Its The Bottom Of The Ninth...

The game of baseball will always have great discussions. I am happy with the many discussions that I was able to initiate during the last 5 weeks. However, I wish that I had more time to touch more controversial topics. My posts have helped me realize how opinionated I was towards certain teams. There should have been more discussion of the less popular teams in the MLB, but I feel like I did not have enough time.

In contrast, the discussions that I started were very entertaining. I was able to get the opinions of people that were fans of other teams that I did not necessarily care for. But it helped expand my knowledge of more teams than I am used which allowed me to research rival teams of the Tampa Bay Rays. For example, I absolutely despise the New York Yankees, but the fact that I took the time to do the research for what I wrote about them helped me understand what all of their strengths and weaknesses are.

I enjoy writing about baseball, and I hope to be able to continue to do this in the future. Even though I feel that I have a wide knowledge for the game, I still feel like I have a lot to learn. However, this does not pose a problem for me, because I love the game and will always hold the game close to my heart. This is a game that I am glad that I had the opportunity to learn at a very young age. This concept will always aid me to write about particular hot topics about the game of baseball. There will always be discussions and opinions about the game, and I will still continue to post about them and converse with any baseball fan that is willing to listen.

Who Can Stop The Phillies?

mlb.com The Phillies are the most dominating team in baseball. With a record of 44-26, they also have the best record in the Majors. The Phillies won their 7^th in a row last night thanks to an outstanding pitching performance from their lefty ace, Cliff Lee. Lee threw a 2 hit shutout against the Florida Marlins. Not only did he pitch a wonderful game, he also smashed an RBI double off the wall in the fourth inning to help his own cause. Phillies' manager Charlie Manuel says,

I don't know how much more you have to do. It was his game.

At this point of the season, it looks like the Philadelphia Phillies are the front runners to reach the World Series in National League. Also, it looks like the already strong lineup will only get stronger in weeks to come. Jimmy Rollins looks to be activated from the disabled list very soon, and Chase Utley (who was just activated off the disabled list) seems to have his timing down and is starting to swing a hot bat. The Phillies will now travel to Seattle to take on the Seattle Mariners in Inter-league play, and they will attempt to extend their winning streak to 8 games. I believe that the Mariners will struggle to hit well against the Phillies outstanding pitching rotation, but we will have to see if the Mariners will be able to use their home field to their advantage.

Derek Jeter's Quest For 3000 Hits Will Have To Wait

Derek Jeter will be considered to be one of the greatest Yankee players ever when his career is over. He is among the top in almost every statistical category, and has earned the title as “The Captain.” However, Jeter is now on pursuit to add another nickname to his repetitious, “Mr. 3000.” He is currently at 2994 hits for his career, and he is looking to reach the 3000 hit plateau.

Unfortunately, Yankee fans all across the country are going to have to wait until the end of the month ton watch Jeter continue his journey to 3000 hits. Jeter suffered an injury he suffered against the Cleveland Indians on Monday. He was placed on the 15 day disabled list due to a strain in his right calf. Jeter was not happen with the decision to be placed on the 15 day disabled-list due to the fact that he believes that he will be able to recover after a couple of days, but the Yankees do not want to risk Jeter injuring himself worse and having to sit him for a longer period of time. Jeter explained,

I don't like not to play, whether its going for 3000 hits or 100 hits. It really doesn't make a difference to me. I'd rather be out there playing.

