Fan News

Mr. Clutch has returned.

Never one to shy away from a big game situation, Chipper Jones delivered again—proving why he’s still one of baseball’s most feared hitters.

With the Braves trailing the Cubs 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Jones smashed a 3-1 fastball from John Grabow over the left-center wall, propelling Atlanta to a come-from-behind 3-2 win.

Red Sox Nation has a voracious appetite for all things Red Sox, and the Boston media does everything it can to ensure The Nation will have plenty to read about.

The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Providence Journal, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, numerous other newspapers, NESN, NECN , the sports departments of at least five television stations, ad infinitum—all of these media outlets battle one another for readership/viewership.

This was not the debut that Cole Hamels had been hoping for. From all the hype of his spring training progress you half-expected him to go out and throw a no-hitter, and since it was against the lowly Washington Nationals, it might as well have made it a perfect game. 

Instead, Hamels labored through 5 innings. He gave up 5 hits, walked 4, and allowed 2 earned runs. It did not look pretty, but he was effective enough, and most importantly he didn't allow the "big inning" that plagued him during his 2009 campaign. 

I'm not bashing Brandon Medders and his performance in 2009 by any means. I thought he was a surprising reliever in 2009. He had a great May where he posted a FIP of 2.85, and a solid September/October where he had a FIP of 3.16, and proved to be an integral part of the Giants' success last year.

Curtis Granderson’s leadoff home run in the top of the tenth inning off of Jonathan Papelbon broke a 1-1 tie, as New York won their second straight with a 3-1 victory over Boston Wednesday night at Fenway Park.

Fans like Spring training for couple of reasons.

For one thing, it's the start of a brand new season. Second of all, it piques their interest of watching the young prospects play.

Teams take note of the latter. They hype their young players to get fans to watch these meaningless exhibition games.

There were really no relief pitchers during the first 40 seasons of Major League Baseball, through the 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, and 1900s. The first relief pitchers really came along in the 1910s.

During those first 40 seasons of MLB, in the rare occasions that the starting pitcher did not finish the game and a relief pitcher was needed, one of the other starting pitchers who had the day off would go in and relieve the starter.

That’s really how it worked during the first 40 seasons of MLB.

Baseball players tend to be superstitious and can have some strange rituals. Many players often have specific routines they perform in belief it will maintain their success on the mound, field or in the batter box.

All hitters have their series of tugs, pats, and taps when in the batter box. I’m sure we remember how we all mimicked our favorite hitter’s rituals when we were young.

Three games down, 159 to go.

What a three games they were.

The San Fransisco Giants completed an opening series sweep of the hapless Houston Astros this afternoon. The Giants ended the series with an offensive explosion that doomed Houston in a 10-4 defeat.

So what did we learn about the 2010 San Francisco Giants?

Well, one thing I think we all know is that they can pitch.

Whoa, Nelly, can they pitch.

It’s likely that we are already seeing Kevin Towers influence on the Yankees as they have claimed former Padre outfielder Chad Huffman on waivers according to Buster Olney of ESPN.

Huffman, 24, is expected to start the season in Triple-A. He spent the entire 2