Fan News

That was a difficult series to take. With the win on Monday, the Rockies were riding high—3.5 games out of the wild card and gaining ground with a rare road win.

Two games later, and two close losses later...well, it's not as happy times. There is no joy in D-ville.

The Rockies continue to be a tale of two teams with extremes I’ve never seen before. Home, they are a smooth team, with the best hitting numbers in the National League. On the road, they are one of the worst teams in the league.

A few weeks ago I wrote a blurb about Cliff Lee and noted how many innings he was throwing and wondered out loud if it would carry over to next season. As it turns out he didn’t even make it that far before the innings total began to affect him as his back has been acting up.

Here are some reasonably available players to assist you in the Strikeouts category.

Realize that some of these will come with high ERAs and WHIPs because if a pitcher has low numbers in those categories and a good K total, he's already spoken for.

Ian Kennedy, Arizona Diamondbacks

Are the Cincinnati Reds the best team in baseball?

Valid arguments could be made against it, but they are the hottest. Since the All-Star break they are 29-14, going 21-8 through the month of August, the best record in MLB.

They never give up, winning 19 games in their last at-bat. Don't turn the TV off until the fat lady sings.

They are the youngest team with playoff aspirations, with an average age of younger than 28.

After Rob Dibble made these comments (on his XM Radio show) about Washington Nationals rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg—"Okay, you throw a pitch, it bothers your arm, and you immediately call out the manager and the trainer? Suck it up, kid"—it was conveniently announced that he was on vacation.

Wednesday night's Nationals-Marlins benches-clearing brawl, which could have arguably been started via the Marlins bench after Nyjer Morgan was "unsportsmanlike" in stealing second and third with a Nationals deficit, and Morgan's WWE-like exit from the field may have been the icing on the cake for Morgan's season.

As a life long Cincinnati Reds fan, I've heard the stories; I know what this franchise has accomplished, what it stands for, and the deep impact it has left on the citizens of southern Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and scattered points unknown.

However, here's the problem: as a 28-year old, many of those historical moments happened long before I was a gleam in my mother's eye.  

That, or I was simply too young to really remember them, such as the 1990 World Series champion Cincinnati Reds.

Yesterday I passed along a story that the Yankees had won a waiver claim for Ted Lilly and may have been pursuing him even though the trade deadline had passed.

The Yankees go for a four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics tonight and their sixth win overall and have their best man on the job, CC Sabathia.

Here are some notes:

Although September 1 marks the day that all MLB teams may expand their rosters up to 40 players, the Los Angeles Dodgers are passing on the opportunity—at least temporarily.