Washburn a Yankee?

Rumor going around the web is that the Yankees have traded for Jarrod Washburn. details are not known, more later should the rumor be true.

Yankees add.

Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady were traded to the Yankees for Ross Ohlendorf, Jose Tabata, Jeff Karstens and Dan McCutchen. The Yankees had been searching for a right handed bat in the outfield and a lefty set-up man, and got two of the best available. The Pirates get a 19 year old stud athlete in outfielder Jose Tabata as well as 3 pitchers, Karstens and Ohlendorf wih major league experience and McCutchen, who was posting great numbers in the minors.

600 For Junior Griffey!

He was supposed to be the one, the perfect swing that would net 800 homers before he called it a career. He was the guy hitting 56 without any "help", when Big Mac and Slammin Sammy were getting all the attention in 1998. His offense was unparalleled and his defensive top notch. His home-runs were towering and majestic and his swing was the sweetest around. It was always that swing that got my attention. Almost without effort the ball would collide with the bat, sending it soaring 400+ feet away. Then would come a few slow steps, then the trot. It happened so often that its impossible to forget now. 49 homers in 1996 and back to back 56 homer years in 97 and 98. He was the youngest to 300, 350, 400, 450 home runs in the history of the game. It was never a question of would this guy break the all time home run record, talk was always when. Then the unfortunate happened. After his first solid year in Cincinnati(40 homers, 118 RBI's), injury after injury piled up dropping his games played from 111, to 70, to just 53 in 2003. It was almost unthinkable, only twice in 11 years in Seattle had he failed to play 120 games(111 in 1994 and he still hit 40 homers, and 72 in 1995) and in 8 of the 11 he played in 140 or more, and 145 in 2000 his first as a red. What will be, became what should have been. In his prime in the mid 90's, Ken Griffey was without question, the best player in baseball, the complete package. He was the best at the plate, and the best in center field. As i watched the kid hit his 600th home run yesterday, only the 6th player in major league history(Bonds, Aaron, Ruth, Mays and Sosa) it was a bittersweet moment. Since his 40 homer season in 2000, Griffey has hit 30 or more homers twice, topping out at 35 in 2005, playing in only 128 games. 2000 was also the last year Griffey topped 100 RBI's in a season. The moment wasn't about what just happened, it was about what should have happened. As i participated in my fantasy baseball draft earlier this spring, i selected Ken Griffey Jr. almost out habit, thinking about those towering shots and the perfect swing. What could have been, what should have been, 600, 700, 800.

Wednesday May 28th, 2008 may just be the last time the words, "reliever Joba Chamberlain" are used. After an inning and a third in which the Yankees pitcher allowed one hit, one walk and struck out 3, Chamberlain would throw a bullpen session to build up his pitch count and arm and leg strength.

In five days Ian kennedy will be rehabing in Tampa after injuring himself on Tuesday may 27th against Baltimore. This opens the door for Joba to make his first Major league start. After winning 9 of his 15 starts in the Minors in 2007, Joba became a bulpen ace for the Yankees down the stretch, becoming one of the biggest reasons they made the playoffs. This year, the team has struggled to get to .500, even with their bullpen ace. Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy are both hurt, thats 2 of the Yankees planned 5 starters on the DL. Darrell Rasner has been a pleasant suprise, but aside from Chen-Ming Wang, the Yankees rotation has been inconsistant. Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman and the rest of the yankees Brass hopes Chamberlain can be a stabalizing force in the rotation for the rest of the season and many more to come.

Over the coming weeks and months the Joba starter/reliever debate will reach it's peak as Joba gets his feet wet as a starter, and as the Yankees search for a set-up man who can come close to what Joba was abke to do, in those rare ocasions this year when the yankees ebter the late innings with a lead.

Tigers in last place?

Yeah, you saw right, the Detroit Tigers currently sit in last place in the AL Central after an 0-6 start to the 2008 season.

