MLB

The Red Sox find themselves tied for third place in the AL East (10 - 11) as of April 28th.  And as April comes to a close, the Boston Red Sox season thus far seems to be summed up in three words: Feast or Famine.

In winning efforts, the Sox outscored opponents 72 to 54.  However, when tossing one into the loss column, the Sox are outscored 25-60, a dismal number.

The New York Yankees had started the season red hot but have cooled down as of late. Losers of four of their last five, the Yankees now sit 2.5 games back of AL East leading Tampa Bay. I decided to look back at the past five games and try to find a common theme.

Well, I found one at it was right at the top. The top of the batting order that is. The top four spots in the Yankees batting order have not had much success at all the past five games. These are the guys expected to carry the club and provide most of the pop.

If the Mets need a big strikeout out of the bullpen, Hisanori Takahashi may just be the guy.

Despite giving up at least one run in his past three appearances, the Mets call on Takahashi to eat up some innings out of the pen.

He leads all MLB relievers in strikeouts with 21. That's 21 strikeouts in just 14.1 innings pitched. His last two appearances have especially added to his total.

Last Friday against the Atlanta Braves, Takahashi pitched three innings in relief.

Despite giving up a run, he struck out seven batters.

The Mets continued their hot streak with a 7-3 win against the Dodgers today behind some early offense and a strong pitching performance by John Maine. They have now won seven games in a row, and have wrapped up this homestand by winning 9 out of 10 games. Not bad.

Be careful though, these Mets were clearly not as bad as they were early in the season, but they probably aren’t this good either.

What a whirlwind first four weeks of the 2010 season the Mets have had.

You could argue that no team in the National League felt more pressure to get off to a hot start out of the gate than the Mets.

After the debacle that was the 2009 season, lots of people believed, and still believe, that there could be repercussions for another poor finish in 2010.

I'll take this as a tongue-in-cheek joke, because it is funny, but I really hope Aaron Harang doesn't really believe this:

“We're close enough to Kentucky. I should be able to find a horseshoe,” Harang said, insisting that bad luck has as much to do with his record as anything else.

This was after Harang tossed the Reds' first quality start in nine games and became just the second starter to pick up a victory this season, which is only a measly 20 games mind you.

The worm is turning.  New York's most beloved franchise is in first place, one-half game ahead of the defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies. 

Watching the Atlanta Braves these days is like pulling teeth...no pun intended.

As I recover from mouth surgery this week and try to figure out just what has happened to the Braves, I can’t help but remain flabbergasted by their sudden and shocking downward spiral.

After experiencing one of the most exhilarating wins in franchise history over the Phillies on April 20, the Braves now find themselves in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, in which their offense has plummeted to new, disturbing lows.

Jeff Karstens started his career as a Pittsburgh Pirate with six innings of shutout ball and a 3-0 victory against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field in August 2008. Last night, he did much of the same with a two-run 6.2 inning quality start against Milwaukee that ended in a 7-3 Pirates victory.

In Miller Park.

For the fourth time this season, Livan Hernandez put the Nationals on his back and carried them late into the game.

By doing that, he gave them a chance to earn a victory.

With early run support, Washington was able to do just that as they defeated the Cubs 3-1 and nipped a one game losing streak in the bud.

Throughout baseball, the aces of pitching staff's are called stoppers.

They are the pitchers who managers, general managers and fans feel comfortable putting in every fifth day to make sure that no losing streak gets out of control.