The last time Mark Prior took the mound in a major league game, it was August 10th, 2006 against the Milwaukee Brewers. He lasted just three innings that day as he gave up four hits, five walks, and four earned runs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' fan faithful is represented very well by people of different ages, races, lifestyles, and personal beliefs.

And among all the fans, there are various levels of allegiance and devotion—some folks have the ability to recall any imaginable statistic in the history of the franchise, while others may simply enjoy a gorgeous day at the Ravine with friends and family.

Admit it, even though you were kind of giddy when Ruben Amaro picked Roy Oswalt from Ed Wade’s pocket at the trade deadline, you still weren’t sure that the Phillies new No. 2 starter belonged in any discussions of the league’s top pitchers. After all, discussions of baseball’s top arms usually includes names like Sabathia, Halladay, Wainwright, and of course, Lee.

Two games...that was two games.

The Rockies just dropped one of the most emotionally exhausting games I’ve ever seen, 12-11. Hey, it’s football season, so I guess they needed to have a football game score.

The big number now is 6.5 games. If the Rockies had won, it would have been 4.5 games. That’s how big it is to play the team currently in the lead of the National League wild-card race, the Philadelphia Phillies.

I was at the Mets game on Monday and sat for the first time in the left field reserved seats.  It was the bottom of the eighth and the Mets were down 3-1;  there had to be only about 4,000 people left in the entire stadium at this point because of the unbearable cold. 

For the entirety of the San Francisco Giants 2010 season, there has been an air of inconsistency that can only be described as Duane Kuiper has: torture. 

The team itself had a real good April (.591) followed by a .500 May, a sub-par June (.481), a torrid July (.714), and a dismal August (.464). 

This is the team that scored one run in three games against Oakland in May and then scored 11 runs in three straight games against the Reds in August. 

It was no less than Tom Seaver—”Tom Terrific”—who went to extraordinary lengths to protect his right arm, which he astutely realized was nothing more than his livelihood.

Seaver, while traveling as a player, wouldn’t carry any of his luggage with his right appendage. In fact, he tried mightily to do nothing with his right arm other than hurl baseballs at 90+ mph toward enemy hitters.

Nothing infuriates a fan base more than watching a young player—formerly a prospect within their team’s system—blossom into stardom in another uniform.

One would tend to think that when rooting for a team like the New York Yankees, this mindset would apply much less frequently—as they often demand a prospect fire sale to bring in the latest available superstar on the market.

The San Francisco Giants will rely on strong starting pitching, a struggling Padres team, and an easy September schedule to overtake the San Diego Padres and win the 2010 National League West.

The Schedule:

The Giants are currently three games back of the Padres with 28 games to play. 12 of the remaining games are against teams with sub .500 records, and another seven of those games are against the division leading Padres. The other games are against the struggling Cubs and the hated Dodgers.

As the playoffs slowly approach, baseball fans continue to wonder who the AL MVP will be. Will it be a member of a first place, playoff team? Will it be a member of a lower-placed team?

I've decided to make an MVP of each AL division just to breakdown the many candidates for the cherished award.

Please enjoy the article and thank you for reading.

NOTE: All statistics are as of September 1, 2010.

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