What happened to the hype about them being the "World Series favorites?"  What happened to Miguel Cabrera being the big bat this team needed to get over the hump?  Nothing is happening for this team.  Not only has their offense been dormant, but their pitching isn't very good either.  Dontrelle Willis seems to be the only one, in the Tigers staff, that is pitching well at all.

So what's next for this team?  If their bats don't pick up soon, it's going to be a long season for Detroit.  Are they the new "overspending for nothing" team?  Although we're just into the 2nd week of the season, things are looking good in Detroit.

First Week Observations.

Baltimore and Florida in first? Boston in last? The Detroit 0-6? You gotta love the first week of the baseball season.

The biggest suprise is the winless start for the Detroit Tigers. The pre-season world series favorite started the season by dropping 3 games apeice to the Royals and Whitesox. The offense has been dormant and pitching has been eratic. Brandon Inge leads the team in Home Runs and RBI's, while freshly signed Miguel Cabrera has knocked in exactly 1 run on a solo homer on opening day, and is hitting .111. On the pitching side the team ERA is well above 5 with the only starter under 5 being 43 year old Kenny Rogers. Justin Verlander has been hit hard giving up 8 runs in just over 11 innings.

On the other end of the spectrum there is the Baltimore Orioles. After losing their first game 6-2 against the Rays, they then preceded to win their next 5, includng a 4 game sweep of the Seattle Mariners. Brian Roberts(yup, still an Oriole) came out of the gate on fire batting .368 with 3 stolen bases and a 1.170 OPS. However he has been upstaged by Luke Scott. Aquired by Baltimore in the Miguel Tejada Deal, the outfielder is sporting a .500 average. Aubrey Huff hasn't been the hitter he once was in Tampa since being aquired, but has put up decent power numbers to start his 2008 campaign with 2 homers and 7 RBI's early on. Starting pitching hasn't been great, Steve Trachsel is the only starter with an ERA under 5 , but the bullpen has been fantastic. In just over 21 innings of work the orioles pen has given up just 2 earned runs.

Some other notable opening week observations:

Chien-Ming Wang is just fine. After his poor performance in the playoffs, he has pitched 2 supurb games to start the season and has looked dominat at times.

Milwaukee is for real. Braun and Fielder can rake, Sheets is fantastic, they may not win the division, but they will be in the hunt.

Hanley Ramirez is good. The rest of the team, especially the pitching, is awful, but that kid is special.

The Mets could be in trouble. With pedro Down again, the Mets better hope Maine and Perez are for real and Pelfrey and Hernandez can get the job done. Santana has been great, but a so-so offense and bullpen can only get them so far. They will also have to figure out how to beat Atlanta..


With one week doen, just another 26 to go.

Rays overcome early 2-0 deficit, defeat Orioles

Tampa Bay 6 Baltimore Orioles 2

Recap Box Score


The Baltimore Orioles looked like they might take control of the game right off the bat after a 2-run double by Kevin Millar, but those were the only runs they would score in a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay (don't call me Devil) Rays.

A Melvin Mora fielding error led to the Rays first run to cut the Orioles lead to 2-1, then B.J. Upton would put the Rays up for good with a 2-run single and the Rays never looked back. Eric Hinske homered for the Rays in the 4th, his first of the season.

Jeremy Guthrie, who the Orioles were hoping would take the #1 spot in the rotation and run with it since the departure of Erik Bedard, struggled mightily in his first start. He went 5 1/3 innings, giving up 6 runs (5 ER) on 9 hits a walk and 2 strikeouts. Opposite Guthrie, James Shields had an impressive first start, getting the win for the Rays. He went 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, walking 3 and striking out 2.

Contrary to last season, the Baltimore Orioles' bullpen was surprisingly strong. Matt Albers and Brian Burres combined for 3 1/3 shutout innings after Jeremy Guthrie departed, giving up just 1 hit.

The two teams will play the 2nd of the 3 game set in Baltimore tomorrow. Matt Garza will go for the Rays, Daniel Cabrera for the Orioles. Game time is 7:05pm EST.

