Fan News

This article was written by Danny McCormick of WiscoSotaSports.com

The Phillies concluded their spring schedule the same way they started it: with a loss.

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Phillies this afternoon by a score of 9-7 in a game that was affected very much by strong winds.

Cole Hamels got the start for the Phils and struggled from the outset. He was charged with six earned runs on six hits in five innings of work.

Today, I attended FanFest located at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. There, Orioles players - current and past - signed autographs for thousands of O's fans. Since the season is just two days away, I will give my preview of the O's season.

Additions: LHP Mark Hendrickson, RHP Koji Uehara, C Gregg Zaun, SS Robert Andino, SS Cesar Izturis, 3B/1B Ty Wigginton, OF Ryan Freel, OF Felix Pie.

Want to know what's going to happen before it happens? Then you've come to the right place, as Matt breaks down the trends that will give you that edge you need this fantasy baseball season.

In last week's column, I analyzed 10 players, and predicted whether or not they would excel in the month of April based on historical results for that player during April, as well as their production against the teams that they will be facing during the month.

In what was the last spring tune up for the New York Yankees, and only the second game played in the new Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Bombers topped the Chicago Cubs this afternoon, 10-1.

Perhaps the biggest highlight of the afternoon was the hitting show put on by the Yanks’ $180 million off-season acquisition Mark Teixeira.

The new first baseman had two home runs in today’s game, smacking a solo homer into the right-center field bleachers in the third inning and a three-run dinger into the upper deck in right field in the fourth.

The 2009 Oakland Athletics have created the opportunity to compete in the American League West, especially with the veteran hitters brought in during the offseason. These players are going to determine how the A's season will be.

Last season, the main problem for the A's was their offense. Part of the reason was injuries to key players like Ryan Sweeney, Eric Chavez, and Mark Ellis.

With those injuries it forced in players that were not necessarily ready to be in the major leagues players like Eric Patterson, Cliff Pennington, Wes Bankston, and Brooks Conrad.

So much has been made about Alfonso Soriano batting leadoff, but not nearly enough has been made about Derrek Lee holding onto his spot as the Cubs number three hitter. 

In 2004, former Cubs manager Dusty Baker took a lot of heat for not moving former Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa down in the order.  The former Cubs slugger batted third for the first 60 games before being moved down in the order.  Sosa finished the year with 35-home runs and was rightfully traded at the end of the 2004 season. 

A couple summers ago, I thought I'd score some big points with my step son, Dakota. I promised him I'd build him and the neighborhood kids a fort in our back yard. I slaved for literally hours. I sat down and drew out plans. I used a T square and a triangle and designed a mansion that looked like it came from Newport, RI.