MLB

We wandered in here the week of the UW vs Arizona State game after walking two miles from 3rd and Mill to East Apache Blvd. and Rural in 100 degree weather, in search of liquor and food. Fortunately for us, this place specializes in both.

The Baers Den is a must stop if visiting just for Game Day or for Baseball's Fall and Spring training camps.

The thought is that I would do a follow-up to my article that was written on October 22, 2009.

We spent 11 days in Tempe for Spring Training and St. Patrick's day in the desert.

Budding young stars seem to be a trend in not only baseball, but in numerous sports. There is something to be said for harvesting your own players and having them shine. It has been a long time coming in baseball, where again exciting youth have arrived to sell out ballparks.

One of the top organizations in the business the Los Angeles Dodgers, have been to the League Championships in consecutive years.

This is interesting given the fact that the third largest market in sports has spent relatively cheaply.

The credit is due to the players and the managerial staff.

One of the best things about being a Yankees Featured Columnist here on Bleacher Report is being able to bring up and address certain rumors that float around.

This will be another story pertaining to one of those rumors currently floating around, which now will be addressed by me, and I'm sure will be addressed amongst the Yankees B/R community here as well. I'm looking forward to it.

Lately, a certain big-named pitcher who will be a free agent pitcher after the 2010 season is now being linked to the Bronx.

I come at this with a bias; this I admit willingly.

You see, I am a Tampa Bay Rays fan.

I would love nothing more than to see the Evil Empire crumble and fall and watch Hank Steinbrenner go off his meds and give his best "like father, like son."

Every year I hope that the "aging" Yankees finally, well, show their age. 

Every year people wonder when these three players' stars will begin to dim.

Once a proud franchise that spent much of the early part of the last decade as contenders in the American League West, once a franchise that was hailed all across the world of baseball as a club that practiced the once revolutionary method of "Moneyball" under the direction of general manager Billy Beane, once a franchise that fans could count on to challenge the New York Yankees for American League supremacy, the Oakland Athletics are now one of baseball's failing franchises—a downward spiral that has taken place over a mere three seaso

When the Padres let Trevor Hoffman leave their organization after the 2008 season, many felt it was the end of the line for one of the game's great closers.

The Dodgers showed mild interest in Hoffman, and it made sense for him to sign with a team so close to his home. Add to that the fact he'd be able to pitch against his former team, and it seemed all but certain he would wear Dodger blue.

However, the Brewers made a late push for the future Hall of Famer. They needed a replacement for Salomon Torres after he suddenly retired following the 2008 season.

I was recently approached by Tom Reese from HotStove.com who asked if I would be interested in a series he was doing. Each week he would ask one question to bloggers who cover a team. We would respond with a four or five sentence response. Tom would consolidate all of the answers and post them to his site.

It is an interesting concept and one I have had a lot of fun with over the past few weeks. The questions are usually thought provoking and make you stop to think. This week’s question was a prime example.

Anyone who has ever been to any single game at Yankee Stadium knows the scene: It’s a musty May night, and the game has been moving along swiftly, maybe a run here and there. Around the fifth inning, about the same time as the Great New York Subway Race and the YMCA, you start to here a metal pan being hit across the stadium. That pan belongs to the one and only.. Freddie Sez.

At first glance, it looks like baseball and competitive balance run on parallel lines. There are the Yankees with their 27 World Championships and the Pittsburgh Pirates who have not had a winning season since 1992.

Those two franchises met in the epic 1960 World Series when Bill Mazeroski won it with a Game Seven ninth-inning home run. 1960 was during a run where the Yankees played in 14 out of 16 World Series.

Aroldis Chapman was forced to leave an exhibition game on Monday, March 22, versus the Colorado Rockies with what my best friend and mentor, Hal McCoy, described as, "a twinge in his back, or stiffness in his back, or tightness in his back."

Either way, the Cuban flame thrower has a sore back. 

The band Alkaline Trio once sang, "When you're only 23 it's not attractive to complain about your sore back."

For Reds' fans the news is less than "attractive"; in fact, it's just plain scary.