Opinion

Let's get one thing straight before we go any further.

Chris Davis can flat out hit.

He can mash with the best of them, which is why the Rangers have got to get him back on track.

At the moment, Davis is stuck in a ridiculous slump that begins and ends with confidence. His body language both going to the plate and heading back to the dugout screams of defeat, even before he steps in the box.

For whatever reason, this slump has gone to the kid's head. That is what needs to be fixed. If it was a mechanical issue, Rudy Jaramillo would have it fixed by now.

Joey Votto has developed a health crisis this season.

Of the 47 games the Reds have played thus far, Joey has already missed eight of them and has had to come out of games as least twice.

The problem that the Reds explain is dizziness caused by an inner-ear infection, a residual effect from a recent bout with the flu.

I am not a doctor, and don’t play one on TV, but I have survived a stroke and know a thing or two about headaches and balance disorders.

Going into the 2009 season, teams are looking to make it back into the post-season. Fans are anxious to get another season underway, players are anxious, umpires are anxious. Another season of good, hardcore baseball.

Each season, you have those players who come out of nowhere, teams who shock the world. Who will be the league leader in home runs? What about the best pitcher of the year?

We are ¼ of the season done already. And we have players who have come out of nowhere as well. My awards so far:

A few months ago, I wrote an article naming 10 players I believe could be in the remaining 103 names affiliated with the A-Rod steroids controversy.

Much to the chagrin of Red Sox fans, one of the names listed was Red Sox DH David Ortiz.

The article was written Feb. 10, and since then Ortiz has done nothing but confirm any suspicions that his better years are in the past.

OK, so we all knew this would happen.

Manny Ramirez currently sits outside the top three National League vote-getters for the outfield position and Joe Torre made his case known today.

Torre believes that the All-Star Game should benefit the players who experience the best first-halves of the season.  He also stated that it has become a popularity contest.

The MLB's current rules for the All-Star Game allow for fans to select the starting lineups for the games. However, how does the league ensure that the players that deserve to be there, get there?

Being a nice guy is overrated.

A team's ace pitcher doesn't have to be a Dale Carnegie protege.

The exact opposite, in fact, is often what's needed.

Bob Gibson had it.

"It" was the disposition of a hungry, caged lion.

Especially on the days that he was slated to pitch.

It was best to stay out of Gibson's way on those days. Gibson was never really known as a congenial man—still isn't, frankly—but he turned positively wretched when his turn in the rotation came up.

The Baltimore Orioles have been one of the most disappointing organizations in baseball.

With eleven striaght losing seasons, the O's have been at the bottom of the cellar of the AL East for over a decade, facing beatdowns to the Yankees and Red Sox.

There hasn't been much to talk about in this decade beside these long woes.

All the hearts broke when Cal Ripken retired, who was virtually the last piece to Baltimore's success.

Peter Angelos, current Orioles owner, has been one of the more unpredictable ones in the years.

When I first heard about this series, I loved the idea—almost all sports fans are, more or less, homers for the underdog.  Rarely do we sit down for an important match/game and root for the favorite unless the favorite happens to be OUR team.

Otherwise, we're usually rooting for the little guy to pull an upset—the more memorable the better.

Every now and then, the meek delivers.

Now it's no secret how many Mets fans feel about Brian "Automatic Out" Schneider. Word on the street is he's headed back to the roster either today or tomorrow.

I'm not going to get into why or how Castro and Santos are better served for the job, we've been down that road a few times and frankly tired of beating that dead horse. The unfortunate thing here is that his salary is what will keep Auto-Out in the line-up, not his success on the field.