Opinion

With June officially underway in what seems to be a very entertaining baseball season, we have seen a lot of surprises in baseball, in terms of teams as well as players.

Roughly two months into the regular season, it seems like a good time to review what the Mets have developing down on the farm. The Mets are often criticized for not developing homegrown talent that is up to par with the rest of baseball. However, there does appear to be a core of young prospects experiencing the necessary growth required to reach the big show.

These young guns will indeed be necessary, because looking at this team, some fresh young potential will need to surround core leaders like Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, Jose Reyes, and David Wright.

Vin Scully showed again last night why he is regarded as the dean of baseball broadcasters still broadcasting today, and could very well be the best ever.

Major League Baseball plays a grueling 162-game schedule only to reward four teams from the American League and four teams from the National League with a chance at the World Series title.

Simply put, there is nothing like the playoffs in any of Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League.

Lets take a quick look at how the other three major North American sports conduct their championship tournaments.

National Football League

When an umpire blows a call to stifle Detroit’s Armando Galarraga and the 21st perfect game in major league history, hijacking and wrecking much of an impeccable mark in sports, then we assume that a fraudulent sport may be rigid or even the worst call in Major League Baseball history.

The game of baseball is rich in history and luster, but recently, in the last two decades or so, the game has fallen out of favor in many baseball cities. Players went on strike, teams have folded, and lastly, a large portion players went on steroids, rewriting the record books and making 50-year-old records vanish. Today, in many baseball minds, those records come with an asterisk next to them.

The Giants called up Pat Burrell after five games at Fresno in which he went 5 for 14 with a homerun.  To make room, they designated Brandon Medders for assignment.

In fact, Medders has already been reported to have cleared waivers and been assigned to AAA Fresno, which is not particularly surprising given Medders’s 7.20 ERA so far this year and his recent minor arm problems.

Mike Stanton is on his way to the Florida Marlins.

No, not that Mike Stanton. 

It's the 20-year-old Los Angeles native, an outfielder currently in the Florida Marlins farm system. 

The 40 year old Ken Griffey Jr. retired earlier this week after playing professional baseball since he was 19. He will always be remembered for his time in Seattle, not in Cincinnati. In the late 90's he was the best player in the game and was in the discussion for possibly being the best all around player ever.

The announcement ends a 22-year run in the major leagues that included 13 all-star selections, 630 home runs, 10 Gold Gloves and a .284 career batting average.

Ken Griffey Jr. is my version of The Beatles.

For every generation there are cultural phenomena that don’t resonate with their predecessors and go unappreciated by their successors.

I spent about two hours attempting to write a fitting sendoff for Junior the morning after he retired.