Just as we thought we were finally getting a grip on the elusive shadow that is the steroids era, the Major League Baseball Players Association threw us another curveball. Here we were, fat, happy, and feeling relatively smarter by the day, secure in the knowledge that steroids had seriously damaged the game we love. But we were slowly starting to come back from it.

Yes, there was a list out there with 104 names of players who had failed a drug test in 2003. And names on that list were starting to be leaked, against court order, I should add. But so far, none of the names that had been leaked from that list were a big surprise: Jason Grimsley, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and David Segui. But that all changed last week. Not with the release of Manny Ramirez’s name, but with the release of Red Sox DH David Ortiz’s name. Read the rest of this entry »

Tonight, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees renew their bitter rivalry. And of course it’s an important series (aren’t they all?). As of today, the Yankees lead the division by 2.5 games. In the NL East Division, Philadelphia has the unique situation of having too many pitchers. Is that even possible? We look at both of these situations this week at Around the Bases:

Red Sox – Yankees Epic Battle
The Boston Red Sox have picked a lousy time to go into a free-fall. They looked great the entire first half of the season, and led the American League in most categories. Their pitching, both starters and bullpen, dominated over opponents.
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What a great week in baseball! We had the privilege to witness the 18th perfect game in major league history; two great players entering the Baseball Hall of Fame; and the trade deadline gets closer by the minute. We cover all of this and more in this week’s edition of Around the Bases.

Mark Buehrle Reaches Perfection: Prior to last Thursday’s Chicago White Sox – Tampa Rays game, we’ve only seen 17 other perfect games since baseball started. The last one was thrown by Randy Johnson in May, 2004 against the Atlanta Braves. Read the rest of this entry »

How many more games have to be effected by bad calls before baseball does the right thing? How many more players and teams have to be jobbed by the over-inflated ego of an umpire who refuses to walk into a booth to ask for an instant replay? How many more times is the wrong team going to outright win a game due to the refusal to use already existing technology that every other sport in the country is currently using, and using pretty damn well?

Last night we got the all too frequent chance to witness another opportunity where the use of instant replay in a major league baseball game could have made the difference between a team winning or losing. In this case, it was between the Oakland A’s and the Minnesota Twins.
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What a first half it’s been. We’ve had two of the game’s biggest names show up in the news for Performance Enhancing Drugs, (Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez), we’ve had one of the game’s greatest lefties of all time notch his 300th win, and we’ve seen one of the greatest closers in history notch his 500th save. We saw 2 runners steal home within 2 weeks of each other, and we saw a player go back to his roots and get a very touching, long standing ovation by the home crowd.

We’ve seen two brand new parks open, both by New York teams, by the way, and with that, we’ve seen more home runs ever hit in a ballpark over a 20, 25, or even 30 game period. Read the rest of this entry »

Sadly, we still find ourselves in baseball’s Dark Ages. There is proof that we may be nearing our Age of Enlightenment. Bud Selig’s assertion that there have only been eight positive test results in the past three years is one solid example that we’re moving in the right direction.

But, with every name that is leaked from the list of players that came up positive in a random test taken in 2003, we are dragged deeper into the dark hole of depression as we wonder, when is this going to end.
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This has been a busy week in baseball: The Philadelphia Phillies still haven’t found a way to win in one of the nicest ballparks in the country; Sammy Sosa’s name showed up in the news again, the Boston Red Sox hit the magic 500, Pudge Rodriguez became the most prolific catcher in baseball history, and where’s Pedro going?

We examine all of this and more in this week’s edition of Around the Bases:

HOME SWEET HOME PT I
In what has become one of the strangest stories of the season so far, the Philadelphia Phillies, reigning World Champions, lest we forget, just cannot win a game at home. They have the best road record in all of baseball (23-9), a full 4 games ahead of the Dodgers (19-13). Read the rest of this entry »

Here we are, one month into the season. Reigning AL Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria picked up right where he left off last season. The Washington Nationals have their own superstar in Ryan Zimmerman and possibly another one on the way with pitcher Stephen Strassburg. The Kansas City Royals, winning like no one ever expected them to, have a budding Cy Young Award winner in pitcher Zach Greinke. And, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez started his season with a bang.

This week, Around the Bases takes a look at all of this and more, and we proudly bring back the Weekly Trivia Question. Read the rest of this entry »

If we thought the first week of the season was one for the books, then the 2nd week is off the charts.

In one week we saw a player open a brand new stadium with a HR, three players hit for the cycle, two pitchers, both over the age of 43, get near no-hitters, and a new record for HR hit in a new stadium. And on top of all of that, we had three funerals. Whew, what a week.
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One week down, twenty-five to go. Now that the first week of the 2009 baseball season is in the books, we have some early surprises, both good and bad. Some we can expect to last, some will have righted themselves before May 1st.

First, I have to mention two very sad losses. The very tragic loss last week of Angel’s rookie starter, 22 year old Nick Adenhart should be a lesson for everyone. As you all are very aware by now, Adenhart was minding his own business, driving with some friends after the best game of his very brief career, when the car that he was a passenger in was struck by a drunk driver who ran a red light. Read the rest of this entry »

Opening Day. One of the most special days on the entire sports calendar. The day when questions that have been lingering for months start to get answered. The day that, in many people’s minds, officially marks the beginning of spring.
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The last division we looked at was the NL West. Now, Around the Bases takes a peek at the NL Central.

From the end of the 2007 season to the end of the 2008 season, every team in the NL Central had improved, with the exception of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They somehow managed to have dropped a game. Even the Cincinnati Reds improved by 2 wins. Oddly, the St. Louis Cardinals went from six games under .500 (78-84) to 10 games over .500 (86-76), yet still managed to drop from 3rd place to 4th place in the division. Houston had an even bigger swing, going from 16 games under .500 (73-89) to 9 games over (86-75), and went from 4th to 3rd place in the division.

The Chicago Cubs, meanwhile, maintained their dominance of the NL Central division for the 2nd year in a row. That is where Around the Bases begins today.

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The NL West seems to be a wide-open division this upcoming season. The LA Dodgers, the Colorado Rockies, the Arizona Diamondbacks, or the San Francisco Giants, could all be viable contenders for the division title. The lone exception, the San Diego Padres, don’t appear to have much of a chance.

Last season, only the Dodgers and the D-Backs finished above .500. This season, it wouldn’t be a shock if the four above-mentioned teams all finished above .500.

Around the Bases takes a look at a couple of these teams for the 2009 season:
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Around the Bases will attempt to preview each division for the 2009 season. Since it’s so cold in the Northeast part of the country this week, we’re going to start with the AL West, in hopes of talking about LA and Texas may warm us up a little.

Call it East Coast bias, or call it apathy, but very often, it seems, many of us seem to forget that there are baseball teams on the Left Coast. At least until playoff time, but since the West Coast teams have bowed out of the playoffs early the past few seasons, that has been a non-issue as well. Read the rest of this entry »