Opinion

(I would like to say first that I originally wrote this article for another sports website, so I apologize for the glitches in formatting. The original article is here: http://sportsflecks.com/?p=895)

Francisco Rodriguez's recent altercation at Citi Field with his girlfriend's father may have come as a surprise to many around baseball.

But his downhill spiral has not.

K-Rod's most recent mess-up only sheds light on the fact that he has been disappointing this whole season. But that was just on the field. Now he's decided to blow it off the field as well.

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Yesterday news broke that Atlanta Braves third baseman Larry "Chipper" Jones had torn his ACL and would require season-ending surgery. Recovery time for the surgery is about six months, so if all goes well, Jones would be ready in time for the start of the 2011 season.

In the month of August, the Orioles, under new manager Buck Showalter, have become one of the hottest teams in the league.

MASN is getting its best rating all year, and fans are already starting to tune back in. However, the recent buzz in the big leagues has masked the success of a familiar name in AAA Norfolk: Nolan Reimold. 

Well, up until now, I haven't felt compelled to put anything down on "paper" when it came to the New York Mets, as the majority of my thoughts can be found in my post game reports that I share with Matt Dagastino on the New York Mets Audio Minute, over at Lexy.

The hunt for October is coming ever closer. With each day, it's becoming more clear who is making a move in the MVP race and who is fading out of the race. Division leaders keep changing and these players are responsible for playoff pushes.

Here's the weekly update on the top nine Most Valuable Player candidates in the American League.

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Not everyone can be a winner.

These ten pitchers have found this out the hard way this season. Despite pitching very well for their teams this season they each have a losing record.

These ten pitchers have suffered from a lack of run support, poor defense behind them, and a case of bad luck.

Three of the pitchers on this list pitch for teams that are last place in their divisions, two play for teams that are still in the playoff hunt, and one pitcher on this list is actually on a first place team.

Sometimes certain things can seem so obvious that we don't think they even need to be said, or, for that matter, justified.

The Boston Red Sox are at a crossroads right now. In the thick of a pennant race, their star closer is melting down before their very eyes.

Jonathan Papelbon is putting up the worst numbers of his career and is no longer one of the most intimidating closers in baseball.

In the pre-season it was Roy Halladay.  For the first three months of the year it was Ubaldo Jimenez.  Josh Johnson took over for a little while, but as of now there can be no doubt.

The St. Louis Cardinals' Adam Wainwright is now your front-runner for the National League Cy Young Award.

Remember just under two months ago, when Jimenez won his 14th start of the season to run his record to 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA?