Stats

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Workhorse.

In a season that has seen 12 different starting pitchers for the Los Angeles Dodgers thus far, that’s the only way to describe how Randy Wolf put the starting staff on his back from the end of June until early September.

Wolf, in 14 starts from June 29-September 5, tossed 93.2 innings—good for an average of 6.2 innings per start.

The minor league seasons are over, except for a few playoff games, so it's time to take a look at what some of the Yankees' draftees have accomplished so far.

Zachary Slade Heathcott

1st Round, OF: Heathcott signed at the deadline and didn't get much of a chance to start his career. He got into three games with the GCL Yankees and went 1-for-10 with a walk and two strikeouts. Next season, he will either start in extended spring training or with the Charleston RiverDogs.

J.R. Murphy

Right when it appeared Kevin Millwood would finally pitch to the level of his contract, bad stuff has begun to happen. The Rangers ace has quite simply run out of gas.

Since the All Star Break Kevin Millwood has pitched awful, with a 5.32 ERA and just two wins in nine starts. Before the break he was 9-8 and had an ERA of 3.46. He has just two wins in two months. It may only be luck Millwood managed to keep his ERA down earlier this season.

With 23 games remaining in the regular season, it appears it is safe to say the Red Sox will not be the AL East Champions in 2009—that title will almost certainly belong to the NY Yankees. Hopefully, it is the only title the Evil Empire will lay claim to in 2009.

So, the next goal for the Olde Towne Team is making the playoffs.

I've been thinking about Brandon Inge quite a bit lately. One reason is at some point this season, I placed an over/under bet with my friend on the number of home runs he'd hit this season.

I put the number at 28 and my friend took the over. The next homer Brandon hits will mean my wife and I don't get a free "reasonable" night out. Assuming there is another home run after that, not only will we not get a free night out, we'll have to pay for my friend and his wife. So before I dig more deeply into my thoughts, I only ask that Brandon choose his spots wisely.

It’s the unofficial halfway point in the baseball season, and most teams are deciding whether or not they have what it takes to make a run at the postseason before the trade deadline at the end of the month.

The Braves are currently standing at 43-45, 6 games back of the division-leading Phillies.

To start this first half review, I will look at the performance the Braves received from the catchers on the season. All stat lines will be AVG/OBP/SLG/HR/RBI/SB

A few days ago, I wrote this article, which looks at the fastball effectiveness of the   Oakalnd Athlectics' pitchers.

It was surprising to me that lefty Craig Breslow's 90-mph heater was the most effective, and that the hardest thrower, Santiago Casilla, had the third-least effective fastball of the group.

Intrigued by the results, I decided to take a look at fastballs in general, and see if velocity had anything to do with effectiveness.

In the past offseason, I thought about who were the top five pitchers in baseball. A while later, I realized there was a major omission in my list. Roy Halladay is not only undoubtedly in the top five, but he might be the best.

At one point, Halladay was extremely underrated. With all the talk of Cliff Lee making an unlikely run at the Cy Young award, Halladay was performing to his usual standards, finishing a close second.

Everyone knows that Halladay is good, but just how good is he?

If you were to say that Yovani Gallardo is one of the best young pitchers in baseball, no one should give you a funny look or call you crazy.  If he had been healthy last season, maybe the baseball world would regard him among the elite already, but two separate knee injuries limited him to just four starts, certainly slowing his progress.

In 2009, however, he is making his case, posting the following line: