Fan News

Team of the Week: Tampa Bay Rays (pictured above), for the second time in three weeks

Bust of the Week: Philadelphia Phillies, for the second straight week

As the MLB and its 29...err, 30...teams (sorry, Nats fans) approach the middle of the season, it's all about how well they can perform with the title races tightening and the summer sun heating up.

To say the least, Koji Uehara has had a very up-and-down rookie season with the Baltimore Orioles. In 12 starts, he is 2-4 with a 4.05 ERA, has walked just 12 in 66 and two thirds innings, and has yet to hit batter. While he's done a good job for a rookie, he's had his share of downs.

O's fans have come to notice he doesn't have much to work with after the fifth inning. He has pitched seven innings just once, an Apr. 19 start against the Boston Red Sox in which he allowed two runs in a loss.

$200-plus million is a lot of money. And yes, there is a point to this rather obvious statement.

The transfer fees agreed to by Real Madrid last week for Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka were stunners, even by the inflated standards of world football. 

Real's approach for much of the past decade has been the signing of veritable dream teams of world-renowned talents, known as "galacticos."  Names like Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Raul, Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, and now Kaka and Cristiano.

Circle the wagons, grab your money, buy the seats, because the Cleveland Indians we expected are ready to return. Travis Hafner shows signs of the player of years gone by and Grady Sizemore has returned. Asdrubal Cabrera should return to shortstop next week. Aaron Laffey is slated to return to the starting rotation.

Now its time for Wedge to make the Great Experiment: a set lineup.

Several years ago my ex-girlfriend (who at that time wasn’t sporting the “ex” prefix) asked me who I thought was the greatest ballplayer of all time.

Every time I hear that Ozzie Guillen has said something, nothing seems to surprise me. His moments of childhood seem to be full to the brim, especially know as we still look back onto his Wrigley Field comments.

Ozzie is still a kid, and very probably will always be. His childhood-like mentality in the clubhouse has somehow worked though, he won the Chicago White Sox a championship in the 2006 season. They also made the playoffs last year, winning the AL Central division.

Just a quick note.

David Ortiz's struggles early this season were well documented. He was swinging at bad pitches, consistently swinging off-balance and, above all, couldn't catch up to a fastball to save his life, let alone an inside fastball.

Last night's blast to right field off of Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens should quiet any doubters left out there.

Testosterone, steroids, PEDs, or performance enhancers.

Anyway you say it, it means one thing: We can’t stop talking about them—or rather we can’t stop talking about the people who abuse themselves with them.

Our Detroit Tigers squandered a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning late Friday night. The Tigers had a runner in scoring position with just one out after a stolen base by Josh Anderson.

However, the streak ended at eight as they were unable to tie up the game in the ninth. Final score 5-3 with the loss going to Joel Zumaya.

The Good

I hate the Quad-A stereotype, particularly with hitters.

If you didn't know that before, you should check out my Quad-A/GPP article from last year. It's one of my best.

A consequence of my hating the stereotype is my loving the players who are labeled with it. You can't help but root for them.

They've been unjustly declared unfit to the majors, and you hope someday they come up and stick it to whoever doubted them.