Opinion

The newest member of the Philadelphia Phillies' 2,000-hit club is a very hard player to define.  Jimmy Rollins is, and is not, a lot of things.

"J-Roll" has been the Phillies' undisputed leadoff man for the significant majority of the past 12 seasons, the last five of which saw his team make the playoffs and included a pennant and a World Series title.

Headed into Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees held a one-game lead in the American League East over the Baltimore Orioles. With a 21-9 record since the beginning of August, the O’s are one of baseball’s hottest teams, especially after taking two of three games from the Yankees last weekend.

We all know that 2012 is now a lost season, but it isn't over yet. The Cleveland Indians are two games up on the Minnesota Twins for the worst record in the American League going into Tuesday night's game against the Detroit Tigers.

Buster Posey has been a grinder for the San Francisco Giants this season, and a player who deserves the National League MVP Award.

Since he broke into the big leagues in 2010, where he batted .305/.357/.505 and ran away with the Rookie of the Year Award, Posey has been an instrumental part of the Giants lineup.

Going into Tuesday's action, the Oakland A's have found themselves losers of their last three games and six of their last 10.

They're trending downwards at the wrong time of the season.

In what has been a surprising season to say the least, Oakland sits 5.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for the lead in the American League West and just a half game out of Wild Card contention.

Of course, yesterday they owned one of those Wild Card playoff berths.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article arguing that San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy was wrong to play catcher Hector Sanchez over Brandon Belt. I based my argument on Belt's superior minor and major league statistics as well his higher prospect pedigree, according to publications like Baseball America and prospect experts like Keith Law of ESPN.

John Axford recorded 46 saves in 2011, which began a streak of 49 in a row—second most all-time. Axford's magical run ended this year and it has been a struggle for him to even record a save. Axford has done so poorly that he even cut off all his hair to remove the jinx on his performance.

It didn't work.

Five years ago on Aug. 7, Barry Bonds hit home run No. 756 for his career, taking over baseball's all-time home run record from Hank Aaron. 

It is Jonathan Papelbon, not Cliff Lee, whom the Phillies should be trying to move via waiver trade this month.

Last season, there was little question that Justin Verlander was going to win the AL Cy Young Award. He won the AL pitching Triple Crown, leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts. Pitchers who do that tend to walk away with the hardware.

Verlander is once again in the middle of a tremendous season, but the AL Cy Young race isn't nearly as cut-and-dry as it was last year; Verlander has some serious competition.