Opinion

The first quarter of the season is done with.  It has been quite a wild one for the New York Mets.  The Mets, right now, have a 22-19 record.  They are 1.5 games behind the defending champs, the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Mets started off the season with beating the Cincinnati Reds, everything was great.  The bullpen worked exactly as planned.  Sean Green in the seventh, JJ Putz in the eighth, and Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth to get his first save fo the season.

The Mets are not a healthy group right now. The team struggles to keep a group of nine guys together for more than a couple of days, as the list of injured players continues to grow.

In the last 24 hours, we have had three more additions to the injury report. Ryan Church’s hamstring, JJ Putz’s neck, and Carlos Beltran’s knee have become the latest concerns. Church and Beltran are likely day-to-day, but Putz is out indefinitely.

When Pat Burrell left the Phillies for the Rays, I thought we were in trouble. Get rid of the right batting Burrell to had the left batting Ibanez? I didn't understand considering Burrell was an above average fielder and his bat was always a great addition—when he wanted to hit.

Toronto Blue Jays' manager Clarence "Cito" Gaston was familiar with the situation. In the eighth inning of a scoreless game at Atlanta, the Blue Jays had Scott Rolen on second base and one out.

Rod Barajas was the batter, with pitcher Roy Halladay on deck. Through seven innings, Halladay had faced 26 batters, making 95 pitches.

No Designated Hitter

Games hosted by National League teams do not use the designated hitter rule.

During the offseason, the Texas Rangers announced the club was moving All-Star shortstop Michael Young over to third base. The move was quickly criticized by experts, and a shocked Rangers clubhouse had to deal with a week of trade demands from the heart and soul of the team.

As Spring Training approached, the Rangers brought in future Hall of Famer Omar Vizquel to reassure an always-panicked fan base. The original plan had to be modified, as the idea of 20-year-old Elvis Andrus, who hadn't played above AA, starting at short for the Rangers was a little too much.

Let's start this article off by saying one thing.  Rocco Baldelli is not only athletically gifted, but pretty damn smart as well.

He attended the Gifted and Talented student program while at La Salle Academy in Rhode Island, and then switched to a normal high school by the name of Bishop Hendrickson High School, also in Rhode Island.

While at BHHS, the baseball stud posted a 4.25 grade-point average.  He played baseball, indoor track, basketball, and even volleyball, and was a four-star athlete at those sports.

The week began with a jubilant cry from the west coast.

It was reported on Wednesday that the Chicago White Sox had reached a preliminary deal with the San Diego Padres for Jake Peavy. Chicago, in return, would give San Diego four prospects, headlined by Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda.

My buddy, Clayton in Colorado called me Thursday afternoon, sounding as if his Rockies had just won the World Series.

I was surfing through B/R earlier and came across a Jeff Francoeur article written by fellow B/R contributor Ron Wagner.

Well in his article he states that the braves should give up on Jeff Francoeur, and i'm here to say otherwise.

Why give up on him now, sure he's having a bad year so far, he's hitting only .252 with 3 homers and 21 RBI's.

Jeff is having trouble with his swing, he switched from a closed stance after his rough season last year to an open stance this with hopes that it will improve his numbers.

The general consensus is that the American League West is the weakest division in baseball. I would have to agree with this. 

Not only does the division have just four teams, but it is also lacking a powerhouse team that most other divisions possess.

In a lot of ways, this is a good thing. Namely, it gives average teams like the Mariners a chance to compete. It's rare for anyone to walk away with the division in dominating fashion, with the exception of the 2008 Angels.

Do they make Viagra for baseball bats? Can it improve performance? If so, the Cubs had better start taking it.

Alright, so maybe that is a bit of a cheap shot. But, after all, our Cubbies have scored just two runs in their last 27 innings against the Cardinals. Now they head to San Diego, where they expect to revive their slumping bats in a ballpark that is pitcher friendly, against a team that hasn't lost since the Cubs swept them.

Good luck with that.