 

Even though Jeter feels that he could be ready to play sooner, but Ahmed (Yankees trainer) told him that he would need over 10 days to recover completely from this injury. This type of injury affects the way the batter takes his first step towards first base. Jeter will not be able to explode towards the base causing him to not generate the same amount of speed that he is used to, With the firepower that the Yankees have, they should be good without him in their lineup for a short period of time. Jeter will be back in the lineup soon, and he will reach his goal of 3000 hits shortly after his return.http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110614&content_id=20465992&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

The Incredible Rise Of Matt Joyce

Matt Joyce is having a career season so far this year. He has come a long way since joining the Tampa Bay Rays back in 2008. The Rays acquired Joyce in a trade for a very popular player, Edwin Jackson.  The trade angered a lot of fans due to the upside that Jackson showed with his incredible arm, and he fit very well in an already dominant starting rotation. Furthermore, Joyce injured himself shortly after joining the team, so this did not sit well with the fans or the players.  Joyce explained,

You don't want to be labeled as “that guy”.  Before I came to the Rays, I was never hurt. So it was a whole new world, a different aspect for me that was really hard to accept -- that you were hurt and you couldn't do anything about it, because you feel like everybody is looking at you like, Who is this guy? We traded one of our best pitchers for this guy and he's hurt all the time. And he hasn't done anything.

When Matt Joyce returned from injury, he was put in the starting lineup against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Guess who happened to be pitching for them? You guessed it, former Rays pitcher, Edwin Jackson. This was a chance for Joyce to prove to everyone that the trade was not a bust. However, Jackson would have the ultimate last laugh. Jackson threw a no-hitter against his former team! This became a very low point for Joyce who was still trying to prove himself to his teammates. Joyce admits,

That was terrible. That was an awful experience. To be your first game back, and when I saw that Edwin was pitching, I couldn't believe it. It was almost like they planned it that way where I faced Edwin on the first day.

However, this year has been a complete turnaround for Joyce. He led the American League in batting average for 21 days, and led the Majors for 15 days. He is not currently in the lead right now, but he is still hitting a very respectable .338 with 10 home runs and 34 RBI’s. Not to mention that he has one of the best arms of any outfielder this year which always poses a threat for any runner trying to reach an extra base on any ball hit towards his direction. He is one of the Rays key players this year, and he hopes to help lead his team to another A.L. East title.

The Greatest Rivalry In Baseball

mlb.com 

If there is anything that we know about rivalries, then you know that the Yankees and the Red Sox will always have great battles whenever the two teams play each other. The Red Sox won last night's game to pull into a tie for first place with the Yankees. The pitcher for the Red Sox, John Lester, always seems to pitch pretty well against the rival Yankees. Lester has won 4 straight games at Yankee Stadium. He is the first Boston pitcher to do this since Roger Clemens back in 1987-1989. Lester says,

It's nice. It's kind of cool to come here. It's a fun place to play, just like Fenway. The atmosphere's great, the crowd's always loud and you want to beat these guys.

 

Also, the Red Sox have earned their way to a tie of the A.L. East thanks to the success that they have had against the Yankees so far. The Red Sox have won 6 out of 7 games against the Bronx Bombers in the 2011 season. This is pretty surprising to me because the Yankees have looked so dominant against other opponenets. It just seems like the Red Sox match up really well against them. Well, one thing that we do know is that the Yankees will not take this string of success that the Red Sox have had against them lightly. I would not be surprised if the Yankees bounce back in tonight's game against the Red Sox, but it definitely will not be an easy task.

It Is Not On Purpose I Promise

I would like to apologize to the Baseball teams that will probably not spend a whole lot of time discussing. I mean let's face it, it is not like you are being discussed by anyone else either. I feel that there are a lot teams in Major League Baseball that really don't try to be contenders. And when they do, they always end up giving the player away due to the fact that they could not afford them.

Furthermore, I do feel bad for the teams that do not make the amount of money necessary to hold on to the top draft picks. Unfortunately, baseball does not have a salary cap, so all of the big market teams are going to eventually steal all of your good players. It is not a fair rule, but it has been in place for a long time, and I am sure that you are used to by now. This is exactly why teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Washington Nationals will never be serious contenders. Even though the Pirates are not having that bad of a season as of right now, I do not believe that it will not last. So, I apologize for the teams that I will probably never mention in my posts, but I will try my best to at least mention one of your players if they make any headlines.

