Opinion

New York Mets starting pitcher Oliver Perez just didn’t have it, the bullpen finally failed and the offense once again failed to show up against Carlos Silva of all people, as the Mets dropped the third game of a four game series 9-3 to the Chicago Cubs.

The Atlanta Braves offense has produced less than stellar numbers so far this season. At the moment the majority of their offensive stats are in the bottom third of the league. Not the greatest beginning for a team that suffered from lack of run production during the first half of the season last year.

The subject of offense has been the biggest worry for Braves fans.  Still, before calling for the heads of hitters, lets look at what they've had to face this season.

Phil Hughes was absolutely dominant on Wednesday night against the Oakland Athletics. He had his best stuff of the season, possibly his career, last night as he came ever so close to no hitting the A's.

Hughes' control was terrific. His stuff was electric. The young pitcher took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before giving up an infield single to Eric Chavez on a ball hit up the middle that went off Hughes' forearm. Hughes could not find the ball in time and Chavez was on with the A's first hit of the night.

On Wednesday night, Phil Hughes made his second start of the season against the Oakland A's and was looking for an even stronger performance from his first start.

Any stronger of a performance, and you would have thought that it was Ron Guidry and not Hughes pitching on the mound.

In case you fell asleep before or during the game and think I am exaggerating, I am not kidding because Hughes in fact, was that good Wednesday night.

Brett Gardner continues to produce, at least against right handed pitching.

In last night's win for the New York Yankees against the Oakland Athletics, Gardner was 2-3 with a walk and a run batted in. What is more, the RBI came with two outs in the ninth. The Yankees held a precarious one-run lead after Phil Hughes had taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning, and Gardner's RBI added an insurance run.

Gardner was less impressive in the opening game of the three-game series in Oakland on Tuesday night when he went 0-3 against a left handed pitcher.

Please tell me this is April Fools Day.

Look, the Cubs have done a lot of dumb things in their history, but moving Carlos Zambrano to the bullpen may be the craziest thing they have done since the "College of Coaches."

For those of you not up to date on Cubs history, the College of Coaches was the brainchild (or brain-dead decision) of then-owner P.K. Wrigley back in 1961, and consisted of rotating eight coaches as managers.

Listed below are points and counterpoints debating whether the Cubs demoting Carlos Zambrano is a good idea.

One of the best Clint Eastwood movies from his Western days was "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Fantastic. Rent it if you have not seen it. In fact, get a bunch of Clint movies one rainy day and park yourself on the couch.

This movie title is going to be the same as this Yankee theme. It will be a bi-weekly segment on the most recent Yankee two week stretch of games.

In one of the more bizarre moves you'll read about, the Cubs announced today that Opening Day starter Carlos Zambrano will be moved to the bullpen.

Zambrano, 1-2 with a 7.45 ERA so far in 2010, figures to be the primary set-up man for closer Carlos Marmol.

The Cubs' bullpen has been atrocious this season, and there is no question that a move had to be made. 

You can't fault manager Lou Piniella for trying to shake things up, but taking away a three-time all-star from your starting rotation is not the answer.

Bud Selig, Commissioner of Major League Baseball, wants to see a more competitive balance in baseball. He wants to see teams that lose start winning all of the sudden.

How should this be done?

Well, first get rid of the penny pinching owners of "small-market" teams (let's face it, there is no small market in professional sports) and get real owners in there.

The more realistic answers are the following: