Travis Snider is one young player who has certainly seen his fair share of ups-and-downs in his limited major league career.  After getting called up from Triple-A for the tailend of the 2008 season, and batting .301 in 24 games, he was likely thinking that he would be playing with the team the next season. 

A look at last week’s least-owned, best performing sluggers and hurlers.

Coco Crisp is as fast as the Flash. Homer Bailey is stingy, allowing one run in 13 IP. Yuniesky Betancourt takes over against the White Sox. Can they keep it up the rest of the season?

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No major leaguer has won a triple crown since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in his World Series season of 1967 with 44 homers, 121 RBI, and .326 batting average.

The last National Leaguer to win the triple crown was another St. Louis Cardinal,  Joe "Ducky" Medwick, who batted .374 with 31 home runs and 154 RBI.

Both are Hall of Famers.

Some take the hard-hand, run-suicides-until-you-puke approach. Some give the motivational “Go get ‘em” speech. Some throw you in the fire and force you to fight. 

Baseball free agency is often what separates the the pretenders from the contenders.

In the offseason prior to the 2009 regular season, the New York Yankees spent over $200 million to bring in Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett. The moves paid off as the Yankees waltzed their to way another World Series title. 

With little more than a month remaining in the 2010 regular season, it's time to take a look at which 2009 free agent acquisitions paid off the most.

On Friday it was announced that Cody Ross was claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants.

The move to claim Ross was done primarily to block the San Diego Padres from acquiring Ross, after center fielder Tony Gwyn Jr. obtained a season ending injury.

In the tight NL west division, claiming Ross was a very good decision, since there are now few available center fielders that the Padres can acquire.

I know the Giants are in the thick of the playoff race, but their recent troubles have got me wondering about next year and how we can improve.  I think it is clear that this team, while they still have a chance, remains behind the top teams in the National League in terms of talent.

The Steroid Era has officially left its mark in professional sports while tarnishing the reputation of America's pastime.

With the recent indictment of legendary hurler Roger Clemens, the next generation will be very confused about which players to look up to.

Players like Roger Clemens have forced parents to lie to their Little Leaguers and young baseball stars by telling them their favorite players are stand-up citizens.

PITTSBURGH: The last time the Mets swept a road series against a National League team of three or more games was September 2008. It's hard to believe, but that's a fact.

Today, the Mets can end the drought by beating the Pirates. With Johan Santana on the mound against Pittsburgh, you'd think there's no way the Mets can lose.

Hopefully, that's the case, as the Mets try to pick up more ground in the NL Wild Card chase.