Arizona powers their way over Reds

Arizona 4 Cincinnati 2

Box Score Recap


The Arizona Diamondbacks wasted no time in getting off to a good start to open the 2008 campaign. Chris Young, Eric Byrnes and Jeff Salazar all hit solo HR's as the Diamondbacks defeated the Cincinnati Reds 4-2.

Both starting pitchers didn't pitch that badly for their first starts of the regular season. Arizona's Brandon Webb went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits, walked 4 and struck out 6, getting the win. Cincinnati's Aaron Harang also went 6 innings giving up 3 runs (2 ER) on 8 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts, he was saddled with the loss.

Offensively for Cincinnati, Brandon Phillips (1/4, RBI, 3 K's) had an RBI triple in the bottom half of the 4th inning, scoring Ken Griffey Jr (0/3, R, BB, 2 K's), Phillips would later score on a ground out from Adam Dunn.

Both teams will face each other again tomorrow in the 2nd of a 3-game series in Cincinnati. The defending NL West Champions will have new acquisition, Dan Haren, on the hill for the Diamondbacks while the Reds will have Bronson Arroyo make his first start of the regular season. Game time is 7:10pm EST.

Royals 5 Tigers 4 F-11

ROYALS 5 TIGERS 4 F-11

Box Score Recap

The Detroit Tigers blew an early 3-0 lead and lost their season opener to the Kansas City Royals 5-4 in 11 innings this afternoon.

Tigers starter Justin Verlander (6.0 IP 8 H 3 ER 4 BB 5 K's) didn't have the kind of start he was hoping for on Opening Day and exited the game in the 7th inning with the Tigers still leading 3-2 but left runners on base and noone out. Jason Grilli replaced him and gave up the game tying hit to Jack Buck, then Acquilino Lopez would give up the go ahead RBI single to Mark Grudzielanek later in the 7th inning.

With the Tigers down 4-3 in the 8th inning, Carlos Guillen would hit a solo HR off former Padre and Dodger Brett Tomko. The game would go into the 11th inning before Kansas City would break the 4-4 tie after Tony Pena Jr would single home Jack Buck off Tigers' reliever Denny Bautista.

Closer Joakim Soria would close the door in the bottom half of the 11th to give the Royals an Opening Day 5-4 win.

The two teams will face off again tomorrow in Detroit, with the game slated to start at 1:05pm EST. Brian Bannister will go for the Royals while the Tigers will have veteran left-hander Kenny Rogers on the hill.

Game Recaps

For those of you who decided to call in sick today, and for that I'm proud of you, to watch Opening Day because you were having baseball withdrawals, I'll be posting game recaps for most if not all of the games today.

Today did not get off to a good start, however, for the Yankees and Blue Jays. The game has been postponed due to rain and a new date should be set soon for the makeup game.

Two other games are also being delayed due to weather. Arizona is in Cincinnati to take on the Reds and Milwaukee is in Chicago to face the Cubs, both are being delayed due to rain.

A game that is already underway, the Detroit Tigers are hosting the Kansas City Royals, the game is currently in the top half of the 7th. Detroit got the scoring started in the 2nd inning. After a Carlos Guillen double to lead off the home half of the 2nd, both Pudge Rodriguez and Jacque Jones would strike out. After a Bradon Inge walk, Edgar Renteria would single, scoring Guillen from 2nd.

In the 4th inning, after Pudge Rodriguez led off the inning with a walk, Brandon Inge would hit a 1-out double to left and Renteria would be walked to load the bases. When it looked like the Royals would get out of the inning unscathed after Placido Polanco lined out to right field, Gary Sheffield would work a bases loaded walk which scored Pudge Rodriguez to make it a 2-0 game.

The very next inning, new Tigers' acquisition Miguel Cabrera would make his presence felt, lauching a solo HR to left to push the Tigers up 3-0 after 5 innings, but back came the Royals.

In the top half of the 6th, Mark Grudzielanek would hit a 1-out single, then Alex Gordon would pull the Royals within 1 after a 2-run HR to right off Justin Verlander, his first of the season and it was 3-2 in favor of the Tigers.

