The Yankees are determined to make the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry pertinent no matter the circumstance. Apparently in last nights attempted blowout the Red Sox Josh Beckett injured himself and was removed from the game. Beckett left after having surrendered 5 runs in 5 innings. He was promptly replaced by relief pitcher Manny Declarmen who only gave up one additional run in his extended amount of work. The Yankees bullpen on the other hand sacrificed their 5 run lead and ended up losing the game 7 to 6. Normally this would have just been chalked up to a blown game but that apparently isn’t satisfactory enough for the Yankees. They are solidly claiming that the Red Sox didn’t give proper indication of Beckett’s injury, thus Declarmen should not have been allowed as much warm up time.

 When is Major League Baseball’s biggest prima donna going to grow up? A pitching change isn’t the reason your team lost a 5 run lead in 5 innings, your pitching was the issue.  It is this kind of arrogance and irrational behavior that make it nearly impossible for me to enjoy any Yankee game. The organization will allow the media to balloon the incident into an astronomical event and this season’s relatively quiet rivalry will once again have restored vigor. I guess the Yankees don’t feel a need to review former injury reports because the problems with Josh Beckett’s back spasms were more than apparent to any casual baseball fan. Someone should tell them that there is this really neat scouting tool called the internet that is at their disposal day or night.

Anyway the Crankees have filed a formal protest to have the game reversed. With all the influence the Yankees have with Steinbrenner dollars flying every which way it wouldn’t surprise me if they won the plea. On all accords the Yankees should be penalized for their uncontested immaturity and unwillingness to accept this thing the rest of us call reality. But we all know that day will never come.

Thanks for reading
 

Good or bad, every fan comes into the season with expectation for their teams. Some are on the money and some are over exaggerated by the clouds of loyalty and desire, but it all creates an early season basis of comparison for each and every team in the league.

It goes without saying that most of these teams won’t live up to the burdens placed on them by the fans and pundits alike. Some will rise to the occasion and grasp fate by the horns, while others will either exceed or fail to meet their full potential. And that is all that expectations are; an estimate of potential. Some realize it and others turn their backs on it.

Now that we’re close to completing our second month of the 2010 Major League Baseball season, it’s safe to say that we have an accurate window in which to view the separation discussed above. You take the good and you take the bad, and somewhere along the line you replace expectation with realization. For now, we’re going to examine which teams are realizing their potential beyond the expectations of the so-called “experts”.

Top 5 Surprise Teams

WashingtonNationals

2010 Record: 20-20, 3rd Place National League East

It would be difficult to not place the Nationals at the top of this list. They epitomize the term “surprise.”

This is a team that has never finished out of the basement of the NL East since they moved to Washington, has a run differential of -18, and ranks in the bottom half of all of baseball in hitting, pitching, and defense, yet they are currently in second place in the East. What they do well though is win close games, as only Cincinnati has a better record than Washington’s 8-5 mark in 1-run games.

Long term, the flaws listed above will probably catch up to them, but the expected arrivals of Drew Storen and Stephen Strasburg to the pitching staff may further their pitching efforts.

San DiegoPadres

2010 Record: 23-16, 1^st Place National League West

The Padres are another team that most pundits, myself included, didn’t credit with much of a chance in 2010. This is a team that is in cost cutting mode, had not managed its farm system properly, and entered 2010 with a lot of youth. Yet, they enter play on Wednesday tied for first place in what is arguable the best division in baseball. The Padres have done this by allowing the fewest runs in the National League, but despite scoring the third fewest runs in the NL as well.

It would be easy to write this off as an aberration, but this is also a team that was 36-52 at the All-Star break in 2009 and improved to 39-35 after it, when they jettisoned Jake Peavy, and started giving more opportunities to their young prospects. This may very well be a team that is coming into its own and Bud Black could be looking at a Manager Of The Year award rather than a spot on the hot seat.

CincinnatiReds

2010 Record: 23-16, 1^st Place National League Central

Quick, tell me who leads the NL Central. Is it the Cardinals, Cubs, Or Milwaukee? The answer is none of the above, as the Red stormed to the early season division lead. The Reds are 9-1 over their last ten games, so a lot of this success is based on a recent run, but its still unexpected from a team many pegged for fourth place.

Cincinnati currently has just a +3 run differential and owns a 10-5 record in one run games, showing just how close to the vest they are playing it right now. Neither the offense or the pitching staff has been stellar, but both have been efficient enough to maintain a run. If they have any hope of continuing along this path, the Reds will need Jay Bruce to continue to produce, the infield tandem of Orlando Cabrera and Brandon Phillips to step up and help, and pitchers Homer Bailey (5.21 ERA) and Aaron Harang (6.02 ERA) to lend some help to the pitching staff.

TorontoBlue Jays

2010 Record: 24-17, 3^rd Place American League East

Most experts felt that the American League East would be a three team race in 2010, but very few out there thought that the Blue Jays would be involved in the squabble while the Red Sox looked in from the outside. Even fewer gave the Jays much of a chance to be better than a fifth place team after they traded Roy Halladay to the Philadelphia.

