Take a Look at the Standings posted by Tony Rossi

I already knew that the Red Sox were in first, and that the Yanks were in second.  I also knew that whenever I looked at the standings, Toronto was not far behind New York.  What I didn’t know was that Tampa Bay is currently only a game behind Toronto. 

Everyone once in a while I hear a player say on TV that their division is the toughest in baseball.  I never really know who to believe because it seems to change every year.  Right now in 2009, I’m picking AL East as the toughest division in baseball.  Take a look:

AL East                  W           L              Games behind

Boston               45           26           --

New York           41           32           4.0

Toronto              41           34           5.0

Tampa Bay         40           35           6.0

5 Trades that Need to Happen in Major League Baseball posted by Daniel Doyle

These 5 deals need to be done by July 31st.

With the Nate McLouth trade still fresh on our minds, what other deals appear to be necessary, if not imminent? Atlanta was able to fill perhaps the single biggest hole of any team, in its lack of outfield production. Here are the five trades that need to be made sooner than later.

5.) Nick Johnson traded to the Boston Red Sox.

This doesn't seem like a blockbuster of a deal, but the Red Sox do not need any kind of overhaul, just a slight tinkering to really rev their engine. Ortiz appears to be in a funk that he may not get out of. At least not this year. In the American League you must get production out of your DH spot. Johnson would be a nice upgrade and could spell Kevin Youkilis occasionally at first base.

4.) Jose Valverde traded to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Scott Downs has filled in admirably as the Jays closer so far this season. However, if Toronto wants to make a serious run at a playoff birth this year, they need a dominant ninth inning option to rival Mariano Rivera and Jonathan Papelbon in the AL East. Scott Downs would be a much better option in the eighth and take even less pressure off of B.J. Ryan. In return, the Jays have a few nice, young bats in their farm system that Houston might consider.

3.) Miguel Tejada traded to the St. Louis Cardinals.

I realize that the Astros and Cardinals are in the same division, which makes them unlikely trade partners. But the Astros must see the writing on the wall. They have been very bad this year and have great trade chips in Valverde and Tejada that they must cash in. Troy Glaus could miss the rest of the year and Khalil Greene just landed on the DL a few days ago, leaving a weakened left side of the infield. Tejada has actually been a bright spot for Houston this year, hitting .355 while driving in 33, and could play either SS or 3B for the Red Birds.

Papi Power - What a Game! posted by Tony Rossi

Did anyone else get the chills last night as Ortiz’s shot just cleared the center field fence in the fifth?  I sure did.  I kept smiling for the rest of the inning (which was hard not to with all the homers) and even laughed out loud as I realized the team was giving Papi the cold shoulder when he came back to the dugout.  And Red Sox Nation topped it off by giving him one of the loudest ovations of the season, to which Papi answered with a curtain call.  What a great moment at Fenway Park. 

Then making the Fenway Faithful even more respondent, Jason Bay followed suit with a home run of his own (that’s 12 on the season – HR Derby??) which was then matched by a homer by Mike Lowell.  But don’t  forget about Varitek’s homer, second of the game, that was hit even before Papi came to the plate.  I mentioned yesterday about how Varitek had an off year in 2008 and how now he seems to have got his groove back.  I also said that Papi might do the same.  Varitek is proving to us that you can have an off year but still come back. 

But let’s look at some of the other things that happened last night that we might have forgotten about. 

Jacoby Ellsbury tied a major league record with 12 put outs.  I wonder how that feels to tie a record like that considering it’s not really one that you can control.  You just have to get lucky and have the ball come at you every inning – which is basically what happened.  The one catch that I will give Ellsbury credit for is the catch he made in the first inning preventing Aaron Hill from getting extra bases.   Great catch.  As for the rest of them – most were routine fly outs.  And yet he tied a record.  Take what you can get, Jacoby!

Red Sox Another Game Closer to First Place posted by HankHillRedsox

Last night Brad Penny started for the Sox against Toronto looking great, going 6.2 innings, 9 hits allowed, 2 earned runs and 2 strikeouts, getting his 4th win of the season making him 4-1. Sweet!!!  The bats came alive with Varitek hitting 2 home runs, Bay "watch"(continues his MVP season) 2-3 hit another homer, Lowell 2-4 hit a bomb and the biggest hit of the night which Boston has desperately needed and been waiting for was David "Big Papi" Ortiz's first homer of the year!

Hopefully this will turn Big Papi's year around and get him going, which is exactly what the Sox need.  So with 5 homers last night and great pitching, the Sox look like the team to beat in the Americian League and are now only  1 1/2 games behind Toronto for 1st place.  We can make it a 1/2 game with a win tonight with Lester (2-4) vs Ray (1-1) at Fenway at 7:10 in the last game of this 3 game series versus the Blue Jays.  Let's go Lester and the Sox.  

Well That was a Fast One posted by Tony Rossi

Seriously, I got into my car at 9:45pm last night expecting to catch the end of the Sox game as I got out of rehearsal.  But instead I hear John Rish, and he’s not giving the game highlights – he’s giving the out of town scores.  My first thought was maybe one of the pitchers threw a no hitter (I would have been frustrated to find out that I had missed another one).  But that wasn’t the case. 

