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The “Year of the Pitcher” continued Friday night as Arizona Diamondbacks’ pitcher Edwin Jackson threw the fourth no-hitter this year as he defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 in front of 18,918 at Tropicana Field. Jackson struck out six and walked eight in the 149-pitch effort.

This wasn’t your traditional no-hitter as Jackson walked eight and reminded me of AJ Burnett’s no-hitter against the San Diego Padres back in 2001. Burnett walked nine that game and struck out seven. Very similar to Jackson’s Friday night.

As of Monday night, the Texas Rangers are four-and-a-half games in front of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the race for the AL West crown, and don't look to be slowing down any time soon.

What's surprising about that is the fact that the Rangers currently have the fourth-lowest payroll in all of baseball, just in front of the Oakland A's, San Diego Padres, and Pittsburgh Pirates.

What has impressed me about this ball club is that it is doing all of this in the midst of the team going through bankruptcy proceedings.

The New York Mets have been superb in June. They have become a bona fide contender in the National League East, and have solidified their position as a buyer rather than a seller before this season's trade deadline.

There have been a tremendous amount of positives which have come hand-in-hand with their overall success.

Yet, in the middle of all of those positives, there has been one surprising—and alarming—dark spot for the Mets: Johan Santana.

It's hard to be a Mets fan.  It means a lot of broken hearts and lonely Octobers.  But still we persevere. 

The Mets owe it to their fans to start taking themselves seriously and really go after a title. 

The Mets, who many believed would spend the season in the basement of the NL East, are within striking distance of the divisional lead.  And although optimism is something we Mets fans are wary of, there are undeniably good omens for this team's outlook.

Angels Hall of Famer, 1979 MVP and current Rockies hitting coach Don Baylor joins Jeff Biggs and talks about his time with the Angels, Gene Mauch and Gene Autry.

According to the NewYorkMets post on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/NewYorkMets/status/17272109005 , the Mets will begin the series against the Florida Marlins in Puerto Rico with the following lineup:

1. Jose Reyes —SS  Reyes has really become hot and is the Reyes we all know and are glad to have on the Mets.

Personally witnessing Cliff Lee manhandle the New York Yankees in two different uniforms, at both Yankee Stadiums, was far from fun.

All I can say is Cliff Lee is that good.

In a recent column, I set out to provide an Adjusted 400 Home Run Club , with alterations made based on era, missed time, and favorable vs. non-favorable home ballparks.

Humorously, this simply raised more questions about the 500 Home Run Club than it did answer questions about the 400 Home Run Club.

So, maybe we should adjust that club as well.

(Eek, eek. Twitch, twitch.)

According to the New York Mets post on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/NewYorkMets/status/17271561579, the Mets have four players who are returning to their home country of Puerto Rico this week.

Those four players are Alex Cora, Angel Pagan, Pedro Feliciano and Jesus Feliciano. It should be interesting to see how much playing time those four get in this series against the Florida Marlins.

That's the newest Cincinnati outfielder, Gary Matthews Jr.

If the Reds' skipper wasn't such good pals with his pop, they would trade him for a warm six-pack and a couple of Slim Jims.

Rather than someone that no one would want, let's take a look at some Reds' needs and some prospects they may be willing to trade.

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