In the 7th, with Verlander still in the game, Mark Teahan would work a lead off walk followed by a Ross Gload single to put 2 men on and noone out, which signaled the end of the day for Tigers' starter Justin Verlander. Jason Grilli would be brought in to replace Verlander who promptly gave up an RBI single to Jack Buck, scoring Mark Teahan from 2nd to tie the game 3-3. Grilli would be pulled in favor of Bobby Seay who got Joey Gathright to line out to short. Seay was quickly pulled after 1 batter and replaced with Acquilino Lopez to face Mark Grudzielanek. Grudzielanek would untie the game with an RBI single to right scoring Ross Gload.

After 7 innings, the Royals lead 4-3 in Detroit.

Orioles release OF Gibbons

The Baltimore Orioles, on Sunday, released outfielder Jay Gibbons according to David Ginsburg of the Associated Press.

The Orioles, apparently, were done waiting for him to return to 2005 form when he hit 26 HR's. Although Gibbons is still owed $11.9M on his contract, the Orioles decided it was worth the hit.

Opening Day has arrived!

This is a day that you baseball fans, myself included, have been waiting for since the World Series ended back in October.

Well, that day is finally here, Opening Day 2008 has arrived. There are 14 games scheduled for today, the first of which will be the Yankees and Blue Jays which gets underway at 1:05pm EST. Roy Halladay will go for Toronto opposite Chein-Ming Wang for the New York Yankees.

Can you feel that intense feeling, that excitement? It's baseball season! Get ready, because this is going to be a fun ride all year long.

Roberts deal dead?

After all the talk about Brian Roberts being traded to the Chicago Cubs over the last few months, it's not being reported that the deal is dead.

Baltimore Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail, "we worked at it this long, and we don't have a deal."

Cubs fans were looking forward to this deal going down, bringing a legit 2nd baseman and leadoff threat to their lineup would have made their offense that much better. Now that the deal seems to be dead, the question becomes, are the Cubs now looking elsewhere or are they content to go with what they have for the time being?

Giants "going in another direction"

The Giants have finally washed their hands of Barry Bonds, and it's about time. Owner Peter McGowan was asked if the Giants would consider bringing Bonds back at a reduced price, to which he responded "No, not this team. We're going in a new direction, that would not be going in a new direction. The time has come to turn the page. With Barry Bonds gone, this is a club at the beginning of a new era."

Not only is the clubhouse going to have a different feel to it, but also AT&T Park is removing anything that had Barry's face on (ex. left field wall) as well as the "756" that was posted towards the Right Center area. The Giants did say however, through a team spokeman, that they would post a plaque where Bonds' last HR with the team landed.

Even though the Giants are picked to finish dead last in the NL West division by just about every major sports network, the team is headed in the right direction to putting together a very good team for year's to come.

Now that they're out from under the distraction that Bonds was, they can finally become a team again.

Can the Cubs end the 100 year curse?

With a new season fast approaching, fans will dig in their heals and hope it's their team that will be celebrating a World Series Championship come October.

For Cubs' fans, that hope is stronger than probably any fan of any team in baseball. When you go 100 years without a World Series Championship, you hear words like "cursed," as we did before Boston broke their long winless streak in 2004. There's an article from Mark Newman of MLB.com yesterday that talks about that long winless streak, but are the Cubs really good enough? I have serious doubts of that.

The one concern that I have, and it's not a small concern, is their starting rotation. As of right now, you're looking at a rotation of Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Rich Hill, Ryan Dempster and Jason Marquis. We all know what Zambrano is capable of, but we also know that he's capable of a complete melt down as well. The one player I'm concerned about in this rotation is Ryan Dempster, especially since he hasn't been a full time starter since 2003 with the Cincinnati Reds. Since then, he's started only 6 games combined between 2004 and 2007. Can he come out of the bullpen from the closers roll to a starter and be effective?

