Hitters rule

Some nights I have to focus on the hitters and not the pitchers and this is one of those nights. So many great performances need to be recognized.

John Buck of the Blue Jays was the most impressive as he drilled three homeruns on a career performance. It is even more impressive since he went into the night with just one HR and was hitting less than .200.

Robinson Cano of the Yankees hit 2 HR's to power AJ Burnett to a victory over the Orioles. He has now hit eight on the season but that pales in comparison to Kelly Johnson who homered again for #9 on the season. Where did this power surge come from?

Adam Laroche of the Diamondbacks unloaded for two more homeruns as well as Arizona beat up on the Cubs pitching once again. What has happened to the Cubs pitching? It has been pretty attrocious this year.

Paul Konerko took over the league lead in the majors with 2 HR's of his own. The White Sox slugger now has 10 on the season. His career #'s have moved up to 336. Maybe he will be another hitter that gets to the 400 level.

Finally the young guns were impressive. Jason Heyward of the Braves hit his 5th of the season and youngster Justin Smoak hit his first career HR.

It was a hitters night, it is good to recognize their efforts.

Finally Lester gets it together

Red Sox nation has finally got something to get excited about, the Sox actually swept a series which gives reason to be optimistic. On top of that Jon Lester pitched a gem and got his first win of the season. It has been a long time coming for Lester as he was unsuccessful in his first four starts.

Against the Jays he pitched like he did in the past, he pitched 7 solid inning of shutout ball striking out 11 and giving up just one hit. He now has 43 career wins against just 18 losses. His lifetime ERA is 3.71 and don't forget that he hurled a no hitter just a short time ago.

CC Sabathia picked up his third win of the season but did not dominate as he usually does. He gave up 11 hits in his 7 + innings of work, but once again the Yankees bats produced seven runs to guarantee the victory. He is a great pitcher but it never hurts to have big run support. He has now won 139 games. Only 11 more to get to the halfway mark.

In my fantasy league I was offered the following trade: To me Russell Martin (I need a catcher) and Chad Billingsley for Zach Greinke. I countered with Martin and Jonathan Sanchez for Greinke. What do you think? Is this a good offer?

Greinke cant get a break

Zach Greinke must be wondering what it is going to take in order for him to get a win. He has pitched so well again this season but has nothing to show for it. In his five starts this season he has given up less than 2 runs in 4 of those 5 starts. In his last two starts he has given up 2 hits and 6 hits and has two no decisions. He has now pitched 31 2/3 innings striking out 27 and has an ERA of 2.56. He is dominant but is bitten by poor run support and a weak bullpen. He pitched 7 innings of shutout ball before handing the lead over to the bullpen.

On the other side of the coin is Ubaldo Jimenez who is the first 5 game winner of the season. He has five starts and of course has won them all. He has now pitched 22 2/3 innings of shutout ball and lowered his ERA to 0.79. He certainly did not lack run support as the Rockies put up 12 runs for him. The way he is pitching he is a prime candidate for the Cy Young and maybe he will take a run at Orel Hershiser's shutout innings record of 59 innings.

Johan Santana pitched a shutout in the early game of the twin bill with a win against the Dodgers. He is pitching like the stud he was supposed to be for the Mets as he picked up win #3 on the season and #125 of his career. His ERA is a very low 2.08 on the year. The Mets are getting great pitching from Santana and Mike Pelfrey. Looking forward to the weekend, we will see a great matchup between Halladay and Pelfrey.

On the downside Jamie Moyer did not pick up win #261 and I will have to wait for another start. Oh well I cant get too down on him, it is not like he can win every game.

Jered Weaver wins again

Another excellent pitching performance was turned in by Weaver on Monday night as the Angels defeated the Indians. In all five of Weaver's starts this season he has pitched at least six innings. He has gotten 34 strikeouts in that time and allowed just 8 walks. He has lowered his overall ERA in each start and now sits with his ERA under 3.00.

Most clubs want consistency in their pitchers when they take the mound and we have certainly seen that throughout the short career of Weaver. He will give you 6-7 innings and average a K/inning. He will win get at least 12 -14 wins a season and pitch to a good winning %. His overall career mark is 54-27, and he is 3-0 on the season.

Roy Halladay finally took a loss as he was outdueled by Jonathan Sanchez. Sanchez has certainly developed into a dominant lefty and he was clearly at ease pitching against Doc. The Giants got to Doc early with three runs in the first two innings and then held on for the victory. Halladay leaves his win total at 152 and now has a record of 4-1 for 2010. He has left the door open for Lincecum, Pelfrey and Jimenez who have perfect 4-0 records.

Lets hope Jamie Moyer can change the Phils fortune tonight and go to 261 on his career. I don't know how many more starts he will have in his career so I want him to make the most of each start he has. Ryan Howard get that bat going and support him. My prediction for tonight is that the Phils win and Jason Werth goes deep. Lets see how I do.

Who am I describing?

I have to write this blog about a hitter and not a pitcher. We will play name this player and I will give you a few clues to see if you know who I am talking about.

Here are your clues:

1. He won gold gloves in 2008 and 2009
2. Any team would love to have his combination of bat and glove
3. His first two years in the bigs were in Texas
4. He had 99 RBI last year falling one short of having three consecutive years of 100 RBI
5. The last four years his HR total has gone up from 24-30-36-40
6. He is the best player on what has been a bad club for years
7. He is now the best player on the best team in the NL West
8. He has hit Hr's in four consecutive games.

Adrien Gonzalez is one of the best kept secrets in baseball. This year is no different as he is putting up great numbers. He will be right there for a 40+ HR season for the Padres this season as they try to get out of the basement in their division.

Albert Pujols went deep last night for #7 on the season and 373 of his career. I am loving to see the big first baseman adding to his numbers.

Andy Pettitte

I have left Pettitte out of my discussion for the most part because I don't like to include players that have done steroids in my potential list. For the last year or so I was really disappointed that Pettitte and Roger Clemens named were so closely linked to the steroid scandal that has rocked MLB.

After some debate I have decided to begin to include Andy again in my discussion because I believe that his win total has been slightly impacted as a result of his poor choices. I wish he had never been involved but the fact is he is and has been a quality pitcher for a number of years. He is one of the few guys that has actually admitted that he was involved so I will give him that.

Andy is off to a great start this season as he moved his record to 3-0 on the season. His ERA after 4 starts is a miniscule 1.29 and he has now won 232 games as a 37 year old. By the end of this season he could be in the 245 range which would level him about 55 wins away from the magic number. If he could pick up 12-15 wins a season and could pitch until he turned 42 or 43 he has a legit shot. He deserves to be in the discussion.

He is second among the active starters, only Moyer has more wins at 260, but he is almost 10 years younger. I hope that they both reach 300 wins but it does seem more likely that Pettitte will reach the number than Moyer. Maybe there will be a WS match up between the Yanks and Phils and have the two veterans pitching against each other? A man can hope right?

The Freak show continues

There are certain movies that should never have a sequel, for me, one of those movies is Avatar. I would never want to see it again and I would never go to Avatar 2 if it ever came out. If there was a movie I would love to see a sequel to it would be something like the Blind Side where they could show another good news story. Obviously there are many great people who do great things that could have amazing stories.

I know this is not a movie critic blog so I will get back to what the blog is about. I am focused on players who are so good that they could win 300 games in their career. Tim Lincecum is one of those potential guys. Last night he showed once again why he is a star in this league. No matter the situation he always remains cool and he beat the Cards in 7 strong innings striking out 8. Surprisingly he gave up an earned run, which is a rarity. Lincecum picked up win #4 of the season and moved his career record to 41-17.

On the hitting end of things a couple of my favorite vets added to their homerun numbers. Vlad Guerrero hit his 2nd of the season and career #409. Andruw Jones hit 2 more homers to give him 6 on the season (glad I picked him up off waivers in my fantasy league) and 394 of his productive career. Only six more to go.

How bout those Padres they just keep on winning. Guess that happens when you add a veteran like Matt Stairs!!!

Just win baby!!!

Jamie Moyer as you know is one of my favorite pitchers. He is that for a number of reasons: his durability, his perseverance, his consistency and his foundation that helps children in need. If you want to take a look at he and his wifes foundation you can do so at www.moyerfoundation.org

Last night he pitched 6 more solid innings giving up just 4 hits and then left it to his bullpen to secure his second win of the season and #260 of his career. With his 260th W he moves into a tie for 40th place all time with Ted Lyons. Lyons who was born in 1900 pitched with the White Sox from 1923-1946. His 260 wins were 30 more than his loss total of 230. With four more wins Moyer will catch Gus Weyhing for the 39th place. Every time Moyer wins it makes my day just a little bit happier.

