Fan News

It was deja vu all over again as the Cincinnati Reds lost a marathon game to the San Diego Padres last night.

On May 25, 2008, the Reds suffered an 18-inning loss to the Padres at PETCO Park.  In that game, Edinson Volquez was on the mound when Adrian Gonzalez won it with a homerun.

Last night, Volquez started for the Reds.  He gave up two runs in the first then settled down before having to leave in the sixth inning with back spasms.  He was not the only player who had to leave the game for Cincinnati.

Catching prospect Matthew Wieters turns 23 years old on May 21st.

On Friday, he hit hit his fourth home run for Triple-A Norfolk.

Wieters played for Georgia Tech, following in the footsteps of players like Nomar Garciaparra, Mark Teixeira, and fellow catcher Jason Varitek.

He was drafted fifth overall in the 2007 amateur draft by the Baltimore Orioles, and four other teams are out of their minds for passing him up. However, David Price was picked number one that year by the Tampa Bay Rays and I can't argue that.

The Mets have won three in a row and 11 of their last 13, and as a fan, it feels good. Because when you're winning, nobody talks about how many runners were left in scoring position. Or whether the starting pitcher was pulled too soon. Or whether the players have enough heart, passion, or desire.

The Mets have scored in the first inning in each of the last four games for a total of seven runs. They scored in the ninth to break a tie and beat the Giants Thursday, then after erasing a four-run deficit did the same thing last night.

Last week Howie Kendrick of the Angels hit an inside the park home run, or so he thought. That home run was taken away Friday and ruled an error on Kansas City right fielder Jose Guillen.

The MLB deserves credit for overruling the official scorer. It was a play that should have been made.

Guillen had a long way to go to get to the ball but got there in time and should have made the play.

Instead, Guillen dropped the ball and it rolled to wall. Kendrick crossed home plate standing up for the "home run."

Finally, the disaster in the five hole is over.

But, to my dismay, this problem has moved to the bullpen.

My utter joy for a rookie finally getting his shot, however, outweighs a future ineffective reliever (at least until Reyes blows a game up).

Anyway, the surprise to some fans may be the fact that a certain 22-year-old phenom isn't getting the call.

Instead, it is a 23-year-old reliever-turned-starter phenom named Kris Medlen.

Many may remember his great spring, but his season down at Gwinnett has been even better.

At the end of April, I asked several of our top Cubs writers to give me their overall impressions of the team after about one month. I want to thank the following writers for producing this analysis: Tab Bamford, Pat De Marco, Ricky Butts, Ryan Winn, Kane Simmons, Paul Swaney, Brian Livingston, and Jacob Nitzberg.

Welcome back A-Rod, and thank you.

He's only just returned, had his first and second games at the new stadium, but already Alex Rodriguez is making a difference.

On Saturday, he helped the Yankees to consecutive win No. 4.

The Yankess finally seem to be clicking, and think what you want about A-Rod, his arrival is playing a big part.

It's early, and hardly time to worry or brag about a win, but defending that ridiculously awesome offseason spending spree is difficult when a championship-on-paper team is sitting on a mediocre .500 record.

Alex Rodriguez's walk off home run in the 11th inning of Saturday's battle in the Bronx proves that he is always a threat despite what the numbers may say. That game-ender put an exclamation point on a 4-game win streak for the Yankees in which they have played some of their most consistent baseball all season. In the month of May, the Yankees were 1-5 without A-Rod. Since his return however, they have gone 6-2.

When the Brewers signed all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman this winter, critics said it was a bad signing due to Hoffman's loss in velocity and age.

After picking up his ninth save of the season Saturday, the critics have been searching for players other than the 41-year old Hoffman to find fault with.