “numbers do not lie”. 

With that said,