So what has gotten into the Jays? The return of Shawn Marcum to the pitching staff has helped, but a number of near missed on no-hitters hasn’t hurt either. The biggest cog in this wheel has been the re-emergence of center-fielder Vernon Wells, who somehow opted to earn his big dollar contract in 2010.

While the Jays likely don’t stand much chance of winning the division or the wild-card with the Yankees and Rays looking as strong as they do, the Toronto fans can at least look forward to a year of exciting baseball.

OaklandAthletics

2010 Record: 20-20, 2^nd place American League West

Only in baseball’s worst division would we be talking about a team at .500 that is just two games removed from the division lead. Only in baseball’s worst division would that team have a -14 run differential. As a matter of fact, only the division leading Rangers, who have a differential of +9, can say that they’ve outscored their opponents for the season. Alas, here we are and the Oakland A’s are living the dream.

Many predicted the young pitching staff we saw a year ago would continue to step up and be a force in 2010, but most also agreed that this team would struggle to score runs due to a lack of any serious power. Well, in that regard, they haven’t disappointed, but the pitching staff, which has held its own, despite the loss of Brett Anderson. They also have the claim of the most exciting event of the season when Dallas Braden pitched a perfect game against Tampa.

The A’s aren’t likely to stick around, unless Billy Beane can pull some magic at the deadline. That is unlikely because the team has a vision in mind and a timeframe and its doubtful that Beane would move away from that to try and compete this season.

For the Seattle Mariners there is no luck like bad luck. In the beginning Seattle fans were sleepless because of the excitement promised by the additions of Chone Figgins and Cliff Lee. Now they are begging Ken Griffey for an Ambien just so they can sleep through the pain. In a little over a month fans have seen their team set new standards for franchise embarrassment.

 The avalanche started as Lee floundered his way through spring training ignoring his better judgment, getting suspended, and then injured to start the season. Although unaffected personally, Lee seemed to set the tone for the Mariners without even knowing it. Soon the media was graced with the baffling bicycle adventure of Eric Byrnes as he zipped past Jack Zduriencek on the sidewalk outside the stadium. Apparently it wasn’t enough that he embarrassed himself and his team on the field by making a juvenile bunting mistake. Shortly thereafter, Mount Bradley erupted spewing obscene gestures and mental instability all over the Mariner outfield. The lava from Bradley’s explosion has  left a wake of burned and scared apologists in its path while the ash cloud chokes Seattle management into believing that Milton still has the capacity to change. Finally, former All Star Ken Griffey Jr. decided to try and sleep off the apparent expectation hang over once he realized his team was nothing more than a DWI in waiting.

 All these things combined and the Mariners have still managed to win 14 games. That is utterly amazing but it doesn’t negate the fact that the Mariners are an unprecedented mess.  And to top it all off, ownership still has not learned their lesson as  they continue to play therapist instead of baseball franchisee. To say the least, all the adultery in the clubhouse coupled with the physical impotence at the plate has created such a rift between the fans and their program that they too will soon be rather sleeping. What happened to the Brotherhood of the Traveling Baseball Players? Now, Mariner teammates are more interested in leaking irrelevant stories to the media as opposed to properly conditioning themselves for a divisional race. When reading about all this foolishness in Seattle I am sorely reminded that “a clubhouse divided, will surely fall.” If Seattle has any hope of collecting their immature, egotistical pawns and converting them back into Queens then they need to get rid of all the Jerry Springer garbage, clean up their clubhouse and focus on baseball before it really becomes too late.

Per usual thanks for reading.

With each passing day, the Major League Baseball inches closer to October. Sure, we’re still sitting here midway through May, but each game and each pitch for that matter counts towards something.

You don’t want to trust me on that? Just ask the Boston Red Sox, who’ve dug themselves quite a hole in the already tough American League East. Just ask Dallas Braden, who threw just the 19^th perfect game in MLB history on Sunday.

Then again, we could just continue to do what we do every week, and break the last week up into minutes.

Perfect Story Behind Perfect Game

On Sunday, Oakland’s Dallas Braden hurled the 19^th perfect game in Major League history, which is a story in its own right. He fanned 7 in the game and survived a bunt attempt by power-hitting third baseman Evan Longoria to keep his gem. To do it against the team that leads the team that lead the major leagues in runs scored and had the best record in all of baseball just makes the pot sweeter.

However, the truly heart-warming storyline behind the game runs a lot deeper than the feat itself.

Braden twirled his masterpiece on Mother’s Day, a day in which Major League Baseball uses pink bats to bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness. Braden lost his mother to skin cancer while he was a senior in High School, and pointed to the sky to honor her memory when the last out was made. He was then greeted for a long hug by his grandmother Peggy Lindsey, who raised him after his mother’s death, and was on hand for the game.

Talk about a Mother’s Day gift that’ll go down in history.

