Opinion

Just when you thought that you would never see him again after being traded to Philly this past offseason, Roy Halladay returns to clash with the Yankees in the Bronx.

Halladay is not the same as he was last year either, he's better.

Heading into tomorrow's game, his record stands at 8-4 to the tune of a 1.96 ERA, along with his 85 strikeouts and 14 walks.

And as many Yankee fans know, Halladay has done quite well to holding the Bombers down in the past, with an 18-6 record and 2.84 career ERA against the Yankees.

The Cincinnati Reds are seemingly caught up in their own hype.  Sure, they're currently in first place.  But they missed a huge opportunity to stab a midseason dagger right in the hearts of the St. Louis Cardinals and the rest of the NL Central last week.

The Cardiac Reds lead the NL Central by a game and a half. 

They also lead the league in come from behind wins, and victories in their last at bat—so "Cardiac Reds" is a perfect name for these guys—not a team for folks with weak tickers.

Ever since the Giants parted ways with Barry Bonds in 2008, wait check that, ever since the last couple seasons of Bonds's career, the San Francisco Giants simply couldn't score runs.

From 2006-2009, the Giants lived and died with their pitching staff. And prior to 2009, they did nothing but die with their pitching staff because in each of the previous four seasons, San Francisco finished under .500.

But then came 2009, and the Giants pitching staff put together one of the best seasons a staff has ever had.

For some teams, a relationship with the fans can be strictly based on winning games.

Other teams are more defined by the character of the team.

Very good teams maintain a balance between these two aspects, creating an organized team that may come across as very likable.

Baseball at Progressive Field all of a sudden got a lot more exciting over the last week.

The Indians had a four-game set against the Boston Red Sox, winning two of those games, Carlos Santana was called up, and now Stephen Strasburg will be toeing the mound to the delight of baseball fans everywhere.

Once it was announced that Strasburg would be starting, tickets for today's game started selling like crazy. The good part of that equation is there will be a much fuller house today than has been the norm at Progressive Field this year.

Andy Pettitte has had a remarkable MLB career.  He's won 12 or more games in 14 of his first 15 seasons, and is the only pitcher in major league history to have a record above .500 for all of his first 15 seasons.

Missing amongst those accomplishments is a Cy Young award.  This year may be Pettitte's best chance at that coveted pitching award yet—and seemingly, no one is talking about it.

The American League East had looked a bit strange for much of the beginning of the 2010 baseball season. The Tampa Bay Rays have been on top since the start. At many points, they've had a significant lead over the rest of the division. That has since changed.

The Toronto Blue Jays had been rolling early on and making everyone believe the division would be a four-team race. That has since changed.

The New York Yankees were right there with the Blue Jays and kept battling between second and third place.

I think a lot of us owe Javier Vazquez a big time apology. Especially me.

In April and early May, I basically had all but packed his bags and tried to ship him back to the National League.

I did a popular feature story on how Vazquez would easily fit in with the Mets. A lot of you agreed with the story and some disagreed with it.

Some who disagreed thought I needed to give Vazquez a chance to find his rhythm and I thought at the time, you all needed your head examined because at the time, Vazquez sucked.

Now, it's a complete 180 degrees and I was wrong.

If you’re reading these words, chances are—like me—you’re a baseball lover.

All the talk before the season started was that the Red Sox pitching would have to be fantastic in order for the Red Sox to win a title. The talk at the end of May was that the Red Sox needed to trade David Ortiz. Both of these have been disproven since, as the Red Sox enter the middle of June with one of the best offenses in the league.

Here are the numbers.