Opinion

For die-hard Reds' fan this could easily have been titled, "Bring it on Cards!" But various politicians have used that sort of rhetoric before, and it hasn't worked very well. And as a die-hard Reds' fan...a little good karma can't hurt.

And it's not a stretch to say that deity Shiva owes the Reds a bit of good karma.

The Chicago White Sox might as well be in second place already.

They've dropped two of three to the lowly (but resurgent) Orioles and are one loss away from heading home in second.

The Minnesota Twins, meanwhile, toughed out a split with the Rays in Tampa Bay and have taken care of Cleveland.

David Ortiz struck out three more times yesterday, reminding us that he has truly become an all-or-nothing hitter. 

Ortiz now has 109 whiffs in 340 at-bats this season, which means he's striking out a whopping 32 percent of the time.

The Boston DH's strikeout total is third highest in the AL, behind Austin Jackson (114) and Carlos Pena (111). For the record, the latter two are both position players who make an impact defensively, at least mitigating some of the impact of their frequent strike outs.

Nick Swisher arrived in New York rather unheralded, acquired from the White Sox after the 2008 season for seldom-used infielder Wilson Betemit and two throwaway prospects.

He had allegedly worn out his welcome in Chicago after only one season, having alienated manager Ozzie Guillen and suffered through a career-worst .219/.332/.410 season.

But the surface numbers don't adequately tell the tale of Swisher's 2008 campaign.

J.P. Ricciardi's tenure with the Blue Jays can be described with one word, mediocre. The Jays were never really that good under him, but also never really that bad. They had their good stretches and they had their bad ones as well.

Had they been in another division, however, the team could have succeeded in my opinion. But the unbalanced divisions in baseball is a story for another day.

The season is long and right now it's coming down to the wire for the top owners in their respective leagues.  These few players that are poised for either a huge week or a week you will want to avoid.  Pay attention, this could mean winning or not winning your league.

Start 'Em:

As much as the Mets don't want to admit it, by calling up two of their top minor league prospects, they are planning for 2011.

Perhaps their thinking is that the young players is what energized them early in the season, but it's too late for that now.

There are so many negatives that outweigh every potential positive. By bringing up Ruben Tejada and Fernando Martinez, a couple of veteran players are upset. Of course, Mets fans don't care about feelings and they shouldn't.

Right now, the team playing the best baseball in the AL East Division is without a doubt the Toronto Blue Jays.

In the last week the Blue Jays won series against the two best teams in baseball; first they were in New York winning two of three against the Yankees, then headed home and pounded on the Tampa Bay Rays.

By now this is a broken record in Toronto, the ball club plays well, but is always missing that something to make it into the post-season.

The last time the Boston Red Sox missed the playoffs was in 2006. Much like this season, 2006 was an injury-riddled year that most fans considered a write-off. The organization would never admit it, but it felt the same way as this year.

Every morning since he was a kid, J.P. Ramirez dragged himself out of bed and headed out to the batting cage, sleep in his eyes and bat in his hand. And every morning, he put the bat on his shoulder and took a deep breath. And he began to swing.