The myth, the legend, the…… real deal?

The most anticipated first career start since Cy Young ended with a bang and lived up to the hype. I knew Stephen Strasburg would have a good game, but WOW!

Nationals phenom starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg made his debut on Tuesday night in Washington DC in front of 40,315 fans. I use the word ‘fan’ loosely though, because this may be the first time in the team’s history that someone would admit to being a fan of the Nats. The 21-year-old was on it all …

Bryce Harper, the so-called LeBron James of the Majors, was drafted #1 overall tonight in the 2010 First Year Players Draft to the Washington Nationals.

If you don’t know Bryce Harper and his story, you will by the end of this article.  Harper is just 17 years old and after his Junior year in HS he decided to take the test to get his GED to play Junior College Baseball with the big boys instead of hit .600 again in HS.  That’s right, in 2009 Harper batted .626 and hit 14 …

1. Rays (37-20) – The best record in the majors remains at the top spot. I like this John Jaso kid too.
2. Yankees (35-22) – NY is able to salvage a game in Toronto which is good, because the Sox and Jays are right behind them.
3. Braves (33-24) – The Braves had a nine-game winning streak snapped this week, but it put them in first place in the NL East.
4. Twins (33-24) – This team is very consistent. They just keep on winning.
5. Red Sox (33-25) – Don’t look now, …

On Memorial Day Chris wrote a post explaining which teams will likely be in the mix of things come playoff time.  This Nasty 9 is a list of the 8 teams (+ 1) who I think will make the playoffs and who has the “easiest” road to making to the playoffs.

1.  Rays – The Rays appear to have another run in them after making it to the World Series two seasons ago.  This team is made for a deep playoff run with great pitching 1-4 and a decent #5 in …

Bud Selig might as well have been the first baseman in a perfect game situation, bottom of the 9th and two outs and let the final out roll right through his legs to blow it for his pitcher because he basically did just that.
After Galarraga’s near perfect game last night, which was a clear cut blown call by 1st base umpire Jim Joyce, was blown again the following day by Selig himself.  Selig had a chance to redeem Joyce’s mistake and give Galarraga the perfect game.  Sure, not everyone would …

It’s the end of an era in the MLB. Ken Griffey Jr. has retired from baseball.

Griffey, aka The Kid, aka Junior, aka my favorite player growing up, is leaving the Seattle Mariners and baseball in the middle of the season. Before Wednesday’s game against the Twins in Seattle, the 40-year-old informed the team that his career was over.

Griffey felt he was not helping the team anymore and he didn’t want his frustrations with his lack of production and his pending retirement after the season to distract the team in any …

Bottom of the 9th. Two outs. Perfect game on the line. Who would you rather be?
a) The pitcher
b) The hitter
c) One of the fielders
d) The umpire

Not many of you would even think to include the umpire in this group, but wouldn’t you know that the umpire was the difference maker in what could have been the final play in a perfect game.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Tigers SP Armando Galarraga was looking to put the finishing touches on a perfect game, but more importantly he was …

This edition of News and Rumors highlights an excited Capitol and a young pitcher looking for yet another fresh start. Let’s get to it:
Mark the Date

The Stephen Strasburg era is almost here. According to the Washington Nationals, the 21-year old phenom is being prepped to make his much anticipated major league debut on June 8. Is this significant? Ask the Nats. They did all they could to promote this date and it looks as if they have already sold out their home game that day – against the Pirates of …

It’s Memorial Day, and in the eyes of baseball it is the first official checkpoint in a team’s season. For anyone not familiar with what I mean by this, Memorial Day draws the line that separates the early part of the season from the rest of the year. Therefore, if you’re projected as a good team but in last place, you may not actually be good team, and if you’re projected as a bad team but in first place, it’s possible that you actually are a good team. In other …

What a crazy couple of days for the Anaheim Angels ballclub and their fans.

Originally, I was going to do a post strictly focused on Kendry Morales’ injury following his walkoff grand slam on Saturday. I planned on saying plenty about how ridiculous the injury is based on how it came about and question what would happen in future celebrations by the Angels and other teams in the league.
Well, we were able to find out how the Angels would celebrate (for now at least) only about 24 hours later, but I …