The Resurrection of Andruw Jones

Andruw Jones was a player who burst onto the scene at 19-years-old, hitting two home runs in his first World Series game. Jones then spent the next decade as one of the most feared power-hitting and fielding centerfielders in the game. But after his huge 51 home run season in 2005 and his 41 home run follow-up in 2006, Jones missed a beat and pitchers began to expose his swing with breaking balls and Andruw failed to adjust. After the 2007 season, Atlanta chose not to bring him back and Jones bounced to Los Angeles for a season, and then tried to resurrect his career in Texas last season. Both stops proved fruitless.

Now, here we are in 2010 and at 33-years-old, the kid is starting to get himself back a little bit. Ozzie Guillen sought to give him a chance in Chicago as a spare outfielder, but 9 home runs and 17 runs batted in later; Jones is forcing his way into the starting line-up. He’s even stolen 6 bases already in 2010, his most in a season since 2004.

Jones now stands just four home runs shy of 400 for his career, and may still have a few good seasons left in the tank to take a shot at 500. That’ll depend on if he continues to adjust to today’s game. If he falls back into old habits, Jones’ll likely just wash-out like many of today’s veterans.

The Telling Tale of Run Differential

There are a lot of baseball minds that pay extra attention to run differential as a sign of what is to come from each team. Simply put, run differential is the difference between the runs scored against the runs allowed. That being said, it stands to reason that your team is going to win more games if they outscore the opponent. Granted, the numbers can be skewed by lopsided victories or defeats, but all in all, it is a fairly accurate statistic.

Top 5 Differentials

• Tampa Bay +80
• New York Yankees + 67
• Minnesota +48
• San Francisco +43
• San Diego +40

Bottom 5 Differentials

• Pittsburgh -82
• Houston -61
• Baltimore -52
• Los Angeles Angels -46
• Kansas City -42
•  

The top five teams have a combined record of 101-53 for a winning percentage of .656. The bottom five meanwhile has a combined record of 58-101 for a winning percentage of .365. On a side note, Pittsburgh’s total is both enhanced by a recent 11-1 win over the Cubs, as well as hurt by the two series against Milwaukee where they were outscored 18-61.

Big Night for Cubs Rookie Call-up

Wanting to jolt the offense a bit, the Chicago Cubs called up top prospect Starlin Castro on Thursday to start his Major League career on Friday night against Cincinnati. The 20-year-old Castro was hitting .376 with 1 home run and 20 runs batted in at Double-A Tennessee before his call-up.

Boy did he provide the spark the Cubs needed.

In his first at-bat, Castro hit a three-run home run to right field for his first Major League hit, becoming the first Cub to do so since pitcher Jim Bullinger did in 1992. Castro then followed that up with a three run triple in his next at-bat, becoming the first player in Major League history to drive in six runs in his debut. Over the course of the weekend, Castro went 4 for 12 with 2 runs scores, a double, triple, and home run, and added 6 RBI’s. Not a bad way to start of a career.

Late on the night of Tuesday May 5^th, Major League Baseball and its fans lost a great member of its brotherhood, when it was announces that long-time Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell had passed away at 92.

Harwell was a broadcaster for 55 years on radio and television, logging 42 of them for the Detroit Tigers before retiring at the end of the 2002 season, making only occasional appearances for the Tigers, ESPN, and Fox. In 2009, Harwell was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in his bile ducts. He fought the disease for close to a year.

To celebrate the life that Ernie lived and the memories he left us, here is a collection of some of his more memorable quotes:

• "Baseball is a lot like life. It's a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life."

• “I love what I do. If I had my time over again, I'd probably do it for nothing.”

• “If I walked back into the booth in the year 2025, I don't think it would have changed much. I think baseball would be played and managed pretty much the same as it is today. It's a great survivor.”

• "I'd like to be remembered as someone who showed up for the job. I consider myself a worker. I love what I do. If I had my time over again, I'd probably do it for nothing."

• "I love the game because it's so simple, yet it can be so complex. There's a lot of layers to it, but they aren't hard to peel back."

• "The greatest single moment I've ever known in Detroit was Jim Northrup's triple in the seventh game of the World Series in St. Louis. It was a stunning moment because not only were the Tigers winning a world championship that meant so much to an entire city, they were beating the best pitcher I ever saw—Bob Gibson."

• “If you heard Harry Caray, he was best. If you heard Vin Scully, he was the best. If you heard Jack Buck, he was the best. That's the way it went. When I started, you were the only game in town, whether the listener liked it or not. They had to listen. Good or bad, you had to be in their ear.”

• “Radio is such a great medium. It makes you use one of the most important things God gave you — imagination. The listener can picture what the announcer is telling you.”

• “I think I owe thanks to the people who have listened to me over the years, who tuned in on the radio. They have given me a warmth and loyalty that I've never been able to repay. The way they have reached out to me has certainly been the highlight of my life.”

Ernie, you will be missed by baseball fans young and old. Thank you for the memories, and good luck in the next life.