As it turned out, I missed an awesome pitchers duel between Brian Tallet and Tim Wakefield.  Although it wasn’t a no hitter, it was quite a battle by both pitchers.  Wakefield got the win after pitching an impressive 8 innings while only allowing 5 hits and 2 walks.  He surrendered one homer to former Red Sox player Kevin Millar (boy did he crush that ball).  He also struck out three.  To top it off, it was only a 97 pitch effort by Wakefield.  I wrote earlier this season about how this is the complete opposite I was expecting Wake’ to pitch this year, and I couldn’t be happier that he’s proving me wrong.  Keep it up, Wake’!

Meanwhile, Tallet got the loss by default, but that was a tough one to give him considering how well he pitched (6.0 IP,  4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K).  He ran into a little trouble in the 2nd, giving up an RBI single to Jeff Bailey.  Then he gave up another run, but was only scored by a sacrifice fly by Kottaras.  To me that’s one heck of a performance. 

Other notes:  Jacoby Ellsbury continued his hitting streak with a single in the fifth inning.  I’m excited to see where this is going to go.  Obviously when you talk about hitting streaks, you automatically think to Ryan Zimmerman and his 30 game hit streak that was recently ended.  I dunno if Ellsbury is going to last that long with his streak, but I’d love to see him do it.  Maybe he can join Wakefield in the players that have proved me wrong this season (but don’t get me wrong, Ellsbury is having a great season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as an All Star this year). 

The Moneyball is Back on Blog! posted by Anthony "The Moneyball" Moniello

It has been a long hiatus, but I make my valiant return to the blog world. Now I could delve into the juicy topics of steroids, the NBA playoffs, Cuban vs. Mama Martin, the TO reality show, the first place Blue Jays or any number of riveting and engaging topics. But today is about ME! My return to the blog waves of sports minutia. You need me on this wall, you want me on this wall! But unlike a Facebook relationship, I'd be lying if I said blogging on this site wasn't better for me than it is for you. So, coming soon will be an invigorating piece of copy that will rattle your brain with mind boggling awesomness that not only makes you debate around the water cooler, but actually makes you drink the whole damn jug due to dehydration by virtue of sports confrontation and rants. That is my thank you for reading once again.

Sincerely,

Anthony "The Moneyball" Moniello 

The Red Sox, the Blue Jays, and the LA Dodgers -- The Teams to Beat posted by HankHillRedsox

Okay, so what do the Boston Red Sox, the LA Dodgers, and the Toronto Blue Jays have in common? Right now these three teams have the biggest leads in the division with the Red Sox trailing Toronto by only 1/2 game. This interesting threesome has the MLB all turned around: we have Seattle in first; Oakland, who is supposed to be awesome, in last place. The Kansas City Royals are in first place…let me repeat that, the KC Royals and Cleveland, who I picked to go to the playoffs, are in last place. You have Florida giving NY (Mets) and Philly a run for their money. (But the Mets are going on a run of their own which, I believe, was expected.) And finally, we have St. Louis in first because A. Puljuos is on fire, and where is Chicago? But, as every die-hard Red Sox fan knows, this is just the beginning of the baseball season and things can and will change. But right now the Red Sox are amazing. Bay has been single-handedly winning games for the team; he just kills the ball. And we cannot overlook the fact that Dice and Youk have been out, and Beckett and Ortiz have been off. When everyone is up to speed we are going to be the team to beat.  Dice-K is supposed to be back in about a week; Youk is supposed to be ready for Wednesday's game. And last night I think I saw Ortiz starting to come around, and Beckett won't be off for long. So get ready for an intense baseball season. Sox Nation rules. Continue reading "The Red Sox, the Blue Jays, and the ..."

The Sports Don Returns with His 2009 AL East Preview posted by Christian Mielcarek

After a J.D. Drew-like stint on the disabled list of blog writing, I, like baseball, have returned. For real this time. Let me begin by expressing my sincerest apologies to my readers whom I promised a return to the spotlight weeks ago only to vanish like a ninja once again. Thanks as always for your support and readership. Without getting too mushy-gushy, welcome to the first of a seven-part series previewing each division, day by day, leading up to an all encompassing culmination piece on opening night next Sunday.

Preview numero uno, my beloved American League East. The best division in the game.

1. BOSTON RED SOX (95-67, second place and AL Wild Card in 2008)

Although it took seven games, the Red Sox were another steppingstone for the Tampa Bay Rays during their meteoric rise in ‘08. But the fact Boston even made it to a Game 7 of the American League Championship Series was a true testament of the level of talent Theo & Co. have collected. While Mike Lowell was out, David Ortiz and Josh Beckett were battling injury, and with Jason Varitek unable to hit a fastball if it was the size of a bus in last season’s ALCS, the Sox enter 2009 rejuvenated, with an enviable pitching staff, and a slue of injury plagued players Boston hopes will make a significant impact.

Unlike the New York Yankees, the Sox didn’t sign any marquee free agents this past winter, but my hometown bias aside, it’s because they didn’t need to. Boston signed John Smoltz (210-147, 3.26 ERA career), Brad Penny (32-13, 3.65 ERA in his last two healthy seasons), Takashi Saito (81 saves, 1.95 ERA career), Rocco Baldelli and traded Coco Crisp to Kansas City for Ramon Ramirez (2.64 ERA in 71.2 innings in ’08). As Jayson Stark wrote on ESPN earlier this month, "One team tried to solve its problems with $423 million worth of free agents. The other team brought in a bunch of guys who spent about 423 million days in the trainer's room."