National League

After taking a look at the American League All-Stars for this year's game, I will now take the time to discuss who should be suiting up for the National League.

Once again, a few of the current voting leaders do not deserve to be in the starting lineup. Here is who should be taking the field first:

Catcher: Miguel Olivo

The Rockies catcher is off to a great start. He is hitting about .300 and has some nice power every time he steps to the plate.

Bud Selig is reportedly "very comfortable" with his decision not to award Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga with a perfect game.

Glad we could get that out of the way, Bud.

Professional sports' most aloof commissioner remains just that.  The other side of his aloofness (you know, aside from arrogance) is that he's also utterly out of touch with fans.

You remember fans, Bud?  The ones who used to follow baseball before your lockout.  The ones who used to follow baseball before they found out all of their heroes were juicing. 

With baseball a full two months in the books, teams are starting to make their runs toward the All-Star break.

With so much parity in MLB, teams with nearly identical records are separated by a few spots, sometimes more.

There are still many teams in realistic contention for their division title, but I will narrow it down to five teams right now that we could see playing in late October.

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A Fit Full of Tasers : MLB Enjoying A Week of Hearty Storylines

It usually happens like this. Everything is going great, there’s no drama, no over-excited story that garners far more national attention than it deserves, and all of a sudden the stories hit like a thunderstorm in a Michigan summer.

Teams are no longer counting on the three run home run these days; they are thinking speed, speed, and more speed.

2009 ended with a loss. And this season? (Cubbie Nation/file)

I really wasn’t going to do this.

Now that every major free agent has signed and most teams have their roster set, I think it’s now time to hand out some offseason grades. I will go with your standard A,B,C, etc. grading format and I will start in the National League.

St. Louis Cardinals: Grade: A

I love the fact that the Cardinals stepped up and re-signed Matt Holliday. They also brought in Brad Penny to replace Joel Pineiro, who is overrated.

I recently received quite a bit of flack for one of the five points in my last article on what the Braves need to happen in order for them to win the East.

So, in the spirit of discussion, and defending myself, I have decided to elaborate on my point on what Bobby Cox needs to do to get his Braves over the hump.

The wire services are crackling with what is deemed to be news today—Manny Ramirez is saying he will not return to the Dodgers in 2011!

This revelation ranks right up there with water being wet and the sky being blue.

Any Dodger fan who is paying attention knows this will be Manny's last season in Dodger blue. They also are aware if fate sends the season sideways, the team would look to deal Manny to an American League team.

Pitchers and catchers reporting tomorrow down in Orlando (or "Dark Star" as Dave O'Brien of the AJC has so cleverly coined it)  has a welcoming ring to it.

Every trade, every signing, every prospect, and every rumor has been dissected and bantered about throughout this hot stove season to the point where the only thing really left to do is the most important of all: play ball.