Opinion

When you are an uber-obsessed fan like me, who watches the majority of the games, you pick up on a few nuances along the way.  Obviously, we don't really know these guys, and who they are as people, but for me, Brandon Phillips has always been a guy with a megawatt smile who built up his career after nearly tearing it apart, but displaying some annoying, almost diva-like tendencies at the same time.

Which young players are stepping up into stardom?

"It was unacceptable," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella of pitcher Carlos Zambrano's dugout fireworks after the first inning of Friday's 6-0 loss to the crosstown rival White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

"His conduct was not acceptable," said general manager Jim Hendry, echoing Piniella's sentiments while announcing Zambrano's indefinite suspension from the team.

Garret Anderson just finished what will likely be his final trip to Anaheim—and his first

as a member of the visiting team. But a new G.A. could be waiting just over the horizon.

Maybe it's an aberration, but the Tampa Bay Rays were the victims of being on the wrong end of a no-hitter—again.

Dating back to July 23, 2009, The Rays have been no-hit three times; two of those being perfect games.

Let’s take a look at them.

It sounds like they could be some sort of traveling act, and they may be coming to a town near you.

Simply put, Padres pitchers Clayton Richard or Wade LeBlanc could pickoff a ghost runner.

When either of the two lefties allow hitters to reach base, runners go from being in a secondary lead and back to the dugout within seconds.

No need to ask Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan who probably has the best pickoff move in baseball.  Richard picked off Coghlan in the Padres 3-0 win over the Marlins Friday night. 

2010 has not gone at all like the Milwaukee Brewers and their fans were hoping for. Several offseason free agent pitching signings gave hope to a staff that ranked as one of the worst in baseball in 2009.

Unfortunately, the pitching has been only slightly better, and the Brewers are 33-40, only good enough for a distant third place in the NL Central.

On a positive note, the Brewers have won five in a row, and the starting pitching seems to be producing the way GM Doug Melvin had expected since being very active over the winter.

The 2010 season has been a disaster for the Chicago Cubs so far.  They are eight games back from first place, and only have a 3.2 percent chance of making the playoffs at the moment.  Unless Lee, Ramirez, Zambrano, and Dempster can get their confidence back, I don't think the Cubs can make it.  

Putting this season aside, the Cubs' future is looking pretty swell.  I'd say that they have about seven prospects who will help in the immediate future, including Starlin Castro and Andrew Cashner.

While the San Diego Padres are locked in a scoreless battle with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night, I figured we'd get an update on the team as they made what I would call a minor move earlier today.

According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, via Twitter , the Padres acquired catcher/infielder Kyle Phillips from the Blue Jays for a player to be named later.

There isn't a Major League Baseball franchise with any interest in dealing talent in return for John Bowker, Travis Ishikawa and Nate Schierholtz. Here are some other thoughts as trade deadline talks begin...

Forget Oswalt