Let me preface this by saying that I'm not trying to float my own boat.

This is an attempt to thank some of the people who have helped me, as well as a look back at some of my experiences.

So, here it is.

My 100th article.

Yeap...

I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to feel about this.

Is this the revelation that I have spent way too much time tapping away on this site as I perpetually did stat checking at baseball-reference.com?

Or is this the stamp of excellence?

Ok, New York Yankees, you have the best record in baseball. You have 50 come-from-behind victories, you have a clubhouse full of likable players, who seem to enjoy playing with and for each other, and beginning next week what does it all mean? Absolutely nothing.

"What took so long?"

"About time!"

"Good, now Shapiro must go!"

"Not shocked at all."

All common responses from Cleveland Indians fans at the news that Eric Wedge has been let go as the manager.

After seven seasons as the skipper for the Tribe, Wedge departs with the club that gave him his first managerial job back in 1998 with Low-A Columbus.

He takes with him good memories, such as the success of a 2007 ALCS run and the rough and many lessons learned.

Reality can really be a drag at times. Especially when your reality is that of a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. For almost two decades now they have suffered at the hands of mismanagement, cheap ownership and doing whatever they can to pass off a group of Quadruple-A players (some not even that advanced) as a major league ball club.

That’s not what any organization’s fan base deserves. Especially one with as rich a history as Pittsburgh’s.

The baseball wonks liked the Twins' chances of taking three of four against the Tigers for couple of reasons.

The Tigers assigned Eddie Bonine and Nate Robertson to pitch in the final two games of the series, and the Tigers struggled against Twins starter Carl Pavano.

Tonight's game proved that trends and predictions are useless.

With two outs in the top of the 9th, Charlie Manuel emerged from the top step of the dugout.

The Phillies, sporting a 10-3 lead over the Houston Astros, stood poised to claim their third straight division title.

Scott Eyre, returning from the disabled list, had quickly recorded the first two outs, getting former Phillie Michael Bourne and Miguel Tejada.

But here comes Uncle Charlie, waving for the bullpen.

There goes the Philadelphia faithful, waving the white rally towels.

And out comes Brad Lidge to collect the final out.

The fans loved it.

"We made too many mistakes. A lot of bad things happened that we can't continue to allow. We've got to do a better job of handling the details of the running game."-- Jim Riggleman, Sept. 16, 2009.

THE RESULT: Poor baserunning, yet another botched squeeze and a meatball from a reliever for a grand slam resulted in the Washington Nationals 95th loss of the season. They haven't all come at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies, but it seems like half of them have.

"Everyone I know, everywhere I go/People need some reason to believe/I don't know about anyone but me." —Jackson Browne

If the Oakland Athletics' season were compressed into a single game, this would be point that is often affectionately referred to as garbage time. 

Kuip and Foss would be at least three-deep into the Dibs, with the latter undoubtedly regaling the audience with old war stories from his playing days in the '70s, anything to distract viewers from the tedium on the field. 

It’s no secret that Carlos Silva has been absolutely terrible since signing with the Mariners last year. He had a good first month, back in April of 2008, but since then he’s been worth somewhere around -1 wins.

I’d even go so far as to say that there’s a petty good chance the Carlos Silva signing will go down as one of the worst in Mariners history.

The Marlins played flat in their series against the Nationals over the weekend at Land Shark Stadium. Even in their one victory on Saturday night.

They went on the road to play the Cardinals, which was a tough task since the Cards play well at Busch Stadium.

They needed to win a series over there to keep their playoff hopes alive.

They did just that Wednesday afternoon at St. Louis by achieving a 5-2 victory.