Fan News

If you are a Braves fan, you know how much Omar Infante means to the Braves' chances in the NL East race for 2009.

I'm not talking about the Braves fan that occasionaly wears a t-shirt and knows who Chipper Jones is.  I'm talking about the Braves fans that KNOW the team.  You know who Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen are.  Likewise, you know what a hitting machine that Infante has been for the Braves all year long.

No, Tony Gwynn isn't trying a Michael Jordan like comeback, but the San Diego Padres liked his son enough to bring him home to his native San Diego.

The Padres traded outfielder Jody Gerut to the Milwaukee Brewers for Tony Gwynn Jr. Gwynn is expected to be in uniform tonight for San Diego and don the number 18, just one short of his father's number 19.

One year and fourteen days. 

That was how long it had been since Rich Hill's last start in the Major Leagues. 

Until this past Saturday. 

Prior to recording the win in his start in Kansas City on Saturday, his last start was on May 2, 2008, with the Chicago Cubs.  In that game, he gave up fewer runs (one) than he did in his impressive Orioles debut. 

Just recently, the Chicago Tribune released the big news.  They said that the Padres' ace, Jake Peavy, is very close to becoming a Chicago White Sox. This is a huge surprise; no one expected the White Sox to go after Peavy.

Early in the offseason, the White Sox' crosstown rival Chicago Cubs were said to be seriously pursuing Peavy. That was not the case. The Cubs were still thinking about it along with many other teams, but the White Sox came in and swooped Peavy up before anybody else could.

One thing that could be said about the Giants and, in particular, Brian Sabean, is that they value pitching.

Perhaps too much.

Whether it be their approach to drafting, consistently using their top picks on pitching prospects over position players, valuing pitching in free agency over much needed hitting, or a reluctance to trade their only commodity (pitchers) for bats, the Giants have a clear and somewhat dogmatic philosophy towards building a competitive team.

On Wednesday night, Jose Reyes was taken out of the game against the Dodgers with what appeared to be an aggravated calf muscle. It looks like Reyes will be heading to the disabled list, since this has been a lingering injury.  

Reyes has had limited duties the last few weeks and hasn’t been much of a fantasy value thus far in the season. 

More rumors have been flying around about the 2007 Cy Young Award Winner then one person has about them at my high school. Where Peavy will end up is the question on everyone's mind.

The 2007 Cy Young Award Winner has been the talk of the town in Chicago since last December. Cubs fans need him, while Sox fans want him.

The 89 career game-winner has been the hottest ticket on the trade market as of late. Peavy could make a big impact to any team he ends up playing for.

Through all the hoopla about David Ortiz finally hitting his first homer of the season (319 players have hit at least one home run before him), there was Brad Penny tossing one of his best games of the season.

He had 6.2 innings pitched, two earned runs, and nine hits allowed. He only struck out two but only walked one. 

This is almost a follow up article. When I say almost, I say it because I wrote about confidence in my last one. It seemed that they were lacking in this department. Girardi finally let loose his Old Joe Torre stoic crap and became one of the guys like he used to be. He played with Jeter, Posada, and Mo.