Fan News

For most teams, the 2010 MLB season is pretty much done. But don't fret. Here are some teams that will make a big impact in 2011.

Pittsburgh Pirates:

This one might be a little tricky, as "bouncing back" for them is maybe getting to .500 baseball.

However, Pittsburgh has a nice little youth movement going currently. Andre McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, and Lastings Milledge.

The month of August has not been kind to the Los Angeles Angels.

Heading into their weekend series with the Baltimore Orioles, the Angels are 10-12 for the month and losers of seven of their last 10 games.

Traditionally, August is the "make or break" month for teams who are still in contention for the postseason.

On Tuesday night, some friends and I went out to celebrate our friend Carrie’s birthday.

Actually, when we celebrate her birthday it’s usually a dual celebration. My birthday is the next day (yesterday), so the night always turns into a fun night.

It's another day where I got a late jump on these. With that in mind, we'll get right in to today's notes and a look ahead at tomorrow. This whole trying to run a blog, work a day job, and handle a one-month old is more tiring than you would expect!

Thursday Notes

The Rockies have swept the Atlanta Braves and now once again find themselves on the edge of the playoff picture only four games behind in the Wild Card Race.

However, it’s not all good news as reliever Manuel Corpas went down with an injury. Corpas will have an MRI done today, and the Rockies are hoping he won’t have to have Tommy John surgery. Yeah, it’s a bad injury whenever TJ is thrown out there.

The Toronto Blue Jays play in the most competitive division in baseball, yet have assembled a five-man rotation, who all have potential fantasy upside. 

Let’s take a look at the candidates in order to determine the potential long-term success:

Brandon Morrow

The 17-strikeout game aside, Morrow has a ton of potential and might just now be scraping the surface of his ability. 

In Wednesday’s series finale with the San Francisco Giants, the Reds looked like they were going to beat them as if they stole something.

Joey Votto, Jonny Gomes, and Ryan Hanigan all homered to stake Homer Bailey to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. It looked like payback time for the boys from the Queen City.

Votto hit another homer in the third inning, his 31st of the season, to cap a four-run inning and the Reds were on top 8-1.

There are times when an idea, a theory, or a point needs to be made with extensive evidence, logic, and explanation. The idea/theory/point can be so subtle, so complex, so involved, that the importance of it is not immediately clear. Some ideas take a lifetime to understand.

I am not here today with such an idea.

Welcome back for this week’s edition of the NL Wire.

Last week’s edition was focused mainly on a group of older, somewhat grizzled veterans, so for this week, I decided to return to the fountain of youth, so to speak.

This week’s selections are focused on a trio of youngsters, two of whom are returning for another go-around with their big league clubs, while the other is in the process of transforming himself from a top prospect into a solid rotation contributor.

Check ‘em out...

Albert Pujols is once again defying the odds and shredding the history books while the young "Big Red Machine," Joey Votto, is establishing his reputation as one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball. Both have a legitimate chance of winning the first Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

So we thought.

Last month, we were all scratching our heads laughing at the "fool," Charlie Manuel, for selecting super-utility man Omar Infante of the Atlanta Braves to the National League All-Star team.