Justin Verlander of the Tigers finally got his first win of the season. Verlander is off to an atrocious start this season with an ERA over 6, but somehow he managed to pick up win #66 of his career. The Tigers will need him to be much better if they are to win this year.

Johan Santana of the Mets pitched a great game as the Mets picked up a needed win against the hapless Cubs. It looks like it is time once again to retool the Cubs. That being said Santana looked great as he lowered his ERA below 3. He is averaging close to 1K/inning, With his second win of the season Johan now has 124 career wins.

Ubaldo Jimenez moved to another level of dominance as he joined Doc with 4 wins. It seems like he has now arrived as a big time pitcher.

I love to recognize great hitters who have endured and are closing in on significant numbers and Jim Edmonds makes my list. yesterday in the 20-0 blowout by the Brew Crew against the Pirates Edmonds went deep for #383 of his impressive career.

Could it be the perfect season?

It seems like every fifth day I am writing about Doc Halladay and him chalking up another victory. In his fourth start of the young season with his new club he has moved to 4-0. He shutout the Braves and moved his ERA to 0.82 and pitched his second complete game of the year. He now has 28 K's and 3 BB in 33 IP.

I got to thinking about the best season ever pitched and here is what I discovered. In the modern era since 1970, Steve Carlton had 27 wins in 1972, and in 1990 Bob Welch of the A's won 27 and lost just 6 games. That is pretty impressive indeed as he did this in just 35 starts,

That #27 is the one that I can see Halladay beating. It will be a long season and many things can change but he sure looks dominant at this point. Could he win 30 in a year? I doubt it but here's hoping. His win last night was #152 of his impressive career.

Felix Hernandez also pitched well again and showed why he is also a likely candidate to put up very high win totals. The 24 year old picked up his 60th career win as he too pitched a complete game striking out 6 and not allowing an ER. He is so relaxed and composed on the mound. I believe he is headed for another big season. He doesn't always get the run support he needs but he doesn't need much to get the W.

The Yankees had to be excited last night as Phil Hughes finally pitched up to his hype. In fact he pitched a solid 7 1/3 before he finally gave up a hit. It looked like we were going to see another no hitter, there have been lots of close calls and of course Ubaldo Jiminez hurled one earlier. Hughes picked up win # 15 of his career and is now 2-0, He has 16 K's in 12 innings. Look for a big upside for the Yanks if Hughes continues his dominance.

Could it be the perfect season?

Jonathan Sanchez impressive again

Last year Sanchez was one of the guys that hurled a no hitter as he pitched against the Padres. He must have been excited to get the start against the Padres again this series and he did not disappoint. This time out he allowed just one hit, unfortunately for him that one hit ended up scoring and he was tagged with the loss. On top of all that he struck out 10 Padres batters, talk about your hard luck loss.

His opponent on the night was one of my favorite young pitchers in Mat Latos. Latos picked up his first win of the season as he threw 7 innings of shutout ball allowing just 4 hits against a very productive Giants squad. He can be very thankful to the bullpen who somehow managed to keep the Giants at bay. Win #5 of his career will be one he remembers for some time.

Albert Pujols got back on the homerun track again with his sixth of the season and #372 of his career. That means just 328 more to 700. Andruw Jones continued his hot play with HR #392, glad I picked him up in my fantasy league. Finally Jason Heyward picked up his 4th dinger of the young season. Overall it was another great night of ball.

Every win counts

Last night in the big leagues there were eight games on the docket. At first glance it looks like nothing spectacular happened, other than the Red Sox continued to struggle. Yet there were eight pitchers who picked up a win. Eight pitchers who are playing in the best league in the world and were able to pick a win in that league.

Here is who won last night:

Craig Stammen of the Nats picked up win #1 on the season and career win #5

Jeff Niemann of the Rays picked up win #1 on the season against the hapless Sox and career win #16

Brandon Morrow of the Jays picked up win #1 on the season and career #9

Joel Piniero of the Angels beat the Tigers for his second win of the season and #89 on his career.

