Opinion

The effect of the steroid era and the constant investigations that ensued were certainly evident after today's Yankees-Blue Jays game.

Alex Rodriguez reached a precious milestone today against the Toronto Blue Jays in the first inning, but the home run is hardly receiving the same amount of attention that sluggers such as Barry Bonds received. 

Rodriguez became only the seventh player of all time to reach that mark, and also became the youngest player to do so.

As we approach the stretch run, in what has been a banner 2010 season thus far, much has been made of the struggles of Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce, and how their trials and tribulations may affect the Reds chase for the postseason.

Oh, if I had a dollar for every Stubbs strikeout, or every time Bruce was badly fooled by offspeed stuff...

Seemingly lost in these struggles is the third man in that outfield, Jonny Gomes.  Because his at bats are frighteningly quick, we are not given much time to psychoanalyze him.

You may remember about a month or so ago, former Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior had a workout in front of several major league scouts and general managers. By all accounts, Prior was just "OK" in that throwing session.

On Tuesday Prior showed just how serious he is with his most recent comeback attempt. The former second overall pick in the MLB draft pitched a scoreless sixth inning for the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League. According to the manager of the Flyers, Paul Abbott, Prior will be used as a setup man.

The Atlanta Braves have been due for a slump for a little over two months now. Well, that slump has finally arrived and it just so happens that the Braves start losing when the Phillies start winning. Now that Atlanta's division lead has almost completely evaporated, it is time for Braves fans to start looking for a scapegoat and the most popular candidate so far is First Baseman Troy Glaus.

Another game, another loss.

At this point in the season, this seems to be a common theme for the Florida Marlins.  Shoddy pitching by a starter not named Josh Johnson (in last night's case, Sean West), no offensive prowess and a bullpen with names like Jose Veras and Burke Badenhop not helping the cause. What makes it worse is that the Marlins lost 6-1 to a Philadelphia Phillies team missing All-Stars Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino.

Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline came and went last weekend, with a number of clubs making last-minute additions to their team in a bid to make one final charge towards October.

There were buyers and there were sellers. Others decided to stay pat, content with what they had, or, more likely, unable or willing to shell out top dollar or part ways with highly-touted prospects.

Now that July 31 is a thing of the past, baseball fans can look forward to the next big deadline... August 31.

There was a flurry of noteworthy stories yesterday, so let’s take a look at what fantasy owners need to know:

The Oakland A's did nothing at the trade deadline and by doing this general manager pretty much said "screw you" to Oakland A's fans. This year will be another wasted season for the A's. 

What's sad is if Beane had gotten some deals together the A's could have made a run at the Texas Rangers even if the Rangers went out and got Cliff Lee, Bengie Molina, Cristian Guzman, and Jorge Cantu. 

Through his first nine career starts, Stephen Strasburg has been nothing short of excellent, posting a 12.4 K/9, 1.067 WHIP, and a 178 ERA+.

In 2002, another rookie pitcher came up and caused quite the sensation. Over his first nine starts (52 IP), he struck out 65, and had a 1.23 WHIP / 3.98 ERA. That pitcher's name was Mark Prior.

Why would Mark Prior's name be significant?

Because he is the first name to pop up for many fans whenever a young starting pitcher has difficulty with injuries.