Opinion

If you haven’t already noticed, this is a hard time of year to make trades in fantasy baseball circles. About as hard as finding snowmen in the Sahara.

That’s because the marathon that is fantasy baseball has hit its fizzle time for owners who are looking at a losing season. Fantasy football drafts and NFL preseason buzz is heating up, which lures too many frustrated fantasy baseball owners away from the mid-summer classic.

As of now, Josh Beckett’s ERA stands at 6.51, while his WHIP sits at a career-worst 1.54. After returning from the disabled list, Beckett seemed to settle into a groove, culminating in a spectacular eight-inning performance in which he only allowed one run to the Cleveland Indians.

Since that game, Beckett has thrown 9 2/3 innings while allowing four home runs, 13 earned runs, and 21 hits. Ugly, ugly numbers.

If you’ve watched the Mets this season, you know how much of a roller coaster it’s been. From the hot start to April to the inconsistent May, to a month of June where they looked like true contenders and then a July that put that talk to bed.

In MLB, a sophomore slump, also refer to as sophomore jinx, is identified when a player is not able to live up to the standards set by their rookie season. 

Reasons to blame for the "slump" may be injury or lack of adjustments.

Pitchers seem to be more likely to regress because of fatigue. The innings pitched in their rookie season may have dramatically surpassed the prior season; think of the "Verducci Effect".

Last night the Yankees bullpen went a combined 3.2 innings without allowing a run. At a certain point this season that would have been a major achievement for them, but lately it has been par for the course for them.

Get this, over the last 30 days the Yankees bullpen has had a 2.35 ERA, good for the best in the American League.

Leading the way has been David Robertson who has grabbed the eighth inning role and hasn’t given up an earned run since July 2. That’s 15 straight appearances without allowing a run.

The Giants lost 3-2 to the Padres Friday night in a battle of supremacy for the NL West.

Jonathan Sanchez's prediction was proven wrong, his attempt at becoming a baseball mystic falling short.

But losing the game and the prediction will not be what this game is remembered for in the coming weeks, months, and years.

Tonight was the official death of Aarond Rowand as a San Francisco Giant.

by shlepcar

As the baseball season nears its end, and the playoff races begin to heat up, everybody is debating about who will make the playoffs and who won't.

Well, I am here to talk about the AL MVP race and who I think will win it.

As of right now, the two main candidates for the AL MVP are obviously Miguel Cabrera and Josh Hamilton. They are both having outstanding season for the teams which are both in playoff races.

Alot of people think it's all about the batting statistics that determines the Most Valuable Player, but that is not true.

The Oakland A's came off home series against Texas where the A's with runners in scoring position managed to go for 0-30, but somehow were still able to take win two games of the three game series. 

At that point it looked like it was a turning point of the season for the A's because they gained ground on the Texas Rangers in the American League West division race and had a chance with the Rangers having an off-day to even gain further ground. 

For the Oakland A's the team has a ton of talented starting pitchers and one of those pitchers is Gio Gonzalez. The word to describe his season so far has been inconsistent at one point he looked like the ace for the A's and other times he's struggled mightily. 

Looking at his numbers before tonights game he's got a record of 10-7, with a 3.51 ERA, has started 23 games, has one complete game, and has struck out 114 while walking 62 hitters.