Brad Penny of the Cards beat the D backs for his 2nd win of the season and career #107

Tim Stauffer helped the Padres defeat the Giants for his 2nd bullpen win of the year and his career win #10

Doug Fister continued his great pitching this season for the Mariners for win #2 of the year and career win #5

Fernando Nieve of the Mets defeated the Cubs for his first win of the season and win # 7 of his career.

It might not be exciting stuff but in order to win even one game you have to be in the majors. Even Jamie Moyer had to win his first game.

Disappointing starts to the season

There have been a number of starters that have gotten off to slow starts to the season. One of them is Jon Lester. Lester is struggling as is the entire Red Sox squad. I don't think Boston or Lester can afford to continue in this vain, as the Yankees and the Rays are off to great starts. Lester's numbers are 0-2 with an ERA of 8.44, He has walked nine batters in just 16 innings.

Zach Greinke last years AL Cy Young award winner is also off to a poor start. He has not been anywhere close to as bad as Lester but his numbers are not too impressive. He has now started three games and his record sits at 0-2 and his ERA is at 3.50. He is also having control issues as he walked five in his last start that lasted just five innings.

There have also been some pleasant surprises thus far. A trio of players I am watching are Andy Pettitte, Matt Garza, and Fausto Carmona.

Most frustrated player of the night had to be Barry Zito. Zito pitched 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball before being pulled with a runner on 1st. He wanted to stay in the game but got yanked out only to see his reliever give up a 2 run HR to Manny Ramirez. Maybe next time he will be allowed to finish what he started.

First no hitter of the year

A no hitter is such a rare event, so when I get a chance to watch a part of that experience I quite enjoy it. Last night I was out at a concert and returned home and decided to check out the ball scores and when I did I noticed that another no hitter was in progress. I decided to flip on the tube and watch the eighth and ninth innings, I am glad I did.

Many of you know that Ubaldo Jimenez of Colorado pitched the gem against a very tough Braves lineup. His no hitter took 128 pitches and he was able to strike out 7 while walking 6. As always in a no hitter the pitcher requires some quality defensive help and Dexter Fowler played that role in this no-no.

Jimenez has been pitching very effectively over the last couple of seasons. The 26 year old was

12-12 in 2008 and last year he posted a 15-12 record. This year he has a very impressive 3-0 mark and has 20 strikeouts in 21innings. He has been one of the three most dominant pitchers in the NL, Halladay and Lincecum are both 3-0 to go along with Ubaldo.

Lincecum continues his great pitching picking up career win # 43. He has now picked up 24 K's in 20 innings and his ERA is 0.90. He has so much talent and every time he takes the hill he is dominant.

The pitching line of the night belongs to two St. Louis players. Felipe Lopez and Joe Mather stepped on the mound for the first time in their career as the Cards pen was empty and the game was into the 18th inning. Lopez pitched one inning allowing a hit and a walk, Mather pitched 2 innings and allowed 2 hits, walked three and allowed 2 ER. Mather picked up the loss but both showed their willingness to help their team.

Much to write about

Last night was just a great night for my top prospects. Four of my pitchers picked up victories and they all pitched strong games.

King Felix finally got into the win column as he helped the struggling Mariners to pick up a much needed W. He has pitched well this season and had two no decisions in his first starts, this time he got some run support. He struck out nine in his 6 2/3 innings of work. The reason I am most excited about Hernandez is that he has just turned 24 years old and he has now won 59 games. Last year he picked up 19 wins against five losses and I expect him to win 18-20 this year too.

Jered Weaver beat the Blue Jays in another impressive start. He is now 2-0 on the season, and has 21 K's in 19 IP. I think back to his first season in the bigs where he went a solid 11-2. He won start after start and it looked like he would go undefeated his rookie season. In my opinion when he is on, he is as good as ant starter in baseball. his career record is now 53-27, and he has won those 53 games in just 113 starts. Based on that percentage he should win 17-19 games per year.

CC Sabathia is almost a lock every time he steps on the mound. Last night was no different as he struck out 9 Rangers in 6 innings. Very rarely will CC allow more than 3 runs in a start and the Yankees offense is rarely held under 3 runs so his chances of winning 20 is very high again this season. With this W, CC now has 138 wins in his career. He is still under age 30 which bodes well for 2017 to be the year of the 300 win club increasing.