The other place that I have a concern is their bullpen, especially with Kerry Wood closing for them. I'm not saying that he can't do the job, there's no question he can, but the one question that comes up every single year is, "can he stay health?" He's yet to show that he can stay healthy for an entire season, something the Cubs desperately need from him this year.

They do have a very potent offense, especially with guys like Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, not to mention the addition of Kosuke Fukudome, but how will these guys do against some of the best pitching in baseball? How will Felix Pie do as the every day center fielder?

This team has a lot of question marks, and although we won't have answers to these questions right away, I think you'll start to see the answers within 2 or 3 months. If the starting rotation can stay healthy, and I'm talking about all 5 guys, then I think the Cubs will be just fine. There's no question they are the best team in the NL Central, the race shouldn't be close in my opinion, but the big question of this article is, can they finally win the World Series?

My answer....no. This team just isn't good enough, key word, yet. There's just too much that can go wrong with this team, and usually does.

Brewers cut Vargas

In a surprising move, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal, the Milwaukee Brewers have released veteran right-hander Claudio Vargas.

Later the same day, manager Ned Yost announced the Brewers official starting rotation:

Ben Sheets
Jeff Suppan
Dave Bush
Carlos Villanueva
Manny Parra

Looking for new music?

For any of you wanting new music to listen to or any local bands that are looking for someone that can put together a demo video for you, this will give you both.

The band is called "The Breach" the song is called "Blue Eyes," take a listen and I hope you enjoy it.

On the flip side, the guy that directed the music video is Evan Kaufmann who is one of the best directors in the Dallas area. You can reach him here if you're interested in having someone professional to work with.

Twins, Nathan agree on new 4-year deal

The Minnesota Twins finally got a contract extension done with one of their top players.  This time is was closer Joe Nathan.

Nathan and the Twins agreed on a 4-year $47M contract on Tuesday which will include a team option for 2012.

Joe Nathan, “We’ve shown that we’re committed to winning. A lot of people are counting us out, but we’re going to be good this year and for years to come, because we’re young and a lot of our guys are hungry.  With the way they handle the pitchers here, they take care of us.  They worry more about careers than they do seasons. They think long term more than they do short term.”

Canseco targets A-Rod in new book

Won't or can't Jose Canseco just go away?  The answer to that seems to be an emphatic "NO."

The former Oakland Athletic slugger has a new book coming out and, apparently, is targeting a star of today's game...Yankees' 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez.  Canseco alleges that he introduced Rodriguez to a steroid distributor and that Rodriguez was trying to sleep with Canseco's wife.  Although Canseco says he never injected ARod himself, but says "he introduced Alex to a known supplier of steroids."  Doesn't mean ARod took anything or was injected, so why make accusations he can't back up?

Now, this whole story comes from a free lance writer, Joe Lavin, who says he picked up Canseco's book at a bookstore in Cambridge, Mass but the book isn't due to be released until April 1st.

What I find so hilarious about this whole situation is, Canseco thinks he's going baseball a favor by outing these so called "steroid users," and that he's "saving baseball," but didn't he cause this problem in the first place?  So why is he trying to take credit for it?

You hope people are smart enough not to put more money in his pocket by picking up his book, but there are those people who just have to know who took steroids and who injected who.  

Can't Jose just go away....probably not.

Rolen may not be ready for Opening Day

New Blue Jays' 3rd baseman Scott Rolen may not be on the field when the Blue Jays open the 2008 season.

During a fielding drill on the back fields on Sunday, Scott Rolen suffered a broken finger when the ball hit him on the fingernail, ripping it completely off and breaking the top knuckle on his right middle finger.

GM J.P. Ricciardi, “It’s a non-displaced fracture, which is the good news. I’m not a doctor, but the early prognosis is it isn’t going to be six weeks, so I don’t even want to throw a schedule out there. Our best-case scenario is that it’s quick and our worst-case is it isn’t as long as most things we have had to deal with. My instinct is I am preparing for the worst-case scenario but I can say this, he won’t be lost for the year.”