Fan News

If you’re looking for the news and stats from the game, you’re probably reading the wrong article, but I can tell you a few things that I noticed.

Joba Chamberlain looked a little rough in the first inning. By a little rough, I mean he let up a couple of home runs in the first inning. That’s never sexy, but at least it was better than what happened the last time I saw him pitch. It was in Cleavland, there were a bunch of bugs, and it was during the playoffs. Need I say more?

Pedro Alvarez is perhaps one of the best prospects in baseball.

Undeniably, he is the single most important prospect for the future of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Understandably, it makes sports writers a bit peeved that he and agent Scott Boras, already not exactly a media darling, held out during contract negotiations and caused a big stir last season.

However, can we please get over articles expressing sentiments like this one?

In a move to add some depth to the bullpen, the Indians claimed Korean right hander Jae Kuk Ryu off of waivers from the San Diego Padres.

Ryu was pretty bad in Cactus League play, posting an ERA above 10. To make room, the club placed Jake Westbrook on the 60-day disabled list.

Read articles like this one at Getoutofmyballpark.com every day

Or at least stop talking about baseball.

Baseball justice has become skewed in favor of forgiving and forgetting. In doing that, however, it has forgotten eight players who probably deserve a little bit of forgiveness by now.

Every baseball fan, it seems, knows the story.

It begins with the utter dominance of the 1919 Chicago White Sox in the American League. The freight train that was the White Sox stormed through junior circuit, winning 88 of 140 games (a winning percentage of .629, or roughly 102 wins today). 

On Tuesday, Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks announced his intentions to sell off as much as 49 percent of his investments in the Texas Rangers.

Hicks purchased the team on Jan. 7, 1998, from a group headed by the soon-to-be President of the United States George W. Bush. At the time Hicks bought the team for $250 million, and this past April's Forbes Magazine valued the team now at $412 million, ranking 16th out of the 30 Major League Baseball teams.

From Oren Yaniv (hat-tips to River Ave. Blues and BBTF):

I don't know what is worse, having both Peavy and Hoffman (twice) on the mound when all we needed was three outs to secure a playoff berth in 2007, or losing 99 games in 2008.

It's been an ugly run since that horrible weekend in Milwaukee.  Hoffman blowing the save, getting beat by Tony Gwynn Jr.  Peavy on the mound the following night, only to show that for as good as he really is, and the guy is that good, that the October spotlight on him just might be a bit too bright.