Finally Doc Halladay continues to be the best pitcher in baseball. Here is his stats so far this season: 3 starts, 3 wins, 24 IP, 21 K, 2 BB, ERA of 1.13 and a WHIP under 1.00. Now that is impressive. Doc picked up win #151 of his career.

What I love about watching him pitch is that if the Phillies get a run in the first inning, it is probably enough to win the game. I think other managers know that if they give up two runs that the game is over. The only way they could come back and win would be for the bullpen to struggle. That is unlikely though because Halladay often pitched very late in the game.

It was nice to see Chipper Jones go deep again with career HR # 428. Griffey Jr, had 2 hits and now needs just 31 more to reach 2800, it would be great to see him get to 3000 but that would take a miracle.

How many are in...

The goal of this blog is to be a journal of my thoughts regarding who I think might have the potential to join the exclusive group of pitchers who have won 300 games. To begin the 2010 season there are only 24 pitchers that have ever won that many games. There have been thousands of pitchers who have performed over the history of this great game, but just those very few have been so successful.

The reality is by the end of this season that number will still be 24. Unless Jamie Moyer wins 20 games this season and again next year no one will join that group by the end of the 2011 season. It is unlikely that Moyer will ever be able to join this exclusive club, but heres hoping.

In order to reach 300 you first have to reach 200 wins. Well there have only been 110 pitchers that have even attained that level. The active pitcher who is closest to going over the 200 win mark is Tim Wakefield with 189 career wins. I am not sure he has 11 more wins left in his arm. The next closest are Livan Hernandez and then Kevin Millwood.

I still believe that guys like Halladay have a chance to reach the elusive 300 win mark. Maybe in the year 2017, if this blog is still around, I will be writing about it. Potentially that will be the same year that Albert Pujols hits his 700th. Until that time comes I am going to be excited to watch some of the great young talent coming up to the big leagues.

My predictions

I thought that since we are about 10 days into the 2010 season, it was time for me to make my pics for the regular season and for the playoffs. This is my early predictions:

AL East

Yankees

Rays (wild card)

Red Sox

Blue Jays

Orioles

AL Central

Twins

Tigers

White Sox

Royals

Indians

AL West

Angels

Rangers

A`s

Mariners

NL East

Phillies

Braves (wild card)

Marlins

Mets

Nationals

NL Central

Cardinals

Brewers

Cubs

Reds

Astros

Pirates

NL West

Giants

Rockies

Dodgers

Diamondbacks

Padres

World Series Matchup Phillies vs. Twins

WS Champs Phillies

Another no hitter, almost

The 2010 season is just nine days old and there have already been three starters that have taken a run at a no hitter. Ricky Romero of the Jays joins teammate Shaun Marcum in this club. he hurled 8 innings of 1 hit ball with his only hit allowed being off the bat of former Jay, Alex Rios. Unfortunately the one hit was a 2 run HR but it was still good enough to get Romero a 4-2 win over the White Sox. Romero struck out 12 and was in complete control throughout.

This is a good chance to update the win totals of the guys I am following. I am going to add one new player to my list. I can do that because it is my blog, right?

1. Jamie Moyer 259
2. Roy Halladay 150
3. CC Sabathia 137
4. Mark Buehrle 137
5. Johan Santana 123
6. Josh Beckett 107
7. Justin Verlander 65
8. Felix Hernandez 58
9. Jered Weaver 52
10. Zach Greinke 50

11. Cole Hamels 50
12. Chad Billingsley 48
13. Matt Cain 44
14. Jon Lester 42
15. Tim Lincecum 42

16. Brett Anderson 12
17. Matt Latos 4

Andruw Jones close to 400

One of the best outfielders in all of baseball from the mid 90's to the 2007 season was Andruw Jones. He is a 10 time, thats right 10 time gold glove winner as he patrolled the outfield for the Braves. He also carried a big stick at the plate hitting close to 300 HR's during that time.

A couple of years ago he signed a big contract with the Dodgers and things went downhill fast. He struggled to bat .150 and suddenly had a loss in power. The final year with the Braves he only hit .222 though he did hit 26 HR then last year he signed on with the Texas Rangers and seemed to get a bit of the Jones magic back. He still struggled with the average hitting just .214 but he chipped in 17 HR.

