Preview/Prediction

It's been a crazy year for the New York Mets. They will enter the month of June either 27-25 or 26-26, neither bad considering what their expectations were in spring training.

It will only get tougher for them and even strange as they play June baseball. Starting with Monday night's game in San Diego, the Mets will play 27 games through June 30, all of which are fun, intriguing, and exciting in some way.

Right fielder Andre Ethier will be activated from the 15-day disabled list when the Dodgers return home Monday to open a three game series vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks, according to the team's website Sunday evening.

Prior to breaking his right pinky finger in a bizarre accident during batting practice on May 15, Ethier led the National League in batting average (.392), home runs (11), runs batted-in (38), slugging percentage (.744) and OPS (1.201).

The Milwaukee Brewers have been a young team throughout the decade. Young players such as Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Yovani Gallardo, and Corey Hart have been the core of the team during the franchise turnaround.

But with some of the key players getting older, Milwaukee will need a set of prospects to produce at the Big League level.

The following are the top twenty-five prospects, according to www.milbprospects.blogspot.com.

The baseball season is long and sometimes a little drawn out. But what if the 2010 campaign ended today?

What would the end result be? And who would win those fabulous awards we love to see our favorite players robbed of each year? Let's start with the playoff pictures.

American League East: Tampa Bay Rays

American League Central: Minnesota Twins

American League West: Oakland Athletics

American League Wildcard: New York Yankees

National League East: Philadelphia Phillies

National League Central: Cincinnati Reds

While many Pittsburgh Pirate fans are anxiously waiting for top pitching prospect Brad Lincoln to come up, the rest of the majors is anxiously waiting for pitching sensation Stephen Strasburg to make his debut for the Washington Nationals.

Ross Ohlendorf finished very strong in 2009, leading the rotation in both ERA (3.92) and WHIP (1.23) while picking up 11 wins.

Nonetheless, the 2010 season began with some concerns. In spring training, he was inconsistent with his fastball and his pitches were flat. However, his first start of the regular season was encouraging; His fastball showed life and he maintained consistent velocity.

The Chicago Cubs currently are 23-26, good for third place in the National League Central Division. They are six games behind the Cincinnati Reds and five behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cubs are truly struggling this season. A loss today put's them on pace to lose 88 games. That's right, 88 games. To make matter's worse, in games that have not been started by Carlos Silva, the Cubs are 15-25, a .375 winning percentage!

MILWAUKEE: Things aren't working out right now for the Mets away from Citi Field. At 6-15 on the road this season, the Mets will put their series hopes in the hands of reliever Fernando Nieve.

Last season, Nieve came up to make seven starts and didn't do a bad job. His overall numbers last season, including one relief outing, were 3-3, 2.95 ERA.

The problem here is, he hasn't been used as a long man this season, so how much of a big transition will it be to make a start?

Thanks to Nick Blackburn and Jason Kubel, the hold that the Yankees had over the Minnesota Twins may have been broken.

Going 2-4 against the reigning World Champs, although not as great as we had hoped, is significantly better than the 0-10 of 2009.

Blackburn was the benefactor of three Kubel home runs that resulted in the two victories over the Bronx Bombers.  

As the Twins say good riddance to the Yankees, at least until the inevitable matchup in October, they can focus on ten games against the American League West.

Scott Rolen has that look of a veteran. The third basemen sports a scruffy beard, receding hairline and an experienced look in his eyes.

That experience is exactly what the Cincinnati Reds have needed since his arrival late last season. On top of that, Rolen has given the Reds an unexpected boost on the offensive end with 11 home runs this season.