Opinion

The first month of the MLB season was rough on Houston Astros hitters with only two players (Miguel Tejada and Geoff Blum) finishing with an above-.300 batting average. Tejada hit .315 while Blum was close behind at .313. Both are regular players, so thankfully, the numbers don’t seem inflated.

Late last week, the Cubs traded speedy-yet-worthless urban legend Joey Gathright to the Baltimore Orioles for Ryan Freel, a player most Cubs fans would have loved to have seen at Wrigley Field four years ago.

Freel, who stands 5'9" and is 33 years old, is a versatile player who can play most infield and outfield positions.

Aaron Miles, whom the Cubs gave a two-year contract in January, stands 5'8", is 32 years old and is a versatile player who can play most infield and outfield positions.

This season has not been a pretty one for the Washington Nationals.

Losers of 10 of their first 11 games, they currently hold the worst record in either league. Last month, on consecutive days, they held leads against the Florida Marlins, only to see the Marlins tie the game on home runs and then win in extra innings.

Luck would not seem to be on their side.

While Nationals fans are no doubt frustrated with their team's misfortunes, they can feel honored to have one of baseball's young budding superstars: Ryan Zimmerman.

Let me start the typical “shock value” article the typical way, I love Ken Griffey, Jr.  When I was a kid, I measured how tall I was getting on a Ken Griffey Jr. height chart, before running out to play with my black outfielders glove with his golden signature in my palm.  

Now, unfortunately, I have outgrown Griffey, and the glove that I retired so many years ago is getting just as much work as Juniors glove does now. 

Adrian Beltre has been a source of contention among Mariners fans since signing a contract with the team before the 2005 season.

Fans were warned that Beltre, who’d hit 48 home runs in 2004, and finished second-place in MVP voting in the National League had never duplicated those numbers in his career. Following an unprecedented season is an uncomfortable time to sign a player.

The Seattle Mariners are currently in third place in the AL west (1.5 GB) and have a 16-16 record.

New general manager Jack Zduriencik said this offseason that the Mariners front office wants to acquire players than can have the team competing now and long term.

As I was sitting at the Diamondbacks game last night against the Nationals, I was growing more and more agitated as the D-backs left more and more men on base. 

So, I found even the little things were agitating me.  Besides I had the time since the game was entering boredomville.

Don’t get me wrong, most people that show up at a baseball game are true and genuine fans, however there are people I can do without at the baseball game…

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Manny Ramirez’ 50-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs came as a shock to many in the baseball world.

Manny was widely regarded as one of the best pure-hitters in the game, and his recent positive test for a substance that can be used to recover from a steroid cycle was another dark cloud hanging over the national pastime.

Dontrelle Willis wasn't a one-hit-wonder. He wasn't a flash-in-the-pan kid who fooled hitters for only one summer.

He won 58 games before he was 25-years-old. He played a critical role for a World Series Champion. He nearly won a Cy Young Award.

Dontrelle Willis still has the physical tools to be a dominant major league pitcher—he is too young to have lost that already.  

What Dontrelle lost was the confidence, the swagger, and the bravado that he displayed on the mound as a kid in Florida.

October 19th, 2003.

It’s the bottom of the 11th.  The New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox, game seven in the American League Championship Series. Aaron Boone steps to the plate and hits a walk off home run to left field, sending the Yankees to yet another World Series appearance.

And that’s just one recent memory. The list goes on and on. For every Yankee fan, there is a group of defining moments that occurred at the old Yankee stadium that blur the lines between sports and miracles, routine and impossibility.