Fan News

It may be all over except for the crying.

With eight innings of one-hit ball on Thursday afternoon against the Oakland Athletics, C.C. Sabathia has become the front-runner for the AL Cy Young Award, and he may have even clinched it.

Why?

Well, I'll tell ya.  C.C. Sabathia will be the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner because . . . 

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Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips complimented the Cardinals before our last series, saying they were a fun team, akin to playing with your female dog. He was wrong.

The St. Louis Cardinals are sissies.

The Florida Marlins and the Washington Nationals engaged in a pretty ugly melee on Wednesday night, and the more I read about the events as they transpired the more I am beginning to think that something isn't right.

Inconsistent.

To sum up the Chicago Cubs of 2010 in one word, that word is the clear choice. Until a seven-game skid from late July into early August, the team had not won or lost more than four games in a row all season. They have played 31 games decided by six or more runs, going 11-20. In their 47 one-run games, they are 17-30.

It is somewhat unfair, however, and certainly not constructive, to simply dismiss Chicago as having had a bad team. That is not the case.

When Nyjer Morgan was hit in the hip by a fourth inning Chris Volstad fastball in last night's game, it was payback for Morgan running over Florida catcher Brett Hayes a night earlier. Late in the game a full-fledged brawl erupted when Morgan was thrown at again.

Well, I suppose you have to do something to liven things up when the two teams playing are a combined 32 games out of first place in their own division, with only a month left to the season. This goes double when the game is already a blowout in the sixth inning.

The Marlins and Nationals apparently decided to liven things up, ironically, by trying to kill each other.

Well, it was a little more complicated than that.

The Angels have reached September 1st and GM Tony Reagins and Mike Scioscia have the option of expanding the roster calling upon players from the minor leagues to help boost the big league roster.

Who will be getting the call?

The Yankees, winners of five straight, are about to embark on a rarity in baseball scheduling: five consecutive day games.

Luckily for the Yankees, they have thrived this season in day games, going 31-16.

The teams collectively hits better during the day, with a team batting average of .283 in day games compared to a .262 clip at night.

Here are some individual player statistics of those who fare better during the day than at night:

Chris Sale was one of the many top-level college pitchers being looked at in the 2010 MLB Draft.

I was hoping, as a Cleveland Indians fan, that they would select Sale with the fifth pick. Instead, they went with Drew Pomeranz.

The Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets then drafted Barret Loux and Matt Harvey, respectively, as Sale continued to fall.

After the Blue Jays drafted Deck McGuire, considered the most major league-ready pitcher at the time, the White Sox drafted Chris Sale with the 13th pick.

In baseball, as in life, predicting the future is exceedingly difficult. Six years ago, when Cubs right-hander Greg Maddux took his long-reserved place in baseball's venerated 300-win club, pundits across the sports talk universe wondered aloud whether another man would ever reach that milestone.

Two years and 363 days later, however, Maddux's longtime teammate Tom Glavine reached the plateau as well. The rumblings grew louder: Tim Kurkjian and Peter Gammons, then the dynamic duo of ESPN baseball coverage, declared the club all but closed for the remainder of baseball eternity.