Opinion

On Sept. 13, 2008, Rodriguez broke Bobby Thigpen's saves record for a single season with 58. The following day, I jumped onto YouTube to watch a video of the record-breaking moment and couldn't help but look at some of the comments people had written.

Many of the comments were along the lines of, "K-Rod is the best closer in Major League Baseball." As a huge Joe Nathan fan, I was a little ticked off. I rattled in my head a number of players who I thought were better, such as: Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Mariano Rivera, Brad Lidge, and Joakim Soria.

Yes, the Yankees have a bench problem, at least in the infield.  Cody Ransom and Angel Berroa are the back ups.  Ransom is young, and no one is sure he'll work, and Berroa's on a minor league deal.

There are still players on the market for the Yankees.

In my opinion, there are two options:

When will the MLB finally realize that the WBC is a joke and they should no longer use MLB players? Many superstars pass on playing in the tourney, and don't want to risk getting hurt.

It comes right smack dab in the middle of spring training. The time most MLB players are worried about making their team's 25 man roster.

The only ones who take it seriously are the country's who don't have MLB. Teams like Cuba, Korea and others. Japan also takes it to heart even with their 130 game pro season.

Mike Pelfrey, like Jose Reyes and David Wright, is a product of the Mets farm team system, which sets him apart from the other starting pitchers in the rotation. Johan Santana is from the Minnesota Twins, Oliver Perez is from the San Diego Padres, and John Maine is from the Baltimore Orioles. 

Who the No 5 pitcher will be is yet to be determined, but at this point most likely will either be Livian Hernandez or Freddy Garcia, as Tim Redding has been shut down and will not be on the active 25 man roster going into Opening Day. 

As a fan of FOX's smash hit, House, M.D., I'm used to seeing the medical maverick, Dr. Gregory House, played by Hugh Laurie, solve seemingly unsolvable medical mysteries. Well, I've got a new medical case for you, Dr. House—the Oakland Athletics.

The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins by a score of 5-1. The Yankee pitchers had another strong performance.

A+—Andy Pettitte

I think that Andy Pettitte is going to be washed up in 2009, especially since he stopped taking steroids. I thought that steroids were making him the pitcher he was, but I could be wrong this year. Andy pitched a great game, giving up no runs on two hits in three innings of work.

A+—Jorge Posada

This list was made after extensive research into the stats I believed to be the most important when it came to pitchers. I took a list of close to 200 candidates and looked at their career totals in Wins, ERA, WHIP, Saves, and Strikeouts. I then ranked each player in each of those categories. After that I looked at what they averaged in those stats per year. This ensures that we are looking at quality along with quantity. Next I weighted each stat accordingly, because lets face it, a save isn't as important as a win.

Well, they're here—the carrots at the end of the stick, the Three Gorillas in the American League East.

The Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox look like enormous, rampaging beasts who will run roughshod through the rest of Major League Baseball while recovering from titanic clashes with each other.

Baseball rarely shakes down according to specs, but it's really tough to see how the mere mortals of the MLB world can deal with these guys on a daily basis.  Even if you make every effort to see the gaps in armor and soft underbellies.

Walking into the Busch Stadium hours before the actual ballgame started, I ran into home run territory with my younger brother to witness greatness.

The year was 1998 and Mark McGwire was the show.

Crack after crack, baseballs soared into the air, falling into us: a sea of ecstatic fans. Thousands of fans congregated to see the spectacle, even at just batting practice.

Batting practice. Less people attended Montreal Expo games.

I was only 10 years old, but I knew this was something special. Something I could relate to future generations.

Alright, everybody, just calm down a bit. I've been reading posts on some web sites such as ESPN.com saying how "embarrassed" the USA should be because we got defeated 11-1 in the World Baseball Classic on Saturday.

And to that I reply with a great big, resounding YAWN.

Mercy me. Regardless of whether you enjoy the WBC or not, and I admit it has grown on me somewhat, you need to understand one basic fact.

The results are basically meaningless.

That's right. And the reason is two-fold.