Fan News

In a pitchers duel, it doesn't take much to shift the balance of the game. For the Minnesota Twins Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays, two key base hits provided a lead that they would refuse to relinquish.

Minnesota's Scott Baker managed to scatter several hits from the potent Ray's offense with minimal damage on the scoreboard. Working an effective slider and a fastball with plenty of bite, Baker managed to keep the Rays at bay, with the exception of a run scored on a ground-rule double in the first inning.

Remember Brian Bruney? He is well known in New York for his comments about Francisco Rodriguez last year. If you don’t remember, this is basically what happened:

After K-Rod blew his first save last year, when Luis Castillo dropped the pop up against the Yankees, Bruney said, "It couldn't happen to a better guy on the mound, either. He's got a tired act."

Because of this comment, the two almost fought before a game a couple of days later.

When talking about under-the-radar players in Major League Baseball this season, Houston’s Jeff Keppinger should be a reoccurring name—regardless of the Astros awful overall record.

Houston doesn’t need a newspaper column with a photo of a graveside and RIP to know their season is practically over.

Fans, writers, and announcers for the Astros have already swallowed that reality pill and realize Houston is in the process of rebuilding.

And that’s putting it nicely.

Alex Cora and Jon Niese, I tell you. I actually missed tonight’s game, but was watching updates, and when I heard Cora hit a bases-clearing triple, I had to see how legit it was. It was pretty dang legit.

Niese had a heck of a start, allowing one run (a home run by Josh Willingham in the seventh) and striking out a career high of eight batters. He is now 5-0 since returning from the disabled list. Here are a few notes:

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Jon Niese had another fantastic outing, striking out a career-high eight batters against the Nationals, as the Mets beat Washington, 5-3.

The Mets offense seemed to be flat early on for the second straight game, scoring a first-inning run on an Ike Davis RBI groundout.

Niese struck out five of the first nine outs he recorded and allowed one hit in each of the first five innings. 

After the Ike Davis run-scoring groundout, Nationals starter Luis Atilano retired eight straight batters, but it fell apart for him after that.

The MLB All-Star Game is soon. Unfortunately, we don't always get to see the best players selected for it. In this slideshow, we'll take a look at the best position players in the National and American League. The following players SHOULD be the starters for the All-Star game...

Begin Slideshow

These ballplayers put "the hurt" on the baseball all month long. The listed men rung up opposing pitchers and didn’t blink as they sent their ERA into space. Their team jersey sales have sky rocketed and they might end up on an upcoming episode of MTV cribs. The few, the proud, they are “The Kings of Swing”.

Remember Tim Lincecum, that phenom who won the last two NL Cy Young Awards in his second and third seasons?  

Lincecum, enjoying a merely excellent season, has become yesterday's news as a variety of new star pitchers emerge in the National League, including guys like Roy Halladay, Stephen Strasburg, and Ubaldo Jimenez, but also Jaime Garcia, Carlos Silva, and Mat Latos.

In this era of expansion, no pitcher is ever too old or too arm-worn not to get one more chance.  The Nationals have reportedly signed 44-year-old Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez to a minor-league contract.

El Duque has pitched all of 26.2 minor league innings the last two seasons combined, but in fairness, he’s pitched pretty well (30 Ks and great ratios).  It will interesting to see if he has enough left to work his way back up to the majors.

The Yankees are looking to add to their offense for the second half of the 2010 season.

According to Ed Price of AOLFunhouse and MLB Trade Rumors, the Yankees are showing major interest in Baltimore Orioles utility player Ty Wigginton.

Wigginton is in the final year of his contract with the last-place Orioles and has been rumored to be on the trading block.

Trading for a guy like Wigginton would make sense for the Yankees.