Al East

Entrance into the Hall of Fame is the highest individual honour that baseball has to offer. Getting into Cooperstown means that without a doubt you are one of the greatest players of your generation and have earned the right for children to stare at your plaque as parents tell tall-tales of your abilities for years to come.

Continue reading "What makes someone a hall of famer?"

Dear God I love the Blue Jays. After all, what’s not to love? Sure, they may blow crucial games in crucial series, 90% of the time they can’t get a hit in extra innings to save their lives, they don’t steal bases and have never been able to beat the Rays (Devil or not), but after that, what else? Oh yeah, they can never seem to beat rookie pitchers, take advantage of bases loaded situations and every pitcher not named Halladay seems to start every at-bat with a ball. But still, every day I try to catch the opening pitch and every night check the standings… What’s wrong with me?

Continue reading "Why I watch the Jays"

To compete, a baseball team needs pitching and defense. An old adage maybe, but it exists for a reason. A team that continuously gives up runs ends up yanking their starters early in games and taxes their bullpen, lessening their effectiveness over time and thereby compounding the problem over the season. Ironically, trying to keep games close hurts the team in the long run. But with one of the best fielding percentages and team ERA’s in the league, the Toronto Blue Jays are competing.

Continue reading "Why the Jays won't compete: the importance ..."

Just picture it: it’s the top of the ninth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays are holding a slim 2-1 lead over the New York Yankees. Up to bat is Derek Jeter with Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez on deck. Cito Gaston, in order to shut the door on the game and the series gets on the phone and brings in the big gun, Pedro Luis Lazo, winner of two Olympic Gold medals with Cuba and current closer of the Blue Jays. And even if he gives up a run its okay, because leading off the bottom of the ninth for the Jays is Alexei Bell, who hit 30 HR with 100 RBI with Santiago del Cuba last year.

Continue reading "Part Time Jays: How to add a little ..."

It's easy when you're blogging every day and playing fantasy baseball to neglect the big picture of where the teams are and why. On the one hand, I'm annoyed by fans who start moaning that their team is two games back of first when only a week's worth of games have been played. But the time is nigh to pull my head out of the everyday grind and take a peek at the standings, which are starting to settle in, and see what stories are out there.

Continue reading "Time to Take a Step Back"

I've been a Yankees fan since the early nineties, pre-Showalter, pre-Torre, pre-post-seventies-World-Series-victories days, and it seems to me they're as vulnerable as they've ever been. I like Girardi, I like the New Steinbrenner regime that doesn't look to scour out every single prospect for the possibility of Winning Right Now--but I think they are (dare I say?) approaching those dreaded Rebuilding Years.

Continue reading "Rebuilding the Yankees--A Good Thing?"