Preview/Prediction

It is certainly a matter of when, not if, the Pittsburgh Pirates will bring their top prospects up this year.

The three prospects the Pirates will likely bring up are Pedro Alvarez, Brad Lincoln, and Jose Tabata.

Lincoln will likely be brought up first, as the Pirates are in need of a starting pitcher right now. Charlie Morton has done horrible, and you cannot use spot starters forever. Injuries have also left the Pirates' starting rotation in tatters.

No, Wade LeBlanc didn't throw his teammate Kyle Blanks on the score board although that actually might help.  This may be a just a glitch in the universe, it may be luck, or it may actually be the real thing.  Wade LeBlanc has been lights out and has helped the Padres actually have a winning record for once. 

Barry Zito has been known as a slow starter throughout his career. Since he came over to San Francisco, fans have come to the conclusion that he's not worth watching until July.

But in 2010, a new mindset and new approach has quickly led him to the front of the pack of National League pitchers. With Brian Wilson's first blown save of the year falling after a brilliant start by fellow fast starter Tim Lincecum, Zito is now first on the team with 4 wins in five starts.

As a Phillies fan, I am hoping that the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies' season is not becoming that of the New York Mets' 2009 season, one riddled with injuries and a lost season before the All-Star break

I can hear the laughing all the way from Queens.

Really though, here's what the Phillies awful 9-1 loss means: The Phillies are in third place, 1.5 games behind the Mets and a half-game behind behind Washington. A win today by the Phillies only assures them to be a half-game behind the Mets.

Not to mention what Washington does.

This is do or die for New York's Javier Vazquez . Unfortunately for Javy, with the way John Danks has been throwing the ball lately, it is looking more like the latter.

Fans are not going to be kind to the man who is making $11.5 million and is being outpitched by 23-year-old Phil Hughes , who is making $447,000.

Hughes is far and away performing better than Vazquez this year, and Yankees fans are certainly going to let him know that.

Finally. Or maybe that should read, "Final-Lee?"

The Seattle Mariners made a huge trade in the offseason to acquire the services of former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee, and tonight, a month into the season, he will make his first appearance on the mound.

Lee got off on the wrong foot this year. Literally. Literal-Lee. A couple of weeks prior to spring training, he needed a minor surgery on his foot and would miss the start of the exhibition season.

It has been well documented by now, that the New York Mets are red hot.

When Chris Iannetta hit the tenth-inning homer off of Jenrry Mejia to seal a 6-5 win for the Rockies and a fourth straight loss for the Mets, Flushing fans were conceding the season all over the Internet.

On April 14.

They split the next four to sit at 4-8 on April 18. They lost the first four series of the year.

Fifteen days later, the Mets are in first place. They just finished their best homestand in 20 years. They swept the Dodgers for the first time since 1995.

Everything gloomy two weeks ago suddenly shines.

In case you missed it, Lou Piniella had a little back-and-forth jabber with a reporter after yesterday’s 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals.

It’s good to see that Sweet Lou still has a little baseball life left in him. I was beginning to think he had lost all of his passion, kind of like the Cubs’ offense against the Nasty Nats pitching staff.

When at his best, AJ Burnett is one of the best pitchers in baseball.

When Burnett is at his best, he is dominant.

When he is at his best is the key.

Every other time, he seems downright terrible.

The last World Series was a prime example.

Burnett started Game Two. He was brilliant, giving up one lonely run and scattered four hits in seven innings of work. The victory jump-started the Yankees in the World Series who, at the time, had a one-game deficit to the Philadelphia Phillies.