AL East

The 2012 Boston Red Sox season is not going to come down to whether Roy Oswalt is going to pitch half a season or not.

The flaws that this team has—for whatever playoff run they may make—are harder to fix than by just picking up an expensive pitcher for twenty starts in a league he is not familiar with.

What can you really say about the whole Roy Oswalt signing with the Texas Rangers scenario other than thank God its over?

The rich certainly got richer in this case.

One thing that the Toronto Blue Jays have shown this season is that they are consistently inconsistent.  On occasion they have looked like a team equipped to raise their play to a new level—only to follow it up with disappointing stretches against teams they should beat (teams worse than .500) or fall short against teams they are competing with for a playoff spot. 

They also haven’t been able to get on a roll.  As of May 23, they have gone on five winning streaks of two or more games followed by losing streaks of two or more games.

Well, Joe Maddon has struck again.

Maddon is definitely known for some, well, different lineup decisions—catcher John Jaso leading off in previous seasons is a good example.

Tuesday night's contest featured an even more absurd move, as Maddon penciled in Carlos Pena's name in the No. 1 spot in the order.

Needless to say, I was confused.

Why would Maddon put his best run-producer in the leadoff spot of the order?

The surgery of New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera continues to be delayed and the date when he goes under the knife remains unknown.

After tearing the ACL in his right knee shagging fly balls back on May 3 against Kansas City, surgery was the obvious next step.

Derek Jeter is one of the best players to ever play the game for the Yankees. When you are a legend in your sport, you get rewarded with millions of dollars - and a revolving door of hot girlfriends.

We have seen Jeter with numerous ladies that we expected - and often hoped - he would finally settle down with. Every time the public has come to expect him to finally have found the 'one,' we get another one of those breakup tabloids.

Well, this is interesting. Check out Monday night's Tampa Bay Rays' lineup:

#Rays v Jays: Pena 1B, Upton cf, Joyce lf, Zobrist rf, Scott dh, S-Rod 3b, Sutton 2b, Gimenez c, Johnson ss - Moore p

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

So it would seem in Boston.

Gold Glove first baseman Adrian Gonzalez has been relegated to playing right field as a result of another Gold Glove-winning first baseman coming back from his stint on the disabled list. Kevin Youkilis was activated today, and, as some expected, the move pushed Gonzo to the outfield.

The 2012 MLB season is about to hit the quarter mark, and a lot of teams who were considered "playoff contenders" are still struggling to find their footing.

A lot of baseball fans are counting out the Phillies, Yankees, Red Sox, Angels and Tigers, but be warned, there's a ton of baseball left to play, and all five of these teams will lean on their experience to pull through in the end.

"Aging" Andy Pettitte wasn't too old to pitch a brilliant eight-inning shutout game Friday night against a formidable Cincinnati Reds team. This gave him his first win in 2012, and it made up for a weakish previous start against the Seattle Mariners

His skills are still what they used to be. That is not unexpected for an older player, even a pitcher.