Fan News

This was the year that the Pirates were supposed to climb out of the cellar. Which is to say that they were supposed to be better than at least one other team in the National League Central.

But after a decent start, that hasn't happened.

The Pirates do have a nice record (9-3) in the season series against the Chicago Cubs.

Under different circumstances, the Cubs might be in the cellar and the Pirates ahead of them. As was the case in 2006.

Let's talk about the Home Run Derby.

Everyone seems to think that it really messes a player up, but I’m not so sure about that.

I know a lot of people do not like math, but there is a thing called statistical regression. It simply means that really hot players will eventually cool off.

The nature of the Home Run Derby is directly connected to statistical regression as the MLB tends to ask the hottest players in the league to participate.

It has been a sub par year for several Yankees in 2010 so far, but two major weapons for the Bronx Bombers are starting to return to form.

Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira have had a fantastic past couple of weeks and are showing glimpses of their former selves.

A-Rod had been driving in runs, but his power numbers were way down and it looked as if he might never regain his power stroke.

However, ever since that road trip to Arizona and L.A. he has proved the doubters wrong.

The Twins, Mets, Rangers, Phillies, Tigers, and Rays have all been rumored to be interested in trading for Mariners’ pitcher Cliff Lee in recent weeks.

It was a game that was meaningless in the standings, but it was a game that established a record that will never, ever be broken.

Russ Springer was on the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Barry Bonds was the batter.

Just because you’ve slipped behind in the stolen base category doesn’t mean you can’t catch up.  Here are some reasonably available bag stealing threats.

Corey Patterson, OF, Baltimore Orioles

Patterson had six SBs over the past 15 days while hitting .322 with seven runs, one HR, and seven RBIs. On the year he’s hitting .280 with 16 SBs, 26 Runs, four HRs, and 13 RBIs. Patterson is owned in 10.6 percent of ESPN and 18 percent of CBS leagues.

Andres Torres, OF, San Francisco Giants

We all know that there are certain players who have struggled through the first half of the season. We also know that there are players who notoriously produce better in the second half. Here are five hitters that other owners in your league may be ready to give up on, yet could produce plenty of value in the second half (all stats are through Sunday):

White Sox starter Jake Peavy was pulled from the game during the second inning with an apparent arm injury.

After throwing a pitch, Peavy wandered off the mound and appeared to be shaking his right arm. He was replaced by Tony Pena.

I'm not going to speculate on what the injury actually is (other than that it appeared to be in the lower arm area) or the severity of it, but this could be a major blow for the White Sox. Peavy has been their hottest starter of late, posting a 1.75 ERA in the month of June.

NEW YORK-- It has been pretty evident that the Mets have not given Johan Santana any run support this season. Knowing that, Santana promptly parked a home run off the right field foul pole in the third inning, his first career home run, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead off Reds starter Matt Maloney.

Aaron Harang, who was scratched from his Monday night start due to back problems, was placed on the disabled list before tonight's game. With the lefty Maloney starting, shortstop Jose Reyes was inserted back in the lineup, as he can only bat from the right side with his sore oblique.

Hopefully, after tonight, Johan Santana likes the National League a little bit more. While he has not found nearly as much success in the NL as he had in the AL with the Minnesota Twins, Johan tonight realized that the easiest way to win is to do it all yourself.

Santana provided the hitting and the pitching, en route to a Mets 3-0 win over the Reds.