Fan News

The Cubs have made a few minor moves this morning, calling up Jake Fox, Andres Blanco and Jason Waddell.  Going down to Iowa was Bobby Scales, who had been battling the flu for a few days, and Neal Cotts, who had been battling his command.

Fox, 26, is making his long-awaited 2009 debut with the Cubs.  In Iowa, he was hitting a robust .423 with a .503 on-base percentage and slugging .886 with 17 home runs. 

The Kansas City Royals are an up-and-coming team in the American League. It all starts with Zack Greinke, and the rest of their pitching.

Zack Greinke has turned himself into one of the premier pitchers in the game with his hot start this season.

He was Rookie of the Year in 2004, and could add a Cy Young award this season. Plus, he could be MVP, or Comeback Player of the Year.

In 1930, Hack Wilson hit 56 home runs to set the National League's single season home run record. The mark stood until Mark McGwire's 70 home runs in 1998.

In 1930, the eight National League teams hit 892 home runs, for an average of 112 home runs per team. In 1998, the 16 National League teams hit 2,565 home runs, for an average of 160 home runs per team.

Randy Johnson is two wins away from a milestone 300 victories. 

If he does accomplish the task, he will be one of only 24 pitchers to reach the 300-win club.

A ten-time All-Star, Johnson has amassed five Cy Young Awards, is second all-time in strikeouts (4838 as of May 27, 2009), and has a career ERA of 3.29.  He has also thrown one of 17 perfect games.

In his 24th season, Johnson's age has been catching up with him.  He is 3-4 with an ERA of 6.26.

Interleague Play use to be a marvel to be seen. Now it is stale and old. No one wants to see that anymore, and Major League baseball needs to fix it.

How? Well, it is a complicated matter.

First, each team should play their natural rivals (e.g. St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals, or Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox) once a season, but rotate home field between the two teams each season. Then, throw in a second series against a team from the other league that is not the natural rival.

When the Oakland A's brought in Jason Giambi as a free agent they knew what they were getting. He was going to strengthen the lineup and add a powerful left handed hitter into the lineup as well.

Also, what was known was Giambi's excellent eye at the plate. Well his plate discipline has been horrific and he's been far from impressive in the start of his second stint as an A.

In tonight's game against the Seattle Mariners the A's had an excellent chance of getting some runs back after starting pitcher Dallas Braden allowed two in the top of the first.

Peoria's got something cooking that might look nice at Wrigley some time soon.

The Chiefs have a young, not-yet 20-year-old kid at third base that was named the Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week last week and his knocking the cover off the ball.

Josh Vitters, the Cubs' top draft pick in 2007, is dominating Double-A ball right now, living up to his billing as the top prospect in the Cubs' organization.

Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick is most likely facing one of the most difficult decisions that he will ever have to make.  He will have to finally make a significant change in an attempt to address the problems plaguing Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and the Amp Energy No. 88 team.

Junior had a miserable run in the Coca Cola 600. He battled a wicked race car throughout, sawing on the wheel and asking his spotter to just keep him out of the way of the other cars that could actually compete on the track.

The wait is over. In an interview with Gary Thorne and Buck Martinez during Tuesday night’s game between the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays, Orioles President Andy MacPhail announced that top prospect Matt Wieters will be making his major league debut on Friday, May 29, when the Detroit Tigers visit Baltimore to face the Orioles.

“We are planning on Friday to introduce him [Wieters] to Major League Baseball right here at Camden Yards against the Tigers,” MacPhail coyly announced to a stunned pair of broadcasters.