Rankings/List

The struggles of Ubaldo Jimenez continue, but will he be able to rebound?  Could Wade Davis’s time in the major leagues be in jeopardy?  Is Matt LaPorta now a usable option in all formats since returning from the minor leagues?  Let’s look at these questions and all the rest from yesterday’s games:

Saves....some people care about them, some people could care less.  For those that do care, it's time to take a close look at each team's closer role.  It's July and the sample sizes are large enough to see some trends.  So here we go...

What to watch for

Mat Latos continues to roll on the mound.  Max Scherzer continues to put his early season struggles behind him.  

These ballplayers put "the hurt" on the baseball all month long. The listed men rung up opposing pitchers and didn’t blink as they sent their ERA into space. Their team jersey sales have sky rocketed and they might end up on an upcoming episode of MTV cribs. The few, the proud, they are “The Kings of Swing”.

Barry Bonds could quite go down as the most dangerous hitter Major League Baseball has ever seen. Steroids or no steroids, Bonds eye at the plate was matched by a select few.

Bonds is a guy who was walked intentionally with the bases loaded just so he wouldn't hit a homerun. So, the question is what 10 pitchers gave Bonds the most problems with the minimum being at least 25 at-bats for Bonds?

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The '90s were an interesting time for baseball. We saw the first Canadian world champion and a strike that devastated the game.

We saw the re-emergence of the Evil Empire and one of the classiest men in baseball break the consecutive games played streak, and we saw a home run chase that made baseball America's pastime once again.

This was all fueled by the players themselves.

This is a weekly focus on the hurlers that dominated their adversaries. These pitchers put up nasty numbers and made big league hitters wish they were playing T-Ball again.

Many hitters in the league have powerful uppercut swings designed to hit 40-plus home runs per season, but what 10 hitters have the kind of smooth, level cut that would make them untapped tennis talents?

We’ll begin with a couple honorable mentions, albeit players that are no longer active, and then we'll begin the countdown from No. 10 to No.

In 2009, Trevor Hoffman fooled the Milwaukee Brewers front office, coaches, players, and fans by being nothing short of awesome. In 55 games, he put together a 0.907 WHIP, a 3.43 K:BB ratio, a 3-2 record, 37 saves, and a 1.83 ERA. It was the best season he'd had in a decade.

Hell, I'll bet he even fooled himself.

Truth is, Hoffman hadn't been a truly effective Hoffman-esque reliever in a couple of seasons, and his 2009 performance was likely a mirage. Nevertheless, there were reasons for optimism in Milwaukee going into this season.

Well, it has been a disaster.

Is there possibly a better way to celebrate Josh Bell's graduation to Baltimore than with a "Who's Hot and Who's Not" feature?

I think not.

But it wasn't just Bell having a great two-week period. Nathan Moreau tossed a nine-inning no-hitter in his first High-A start for Frederick and Bowie's Zach Britton was named Eastern League pitcher of the week AND promoted to the Triple-A.

The O's also saw several of their wounded return to duty, including L.J.