Fan News

When does the Major League leader in losses by a pitcher generate major buzz amongst the teams looking to add pitching at the trade deadline?

When that pitcher has a 3.08 ERA, 112 strikeouts in 120 innings pitched and just threw a one hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, in which he allowed only a two-out first inning single before holding the team hitless the rest of the way.

Or, to put it another way, when that pitcher's name is Roy Oswalt.

The Yankees have targeted the bench as their area of weakness, but they continue to monitor the Cliff Lee trade talks just in case he falls to within their asking range.

So far, according to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated , the Mariners have asked for minor league catcher Jesus Montero plus two other prospects for Lee.

Did you see Price finish the sweep against Boston? Seriously? Even with all of Boston's injuries, they are still no offensive slouch.

David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, and Adrian Beltre were no match for Price. The trio was a combined 2-for-13 with five strikeouts.

The crazy thing is, Price beat them with just one pitch: his fastball. Of his 111 pitches, 99 of them were fastballs.

But one start does not an All-Star starter make. However, this does:

Twelve wins—most in the AL.

2.42 ERA—second to Cliff Lee by .08.

There is no question that the 2010 New York Mets team is a force that no opposing team should take lightly.

While it is only mid-season, there is good reason to believe that the Mets will play meaningful baseball in October, something they have not done since 2006.

In June of 2006, David Wright won the NL Player of the month. He participated in his first All Star Game festivities, including the HR Derby, where he placed a close second to Ryan Howard of the Phillies.

Walks are annoying. Sometimes they are a necessary evil, but for the most part they make me want to jab a sharp object into my eyeball.

The Reds tend to have this penchant for giving free passes when there are members of the opposing team already occupying the base paths (I'm talking to you Coco!). Cincinnati is playing well, extremely well, but is on pace to exceed the amount of walks issued last year when the pitching staff used home plate as a well oiled turnstile.

That's not good.

Don't let your eyes fool you.  This bum look-alike will actually be worth more this off-season than you or anyone else who reads this will make in the rest of your lifetimes.  Philadelphia rightfielder Jayson Werth will command top dollar as a free agent after this season.  Outside of Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford, there are no other total package outfielders available.

Werth is so valuable the Phillies are viewing him as a possible way to upgrade their team via a trade.  Top prospect and heir-apparent Dominic Brown is starting to tear it up in Triple A.

If there is anything we've learned from recent baseball history, it is that the good teams make the obvious moves when the time comes to make them, but the great teams make the right moves when no one else sees them.

To my mind, the best recent example of the difference between obvious moves and good moves comes from the Ken Williams Era in Chicago.  After the 2004 season, Williams traded Carlos Lee to the Milwaukee Brewers for Scott Podsednik and allowed Magglio Ordonez to sign with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent.

We were entertained by the rockets’ red glare as these pitchers were having their own pyrotechnic shows from the hill.

1. Felix Hernandez, Seattle

Hernandez tossed the ball hard for nine innings only gave up two hits with 11 strike outs. He earned a .000 ERA and the deserved victory.

In week 13, he was dominated, and the Monday that followed Independence Day, he was equally good. However, his bullpen gave up the win he deserved.

The popular Seattle ace is 6-5 with 122 strikeouts and a .301 ERA for the season.

We were entertained by the rockets’ red glare as these pitchers were having their own pyrotechnic shows from the hill.

Before writing this article, I had set out to prove that the Home Run Derby has no effect on a participant's second-half performance.

But after crunching the numbers, I'm not so sure.

Over the past decade, players competing in the Derby have seen their first-half at-bat-per-home-run ratio increase, on average, from 14.2 to 15.6 in the second half. This means they are going an extra 1.4 at-bats between dingers after the All-Star break.

But maybe that's normal; maybe all players get tired as the season wears on.

Well, not necessarily.