Opinion

My reputation proceeds me. I'm a certified Homer. Born and bred Red Sox Red. I am to the Red Sox what Heartbeat of the Bronx is to the Yankees. "My Sox" can do no wrong, and I'm quite certain that HB feels the same about "his Bombers".

It should come as no surprise, then, that after Czar Steinbrenner III backed up Daddy's ship full of Franklins this winter and effectively monopolized the free agent market, that I waxed poetic about the flawed way this is to build a championship.

Continuing his steamroll to the overall lead in votes received for the All-Star Game, St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols is one of two players to have received more than 1 million votes so far, according to the latest poll results released by Major League Baseball on Monday afternoon.

Pujols has received 1,240,395 votes, more than twice as many as the second-place first baseman in the NL.

‘The Man of a Thousand Stances’.

‘Dewey’.

Regardless of the nicknames, Dwight Evans was the man who patrolled the Boston Red Sox right field for nearly 19 years.

My original title for this article was "Luis Castillo: Accept My Apology." That would have been the title had he got a hit in his last at-bat today, giving him an 8-for-15 on this home-stand. But instead, he made out and my memory is long and forgiveness has to be earned.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/126490-a-new-york-mets-contest-you-wa...

He is pleased to meet you, baseball fan.

He obviously figures you must need the introduction, since not many of you caught him this spring representing Mexico in the WBC, nor have his major league-leading 20 home runs given him enough recognition to help him crack the top five in the NL first baseman All-Star ballot.

Oh, he's in the top 10 in walks, RBI, slugging percentage, and OPS in the NL too.

One-hit wonder, you say? Nonsense. Adrian's been consistently brilliant for a while now.

The Mariners coughed up a sweep. David Aardsma had his worst outing of the year, blew his first save and exhibited the same shaky control he’s had all year, sans a dominating fastball. The bullpen and the pitching staff as a whole has been better than this all season. No need to worry.

The Mariners received an uncharacteristic power surge from Ichiro. The leadoff hitter had four hits, including two doubles and a home run. But he won’t do this often, this is unconventional, and goes against every trend in Ichiro’s career. No reason for hope.

Rick Ankiel has done a lot of things over the course of his MLB career.

But never this. He's never been boring.

As a young pitcher fresh out of his teen years, Ankiel electrified and then horrified. Before he melted down in the playoffs against Atlanta, Ankiel had one of the top strikeout per nine innings ratios in all of baseball. His fastball was Randy Johnson-esque, his curveball was Zito-esque.

The transition to the St. Louis Cardinals was supposed to work wonders for Khalil Greene. And why wouldn't it? He was being traded from the miserable San Diego Padres to a franchise that has a penchant for converting struggling players and milking the most out of talent.

For the last couple years, my dad and I have kicked around the same uncomfortable conclusion regarding Matt Cain and his lack of offensive support.  The gist was, with so many obvious talents at such a young age, perhaps it would be better for the Kid to ply his wares in a more pitcher-friendly environment.

We were not speaking, of course, about the home park because there are few diamonds more hospitable to the guy on the bump than Pac Bell Park (some call it AT&T).

The Cubs have been one of baseball’s big disappointments this season.

The only team that has underachieved more has been the Yankees, but since A-Rod came back, they have been on a tear, which leaves the Cubs all alone.

However, through the past five games, they have gone 4-1, which may be an anomaly in a disappointing season. But it could also start to signal change.

The Cubs haven’t been pulling off small, one-run wins.  They have won three of their past four wins by at least three runs.