Rankings/List

Running your mouth, egging on the competition, or just being a flat out jerk are just some of the aspects of baseball we tend to forget. And while being the casual knucklehead trash talker is to be expected, some players are known for taking things too far.

I tried to gather 10 of the biggest trash talkers and/or agitators currently in the game. Some of these players are worse than others, while some of them are just your average jabber-jawer.

Like Carlos Zambrano, big-time pitchers Justin Verlander, Jake Peavy, and Josh Beckett are off to awful starts. They are not alone. Names like Jon Lester, Aaron Harang, Javier Vazquez, Chad Billingsley, and Jeremy Bonderman join them on this list of the top ten worst pitchers in 2010.

Virtually all of these pitchers have two things in common. They were expected to be aces, stoppers, shutdown grinders, strike-one dealers. They are all disappointing.

Let’s take a look at how bad they all really are, see if they’re improving, and ask ourselves:

Is this just an April shower?

As the famous phrase goes, “Chicks dig the long ball.”

While that may be very true, what’s most often overlooked in the game of baseball is overall spectacular defense.

The most noteworthy defensive plays are often made by the athletic and talented shortstops of the game, which feature some of the best range in the field, combining their skillset to make diving plays, backhanded stops or the ever-so-famous jump and throw maneuver.

So who are the most spectacular and flashy of the shortstops in today’s game?

Yep, me and Matt put together a list of Power Rankings. They will be updated every week or so once the season starts.

In parenthesis is the teams rankings from last weeks edition.

NOTE: These rankings were done before the Sunday games

1. Tampa Bay Rays(4)
2. New York Yankees(1)
3. Minnesota Twins(3)

Power Rankings for MLB Week Four.

1) New York Yankees (12-6)

Supporting Players: Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, Jorge Posada

Best Game: Saturday, May 1 vs. CWS (John Danks vs. Javier Vazquez)

2) Tampa Bay Rays (14-5)

Supporting Players: B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria

Best Game: Wednesday, April 28 vs. OAK (Dallas Braden vs. James Shields)

The Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees will be in a battle for the division title all season. Each team has been getting consistent starting pitching and timely hits. One thing is for sure, the 3-16 O's wont be challenging for the No. 1 spot.

Over in the N.L., every team is within 3.5 games out of first. Absolutely nothing has been decided yet and every team still has hope...for now.

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Fresh off the Orioles third win of the year, a heart-pounding, nearly coma-inducing 8-7 win over the Bo Sox, I present the second edition of "Who's Hot and Who's Not" for 2010.

Several players from last week's list came back down to earth a bit, including Justin Dalles and Zach Britton, but they're far from being on the "Not" list.

So without further ado...let's check out who's hot...

...but not like that...

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TMI is a biweekly column published on the website, tmicolumn.com . Every Monday, the column recaps each major league baseball team’s top storyline through the current week, and highlights the most impressive of all.

These Power Rankings are grouped by teams according to expected rankings, not by record: Top Performers (teams expected to be there), Underperformers, Over Performers, and Right Where They Are Supposed to Be. 

Welcome to the second edition of the MLB Featured Columnists' Poll!

After the success of last week's player award predictions, Chicago Cubs FC Matt Poloni suggested a survey of predictions about how the divisions will shake out.

For each team I have listed the cumulative rank, average rank, and number of first-place votes.

Colorado's 26-year-old Ubaldo Jimenez became the first Rockie in franchise history to throw a no-hitter when he silenced the bats of the hot-hitting Atlanta Braves over nine dazzling innings.

There are usually a couple of no-nos each year, although that number will probably drop now that Jason Varitek has seen his playing time behind the plate drop. He has caught four no-hitters, the most in baseball history.

There are still three teams who have yet to see a pitcher toss a no-hitter. The Rays haven't seen one in their young history, and the Padres have been waiting 41 years without any joy.