Glove At First Sight

Baseball is a sport that I grew very accustomed to at a young age. I grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, and baseball is huge if you happen to live anywhere in the New England area. I remember when I went to my first game at Shea Stadium (New York City) when I was 5 years old. I've always watched the game prior to actually going to the game, but that day changed my life and I would start developing a tremendous love for the sport.

After watching my first baseball game, I instantly wanted to start playing. Therefore, my parents signed me up for tee-ball a few days later. You know how they say that some people are just born with natural talent for certain sports or activities? Well, this was exactly what I experienced when I started throwing, catching, and hitting the baseball for the first time. I mean it was absolutely incredible how effortless it felt when I practiced with my Father. I remember the first game of the season like it was yesterday. Unfortunately, the one thing that sticks out the most in my mind was how horrible some of the other kids were. It just blew my mind that some kids would strike out when all you had to do was hit the ball off the tee! Also, they weren't so great out on the field. It was very frustrating when I would throw the ball to a teammate and then watch them run away from the ball. Those were the good old days!

I continued to play baseball when I moved to Tampa, Florida when I was 8 years old. Furthermore, I continued playing all the way until I threw my arm out in my Junior year of High School. However, I've always followed the game all of my life. My favorite baseball players of all time are Ryne Sandberg and Ken Griffey Jr. Also, I am a huge Rays fan (obviously) and periodically will go to Tropicana Field to watch them play. That's my story of how I fell in love with the great game of baseball!

Granderson Provides More Power For An Already Dominant Lineup

MLB.com    Curtis Granderson of the New York Yankees is having a phenomenal start to the 2011 season. However, he has come a long way since joining the Yankees last year. Granderson had been struggling against left-handed pitchers his whole career. This caused Joe Girardi (Yankees Manager) to take Granderson out of the lineup if a left-handed pitcher was starting for the other team.

However, this was not the case last night as the Yankees took on the Oakland A's. Granderson's production has greatly improved this year against lefties this year. He hit his 17^th home run, against the the A's lefty pitcher, Brett Gardner, in the first inning of last night's game. Granderson explains, “I knew it was there. It was just a matter of getting it back.” Out of Granderson's 17 home runs this year, 9 of them have come off of lefties. If Granderson can keep up this pace, the Yankees offense should be able to produce big numbers this season with all of the weapons that they already have. Furthermore, the Yankees will need all of the offense that they can get in such a competitive division.

Big Papi Helps Propel The Sox To Victory

MLB.com David "Big Papi" Ortiz comes through big for the Boston Red Sox against the Detroit Tigers in game 1 of their double-header this afternoon. Ortiz is usually known for his clutch hitting out of the designating hitter's position, but Red Sox manager, Terry Francona, decided to use Ortiz as a pinch hitter in the top of the 9th inning with the game tied at 3. The Tigers had put in their closer, Jose Valverde, in attempt to keep the game tied. Before the at bat, Ortiz had only faced Valverde one time in his career in which he hit a home run. Ian Brown, a writer for mlb.com, wrote an article about what happened during the game. Brown really puts what happened during the game into perspective as he writes:

The moment came with one out in the top of the ninth, when manager Terry Francona sent his star slugger up as a pinch-hitter. All Ortiz did was rake a go-ahead solo homer to right-center against Tigers closer Jose Valverde, leading the Red Sox to a 4-3 victory in Game 1 of a day-night doubleheader.

Ortiz was able to come off the bench, and do what he has always done since becoming a member of the Red Sox in 2003. When Ortiz was told that he was going to pinch hit he explains, "Just go in the cage get some swings in and make sure you’re loose-make sure you're ready to go. I know Valverde, he's got a good fastball. He's got a split-finger, but it's not like I have too many options when you come off the bench to pinch-hit. So, I just went for one pitch and he gave it to me." This has to excite Red Sox Nation due to the fact that Ortiz had one of the slowest starts of his career one year ago. With all of the weapons that the Red Sox have, and the emergence of Big Papi, the Sox should definitely be a strong contender in the American League "Big" East.

