MLB

With the Sox on the verge of losing again, I have felt the need to get back into blogging with a similar article to what I had gotten recognition for last summer.

Hopefully you enjoy—I am open to comments and opinions.

Five Reasons to Give Up on White Sox

1. Gordon Beckham

The Mets finally got some offense for a change, but the game started with a bizarre episode involving John Maine .

He threw five pitches to the first batter and got pulled from the game. His fastball was at 85 mph, and it looked like something was wrong.

He and Jerry Manuel argued in the dugout. Maine appeared to have wanted to stay in the game.

The first 40 games of the season are in the books, and when compiling the report card for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the first quarter can pretty much be summed up in two words — roller coaster.

Undoubtedly, injuries have plagued the boys in blue already during the young season.

At some point or another, the Dodgers have had seven players visit the disabled list, and have heavily relied on bench play or minor league call-ups to pick up the slack.

The San Francisco Giants are on the verge of pulling the plug on No. 5 starter Todd Wellemeyer.

They're not ready to recall 20-year-old Madison Bumgarner or to bring right-hander Joe Martinez back to the big club. The organization is reportedly set to call right-hander Eric Hacker, 27, up from Triple-A Fresno to take Wellemeyer's scheduled start on Tuesday against the Washington Nationals.

The Giants could skip the fifth spot in the rotation and use Tim Lincecum on Tuesday, thus pushing back the next start for the No. 5 starter to May 29 against visiting Arizona.

Well, he's still at AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre, to be exact.

Right now, the Yankees might want to call AAA to fix their flat team.

The Bombers got bombed by the Rays last night, 10-6 (trailing 10-2 at one point,) and are now just 4-6 in their last 10, dropping to four games out of first.

To make matters worse, Jorge Posada is out three to four weeks with a broken foot, and Marcus Thames sprained his ankle while stepping on his own bat.

Kaz Matsui's time with the Houston Astros is officially in the books. We are left to wonder his options. Perhaps he will join fellow Japanese export Ichiro Suzuki in Seattle, or maybe he'll head back to Japan and play for the Yomiyuri Giants, the Chunichi Dragons, Yakult Swallows or the Nagasaki Yakuza.

With that, we are left to wonder who will be next to be issued their walking papers with the Astros...

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Ouch.

The tires are flat just a few days after the Reds bandwagon was getting full.

After holding a commanding 9-1 lead, the Reds end up losing 10-9 in stomach punching fashion to the Atlanta Braves.

The Reds jumped out to a eight run lead in the second inning and everything seemed juuuust fine. Rookie Mike Leake had his seventh quality start in eight appearances, going six innings giving up five hits and three runs (one earned).

If Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox does not start Brooks Conrad at third base for tomorrow's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he may have lost his mind.

Admittedly, I am still heavily under the influence of the euphoria that ensued after Conrad hit an opposite-field, game-winning grand slam in a 10-9 victory over the Cincinnati Reds today, which capped an eight-run Atlanta rally Thursday.

However, it's not crazy to at least entertain the idea of putting today's ninth-inning hero in the starting lineup at the hot corner.

The Red Sox have the Phillies’ number.

That first became evident when Boston ousted Philly in the 1915 World Series, and little changed once interleague play began over 80 years later.

The Phillies are just 15-22 against the Red Sox since their interleague dates began in 1997. Philly and Boston have met in interleague play every season except 2002 and 2007.

Back to the present…

The Cincinnati Reds have a very good baseball team. That isn't opinion, it is fact.

Coming into Atlanta on Wednesday they had won nine of their last 10 games, were seven games above .500 and in first place of the National League's Central Division.

The starting pitching had been superb, the hitting was outstanding and their defense was second to none.