Opinion

Most fans of baseball tend to recognize Mel Allen, Phil Rizzuto, or Bob Sheppard as the historical voice of the New York Yankees.

For as long as America’s pastime is continued, cleats, pine tar, bats, and high socks will be as American as hot dogs and apple pie.

On the same token, the aforementioned voices of Yankee past will forever be linked to the Bronx as definitively as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, and Lou Gehrig.

Omar Minaya has drawn a lot of ire from fans for his questionable acquisitions and lack of what people had been demanding (Manny Ramirez and Derek Lowe come to mind).

Minaya said that his leaders are either too quiet (Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado) or have smiles on their faces (Jose Reyes and David Wright).

Much has been said about Beltran and Delgado and the manner in which they conduct themselves quietly in public, but behind closed doors. they are a vocal force in the clubhouse.

The challenge of playing professional sports in New York is no secret.  But what is not generally realized is how difficult it is to be a professional sportscaster in the Big Apple.

But, as they are on the field, the New York Mets are up to the challenge in the booth.  Both on the screen and on the radio, the Mets have themselves a great group of Major League announcers.

Like fellow Orioles fan/writer Lawrence Barreca said, the Felix Pie experiment is coming to an end in Baltimore, luckily for us Oriole fans.

Like Lawrence, when Pie was acquired for LHP Garrett Olson and minor leaguer Henry Williamson, I was anxious to see an exciting experience with Pie.

Because I follow the Minors, I knew a lot about Pie. I knew he was a consistent .300 minor league hitter, but never really got a legitimate chance to log any at bats with the Cubs.

As the Mariners end an unexpectedly successful month of April, with great contributions from unexpected players, taking inventory of the team’s success is a much easier process.

Jarrod Washburn, perhaps the most noted turnaround story, went 3-1 with a 3.42 ERA. Washburn has fared pretty well in April as a Mariner. In two of his three previous seasons he ended the first month of the season with a sub-4.0 ERA.

However, this is the first time he's also had a winning record. And that includes 2002, he went 18-6 with a 3.15 ERA and finished fourth in the Cy Young voting.

Before I get started, hat tip to Todd Civin for giving me the idea for this one. I was suffering a particularly bad case of writer's block. Now I feel like I'm on a springboard back to spewing out four or five articles a week, nothing out of my ordinary.

This is something I have pondered on my own but not until now decided to write about. How much does Boston owe to (the great) state of Minnesota? I mean, seriously.

Casey Kelly is one of the more unique players in the Red Sox farm system. He was a highly touted high school quarterback, who played football at Tennessee before choosing baseball.

Now, he juggles positions on the diamond as a pitcher and shortstop. Kelly is aiming to pitch near 100 innings this season, while also spending time turning double-plays.

High school