A Home Plate Collision Gone Bad

The San Francisco Giant's catcher, Buster Posey, is out for the season after a collision with the Florida Marlin's player, Scott Cousins, during a play at the plate during Wednesday night's game. Posey suffered a fractured fibula in his leg during the collision due the his cleats being stuck in the dirt during the time of impact. In an interview with “MLB.com”, Giants head coach, Bruce Bochy, believes that, “Its a part of baseball. I understand that guys run into catchers. I do think we need to consider changing the rules here a little bit because catchers are vulnerable...”

On one hand, I agree with Bruce Bochy that catchers do need some sort of protection from these type of brutal plays at home plate. But, on the other hand, these type of plays have been happening since baseball began. I know it might sound bad, but these type of head on collisions are part of baseball's rich tradition. If you think about it, it really comes down to who really wants to win. Will the catcher be able to stand his ground and not allow the runner to score? Or will the runner be able to crash into the heavily equipped catcher and jar the ball loose from his group and score the run. As gladiator-like as that sounds, it has always been a really exciting aspect of the game for the fans.

This kind of surprises me that Bruce Bochy would make a statement like that knowing that he used to be a catcher himself sometime ago. I understand that he would be a little upset about losing his star catcher possibly for the season, but I believe that he has to understand that it is part of the game. It is as part of the game as bad calls by the umpires, taking a guy out at 2^nd base during a double play attempt, or the song, “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” that is sung during the 7^th inning of every game. As unfortunate as the injury was, you just can't start changing the rules of the game that have been in place for the last 100 years.

Jose Bomb-Tista

Jose Bautista is on pace to hit 64 home runs this year after he hit his Major League leading 19^th home run against the New York Yankees last night. Bautista has even missed 9 games this season due to injury, so one would think that his home run total could be a little higher. Also, he finished with a Major League leading 54 home runs one year ago.

Jose Bautista had 116 strikeouts and his batting average in '09 was only .260 which is really a mediocre batting average for a Major League Baseball player. However, he has become a better overall hitter that the Toronto Blue Jays were looking for in their lineup this year. Yeah, sure the Jays were happy with Bautista's power production from a year ago. But it doesn't matter how many home runs one player hits as long as it is helping the team win ball games. The Blue Jays did have a pretty good season last year with a record of 85-77, but failed to make the playoffs due to them being 10 games behind the Wild Card winning Yankees.

This season, he still has the outstanding power, but now he is a much better overall hitter with only 23 strikeouts and an incredible batting average of .353. His amount of production has definitely helped the team win ball games this year with their current record being 24-23, and more importantly only trailing the first place Yankees by only 1 and a half games. Bautista was able to keep the home run pace all year last year, but will he be able to continue to hit home runs, keep his batting average up, and keep the strikeouts down in 2011? Also, will anyone else on the Blue Jays step up like Jose Bautista did last year? Well, the season is still very young, so only time will tell.

Hello Baseball Fans!

Greetings. I have played the game of baseball since I was 5 years old, and I have never stopped loving it ever since! I was born in Connecticut, and I lived the first 8 years of my life there. If you live in Connecticut, you basically have to make a choice as far as what team you will choose to cheer for. Half of my family are New York Yankee fans and the other half are Boston Red Sox fans. I on the other hand chose to go a different route...I became a Cubs fan! My family did not like this decision, but I blame it on the great Ryne Sandberg! He was my childhood idol growing up, and it was pretty cool that WGN would show the Cubs games almost everyday. My Grandmother used to take me to go see the Cubs everytime that they played at Shea Stadium against the New York Mets. However, I moved down to Tampa, but I was still a huge Cubs fan until the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were incepted in 1998. My knowledge for the game of baseball has grown over the years, and I hope to have some great discussions over the topics that I post in my blog.