Obviously, all A's fans (and many baseball fans) know the story of Brad Ziegler.

He was signed by the A's out of the independent leagues, wasn't very good, was converted from conventional pitching to submarine-style pitching, took off, and ran off the longest scoreless-innings streak to start a career last season--at age 28.

While it looks like Ziegler's 2008 (1.06 ERA) was much better than his 2009 (3.27 ERA), that's actually not the case, as he had a 3.72 FIP last year and sports a 3.07 mark this year.

When the baseball starts back up tomorrow, there are going to be all kinds of storylines to follow.

Can Albert Pujols win the first Triple Crown since 1967?

Will the trading of Roy Halladay change the landscape of the National League pennant race?

The second half of the 2009 season for the Baltimore Orioles isn’t necessarily about wins and losses, but it is about changing a negative aura that has been more than a decade in the making.

Baltimore has posted a winning mark in the second half of the season only three times since 1998 and not since 2004.

But the struggles have gone beyond just registering losing seasons. Almost every year, the Orioles have sleep walked through the last two months of the season.   

I like to do this thing every year called the MLB Non-Star team.

And it seems as if every year, my criteria and make-up for the team changes slightly.

There remains one constant, though.

Pick players who didn't make the All-Star team.

In this case, I'm picking players who didn't make my own All-Star team.

Think about the mystique of leftfield at Fenway. Punctuated by the famous and historic 37 foot tall, 310 foot deep wall, the Green Monster.
Some of the greatest players to play the game. Williams. Yaz. Manny. Those are just three of the precious few who have had the pride and privalige of playing leftfield at Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox.

Hey, Mets fans! Guess what?

"Who's your daddy?"

Pedro Martinez is in the process of finalizing a one-year contract with the Mets most hated rival, the Philadelphia Phillies, in hopes that he can not only prove to all of Major League Baseball, but to the Mets, that he still has something left in that golden right arm. 

It should come at no surprise that Prince Fielder can hit home runs, in fact he hits them with authority and confidence unlike any other player. Which is why Fielder won the 2009 Home Run Derby.

First off a little history lesson, Prince has been hitting home runs his entire life, when he was living in Detroit and his father, Cecil, was playing for the Detroit Tigers, Prince would hit home runs in Tiger Stadium to the amazement of all the players.

He made it into the seventh inning last Thursday night with the no-hitter intact, and when he finally came off the mound in the same inning, the line score wasn’t nearly as strong as his performance indicated. Nonetheless, Tim Lincecum would garner his 10th win of the 2009 season.

It’s the unofficial halfway point in the baseball season, and most teams are deciding whether or not they have what it takes to make a run at the postseason before the trade deadline at the end of the month.

The Braves are currently standing at 43-45, 6 games back of the division-leading Phillies.

To start this first half review, I will look at the performance the Braves received from the catchers on the season. All stat lines will be AVG/OBP/SLG/HR/RBI/SB

The Home Run Derby. Home runs are probably among the most exciting plays in sports. And the Home Run Derby shows that off perfectly.
This article hopes to bring to light some of the single greates Home Run Derby moments. All the famous ones are here. Hamilton belting 35, and losing. Abreu belting 41, and winning. Ryne Sandberg at Wrigley Field.
This article is chronological order, and if you think that I've left any important Derby moments out, leave me a comment. Let's get this thing started.