MLB

Caption: In a scene that has become all-too-familiar during Red Sox games, a Red Sox starter hands the baseball to manager Terry Francona after getting bombed. Last night, it was Tim Wakefield’s turn to get pulled mid-inning, after surrendering a grand slam to shortstop Yunieski Betancourt that gave Kansas City a 9-5 lead. The Red Sox lost, 12-5.

Thursday marked the end of the Los Angeles Dodgers' experiments with a pair of Ortiz veterans, and possibly the end of Ramon Ortiz's major league career.

The Dodgers surprised experts and fans alike at the beginning of spring training with the news they had invited Russ and Ramon Ortiz (no relation) to camp with a decent shot at making the roster. True to their word, both veterans found their way to the big league club after decent spring campaigns.

Derek Sanderson Jeter made his major league debut 15 years ago today, May 29, 1995.

For any fan of the Yankees, and the game of baseball, it has been a great 15 years. We have all gone along for the ride with this great shortstop.

Jeter made his major league debut with the Yankees 15 years ago, when injuries to Tony Fernandez, and Pat Kelly, required the team to call up their young future star.

Of late, everyone has been talking about how terrible the Mariners are.

"Chone Figgins is a bust."

"Jose Lopez can't play defense."

"Ken Griffey Jr. should retire."

These are some of the printable examples of what fans have said on the Internet over the past couple of months.

Fernando Nieve is starting against the Milwaukee Brewers tonight and because he hasn’t started since last July and has primarily been a reliever throughout his career I thought now would be a good time to go over his numbers as a starter.

Here are Nieve’s numbers against the Brewers:

4 G, 2 GS, 1-1 record, 5.11 ERA, 12.1 IP, 19 H, 7 ER, 4 HR, 3 BB, 10 K, 1.78 WHIP.

Here are his numbers as a starter:

Roger Clemens has started some of the most crucial games in baseball history. His team has lost most of them.

Clemens has been called the greatest pitcher of his time, but when scrutinizing his record, one must question that conclusion.

In 1986, his third major league season, Clemens was 24-4, winning his first 14 decisions. He won the American League Cy Young Award. He was voted the league's MVP.

Ross Ohlendorf finished very strong in 2009, leading the rotation in both ERA (3.92) and WHIP (1.23) while picking up 11 wins.

Nonetheless, the 2010 season began with some concerns. In spring training, he was inconsistent with his fastball and his pitches were flat. However, his first start of the regular season was encouraging; His fastball showed life and he maintained consistent velocity.

Somewhere, sometime in the history of the baseball world, it was deemed that the Fourth of July holiday should be the benchmark to determine whether your team had a snowball’s chance in Hell of waving the pennant at the end of the season.

Not sure why July 4. Why not Flag Day, June 14? Seems appropriate; the pennant is sometimes called the “flag."

Labor Day is cheating; there’s less than a month left, so that’s hardly a step out onto the limb.

We have all been so impressed with the Reds starting pitchers and depressed about the ass-end of the bullpen, that we have not given notice to the rebirth of Jonny Gomes.

If you haven't looked at the National League stats lately, he is currently the fifth best hitter in the league, sporting a .316 average, which makes him currently the best hitter on the team. He is also fifth in slugging percentage and 10th in the league in OPS.

The Chicago Cubs currently are 23-26, good for third place in the National League Central Division. They are six games behind the Cincinnati Reds and five behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cubs are truly struggling this season. A loss today put's them on pace to lose 88 games. That's right, 88 games. To make matter's worse, in games that have not been started by Carlos Silva, the Cubs are 15-25, a .375 winning percentage!