Rocco Baldelli

The then Tampa Bay Devil Rays were building something special in the outfield.

James Shields takes the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays today with his team already down 1-0 in their American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers.

What I’m Reading

• The Braves’ 20-year old monster prospect Jason Heyward is already turning heads in camp . The feeling around Kissimmee is that he’ll continue this trend all the way into the regular season. The major league regular season.

What do Brendan Harris and Gene Larkin have in common?

In a perfect world, the answer would be simple: nothing (aside from having last names that sort of seem like they could be first names, but don’t completely seem like they could be first names).

The correct answer, however, is that both players were the best option off the bench for their respective Twins teams. For the 1991 Twins, this was a good thing. For the 2009 Twins, this was…well…less good.

After blowing a nine-run lead Tuesday night, the Red Sox showed the Orioles how it feels as Boston rallied in the ninth inning Wednesday to win 6-5.

Baltimore starter Brad Bergesen pitched lights-out through eight innings. The rookie held Boston to just one run on four hits, no walks, and six strikeouts. He left the game with a 5-1 lead.

Let's start this article off by saying one thing.  Rocco Baldelli is not only athletically gifted, but pretty damn smart as well.

He attended the Gifted and Talented student program while at La Salle Academy in Rhode Island, and then switched to a normal high school by the name of Bishop Hendrickson High School, also in Rhode Island.

While at BHHS, the baseball stud posted a 4.25 grade-point average.  He played baseball, indoor track, basketball, and even volleyball, and was a four-star athlete at those sports.

All indications were that Brad Penny simply needed not to implode in his final spring training outing Thursday against Minnesota in order to secure the final rotation spot on the Red Sox. He did not disappoint, allowing three runs in five innings in the Sox's 7-3 loss.

Michael Cuddyer did most of the damage, driving in all three runs on a triple and a double. Penny struck out three and walked none, facing 19 batters and exiting with the game tied.