Fan News

In baseball, the art of being able to recognize and take pitches out of the zone is key to success. Although hitting statistics like home runs and batting average are glorified, walks greatly contribute to wins. Here are the five most disciplined hitters, based on their O-Swing % (the amount of pitches out of the zone at which they swing). 

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(Michelle Mitchell also contributed to this article)

With the much publicized divorce proceedings between Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his wife, Jamie, set to begin in less than two weeks, fans across Dodgertown are primarily concerned about one thing—who will control the franchise heading into the 2011 season?

As the CC Sabathia and the Yankees beat up on Justin Verlander and the Tigers Tuesday night, a very interesting battle occurred within the war. Austin Jackson, an outfielder who was developed in the Yankee system, hit a home run on the first pitch thrown by the Yankees ace, CC Sabathia.

The inning later, Curtis Granderson, who was traded for Jackson, made two sparkling catches. He later followed with a home run.

David Kaplan of Chicagonow.com, who originally broke the story, has reported that the deal sending Derrek Lee to the Atlanta Braves is done. The Braves acquired Lee and cash considerations from the Cubs in exchange for minor-league pitchers Tyrelle Harris, Robinson Lopez, and Jeffrey Lorick.

The Boston Red Sox will have quite a few issues to address this off season.  While their offense has been a nice surprise this year, they still need to improve if they want to compete with the Yankees and Rays in the East. 

The strength of this team was supposed to be their pitching staff however, it has been very inconsistent.  This rotation was expected to be the best in baseball, but in reality, it has been average.  Not to mention the bullpen has been a complete disaster.

Many casual baseball fans unsafely assume that once the July 31st Trade Deadline has passed that players cannot be traded. This is of course false. I know you are asking yourself, “Well why do they have a trade deadline then if it really isn’t a deadline for making trades?”

Just because it is after July 31st does not mean that trades are prevented from going down. The Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves are showing that by pulling off a deal that will send Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee to Atlanta.

It is a significant move for the Braves who lost Chipper Jones for the season due to an ACL injury and are without a corner infielder.

Wind the clocks back five years

 The White Sox team that went coast-to-coast in first place were truly a complete team that had it all. In June of that season Bobby Jenks stepped up to become the man that Ozzie Guillen went to in the 9th after injuries hampered Dustin Hermanson. Ozzie did have some other options at the time with Cliff Politte and Damaso Marte as options.

Spending a week on a cruise ship tends to take you out of the sports loop.

That was my situation last week as I tuned into ESPN in my cabin and caught the hosts of "Baseball Tonight" talking about Texas Ranger's outfielder Josh Hamilton.

I didn't catch the beginning, but what I heard was something like, "If Hamilton didn't get messed up with drugs at the beginning of his career, he might be on his way to the Hall of Fame."

The Cincinnati Reds are 17 games over the .500 mark for the first time since 1999 and to their credit they are making moves that make sense rather than making snap judgements that may blow up in their face.