Fan News

In this great game of baseball we have nearly every imaginable stat at the tip of our finger so we can best determine a player’s worth. However, there are certain intangibles you could never measure statistically that go a long way from separating the mediocre players from the great.

Heart. Passion. Intensity.

Well, after the embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Red Sox two weekends ago up at Fenway Park, the Sawx travel down to the Bronx for their first games in the New Yankee Stadium.

In honor of this occasion tonight, I have come up with another edition of the Smoking With Hank Top Five, where we take a look at the top five moments between the Yankees and the Red Sox to take place at the Old Yankee Stadium. Enjoy!

I'll come right out and say I was mentally drained until about two minutes before writing this.

When I'm mentally drained, I tend not to be able to put together a coherent thought. My one idea is to sit around and just stare at the television or the wall.

Sometimes I'll randomly click on links in my bookmarks toolbar, hoping to see something that will cure my mental drain.

Or my boredom.

According to Peter Abraham of the Journal News, the Yankees have called up 27-year-old right-handed pitcher Alfredo Aceves in place of Anthony Claggett, who was called up when the Yankees put Damaso Marte on the DL.

And so the first month of the 2009 baseball season comes to a close.

The Marlins opened the season hotter than Jessica Alba and Megan Fox combined, and have sputtered a bit since while hanging onto a slim division lead. The Padres, Blue Jays, Mariners, and Pirates have all pleasantly surprised their fans than being much better than the pundits claimed.  

Loyalty has to take a backseat to winning.

The Braves are one of the more storied franchises in all of baseball. Certainly, it is nice to see a guy like Chipper Jones set himself up to play his whole career as a Brave.

I'd like to have seen it for Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine, too.

The fact is that the Braves have the talent to be a World Series-caliber team.

They probably sport the best bench in all of baseball, in fact:

What’s the only good thing for baseball fans about the first month of the 2009 season being over?

There are still five months left.

Coming out of the month of April, Joe Torre’s Dodgers already look headed for a second-straight division championship.

Los Angeles bounced back from a 2-1 series loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates with a dominating four-game sweep of the San Diego Padres to claim the best record in baseball.

This one ought to be special, especially the pitching staff.

Face of the Franchise: Sandy Koufax

Manager: Walter Alston

WhatIfSports.com utilizes its award-winning baseball simulation engine to present the most comprehensive and unbiased ranking possible of all 30 teams in baseball each Monday during the regular season.

Amongst several other allegations regarding Alex Rodriguez, it has been reported that Alex has tipped pitches to opposing hitters. It was part of “slump busting,” to boost stats during times when Alex or other hitters were slumping.

Allegedly, it was always done late when the games were basically already decided and was done for the benefit of other middle infielders, who Alex thought would “return the favor” when he was going through a slump.