Yadier Molina

For Brandon Phillips, firing up your team should probably not involve getting teams into fights.

Phillips, easily one of the best players and leaders for the Cincinnati Reds, may be the reason why the St. Louis Cardinals swept their recent series, ending today with the Cards winning 6-1.

Emotions got the best of both the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.

Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips made comments a few days earlier about the Cards that didn't sit well with St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina.

Before the bottom of the first inning, the pair got into a heated argument and the benches cleared.

Managers Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker got involved. So did starting pitchers and former allies.

With a playoff chase on the line and bad blood, this rivalry won't be going away anytime soon.

The doctors call it a UCLR (ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction). Baseball players and fans call it Tommy John surgery—named after the pitcher who was the first to have the surgery in 1974. Fans of the Cardinals call it the surgery that saved former left-handed reliever Ken Dayley's career, and also gave him spotlight from the way he recovered from it. Dayley recovered in an astonishing seven months where most pitchers take up to 14 months recovering from the operation. 

Strong Start By Carpenter

As Chris Carpenter breezed through the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup on Thursday night, all of Cardinal Nation gave a deep sigh of relief while they celebrated the 7-1 victory.  

Unless you're new to Major League Baseball, you know the American League has been unbeatable against the National League in the All-Star Game for the last 13 years.

Excluding the 2002 contest that ended in a tie and featured the infamous Bud Selig shrug, the Junior Circuit has won every game since being shutout in 1996.

Obviously, a 12-game winning streak that spans over a decade has a litany of explanations. For example, the AL has been quite a bit stronger at times during the run and Lady Luck has played her role as she always does on the diamond.

There are certain players in baseball who have been fantasy studs over the first month and a half of the season that would help any team. At the same time, there are players who have overperformed and are bound to come back to life.

In this list, I will point to five players who have been fantasy stars so far and helped your team win that are not going to be able to hold up this level of production throughout the season. I will also list five players who's skills at the plate or on the mound does not transition well to the fantasy game.

Although it is only a few weeks into the 2010 Major League Baseball season, it's not too early to take a look at the 2010 Midsummer Classic in Anaheim, California. All-Star week is filled with excitement and fun for MLB players and fans. Who will be representing their respective leagues in Anaheim?

American League

Starting Lineup

Pitcher: Zack Greinke-Kansas City Royals

Catcher: Joe Mauer-Minnesota Twins

First Base: Kevin Youkilis-Boston Red Sox

Second Base: Robinson Cano-New York Yankees

Barring an injury that keeps Albert Pujols out of the line-up for any significant amount of time, the St. Louis Cardinals are the prohibited favorites to win the NL Central again this year.

Entering the 2010 season, the Cardinals top the division in several important factors. They have the best player (Pujols), the best catcher (Yadier Molina), the best manager (Tony LaRussa), the best starting rotation, and the best fans.

It is most definitely not summer anymore. 

In fact, this weather is much like a lazy fly ball to St. Louis’ collective applebag, if our applebags were saturated with 14 inches of rain.

The two most pertinent issues to the Cardinals offseason have been publicly tabled by the team: Matt Holliday will not be negotiated with until he speaks with other teams first, and Mark McGwire will get his day of media faux-indignation and soapbox bloviating sometime before the Winter Warm-Up (supposedly.)

The St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers have played a combined 226 seasons of professional baseball. They have won 16 World Series, 38 NL pennants, and almost 20,000 games. Over 100 players and managers that have worn either uniform are enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Both franchises are widely considered the crown jewels of the National League...

And come 8:07 p.m. CST Wednesday night, none of it will mean dick.