Last night he delivered the old form that made him so valuable to the Braves. Think of the numbers that Smoltz and Glavine put up as the result of Jones' offense and defence. He certainly helped the White Sox pull out the win against the Jays last night with homeruns #389 and 390 of his career. He even showed some of the leather from the past.

Cole Hamels picked up his second win of the season to pick up career victory #50. It has happened very quickly for him and he looks to be the dominant pitcher again. Barry Zito pitched well for the Giants for his second win as well, for him it was #135. I hope this is the season Barry gets things back together.

Albert Pujols continued his hot streak and launched #5 on the season and now sits at 371 career homeruns. You know the math just 29 for 400 and 329 for 700. I am getting excited about his run at these significant milestones. Wow!

The doctor is in the house

I have a fantasy baseball team on MLB.com, it was a live draft when we put our teams together. Great emphasis is put on pitching, you don't pick individuals but you pick a staff. No one was taking pitching staffs in the draft until the fifth round. I was thinking I needed to pick my staff in that round. I was deciding between the Phillies and the Giants. My choice was made for me when the team in front of me drafted the Giants. I quickly drafted the Phillies.

After week one I have to say I am pretty thrilled with my staff. In particular I am very excited whenever Halladay takes the mound. I expect when he gets a start that he will get the win and maybe pitch a shutout. What did Roy do in this most recent start? He picked up the victory and pitched a complete game and din't allow an earned run. In his two starts he is 2-0 with 17 K's with an ERA of 0.56.

I am especially excited about this win as it puts him officially at 150 wins. He is halfway to the 300 wins. I was having a conversation with a friend today about Halladay's chances to get to 300 and he was skeptical it could happen. Here is why I think it can happen.

• Halladay is now on a great team and he should win 18-20 games a season. Based on that he would need to pitch for 7 more years after this year to reach the goal
• He is only 32 years old
• He takes good care of his body
• He knows how to pitch and he is not just a thrower
• He has a great offensive team behind him

Mark Buehrle came back with another strong start as he picked up win #137 of his career. He is more than capable of winning 16-17 games this season and he then puts himself into that 150+ range for wins too. He is a year younger than Roy, but at this point he does not play on a dominating team like the Phillies, either way he looks great.

Tim Lincecum struggled a bit last night as his start was delayed by over four hours. Once he got rolling he was blowing batters away. Just like Halladay he moved his record to 2-0 on the season with 17 K's in two starts. His ERA is 1.29 on the season and he has now won 42 games as a 25 year old. One word that would describe him other than "Freak" is fun. He is like a kid in little league.

Albert Pujols kept the hot stick going last night as he blasted two more HR's for 370 of his career, just 330 more to go to the magic number of 700. The way he is going it wont be long before he cranks out #400. Rookie Jason Heyward blasted an opposite field homer for #3 on the season. He has raw power and huge upside.

Active career win leader adds another

My guess if you were to ask the casual baseball fan or many other ball fans who is the active career leader in victories you would get many answers. Many would say Andy Pettitte or even other might say Tim Wakefield, but they would be incorrect. In fact there are just two active players with over 200 wins, Pettitte with 229 and the leader Jamie Moyer.

Moyer struggled early against the Astros but managed to pull it together to pick up the win thanks to a very timely 2 run homer by Ryan Howard. With this win Moyer moved within 41 wins of 300. It is a remarkable feat for the 47 year old as he started out his career so slowly. In his first 6 seasons of ball he won just 34 games and missed the entire 1992 season due to injury. As a 31 year old he had just those 34 victories and would certainly be an improbable choice to win 100 games, let alone 200 or 250. Now he is just one win away from 260 which would put him into a tie for 40th in career wins. He is a treasure to watch pitch.

CC Sabathia flirted with a no hitter as he pitched 7 2/3 innings before allowing a line drive single to left off the bat of Kelly Shoppach. He pitched in total control but he was helped by outstanding defensive plays by Alex Rodriguez and Mark Texiera. It would have been nice to see a no-no this early in the season. Shawn Marcum pitched into the seventh earlier in the week if you remember. CC picked up win #137 of his career.

In the battle of two staff aces Josh Beckett took on Zach Greinke. Thanks to the support of 5 HR from his Red Sox teammates, including a pair from Jason Varitek, Beckett picked up career win #107. Greinke has not pitched as well so far this year and finds himself at 0-1 on the season. It would be a welcome bonus if Zach could find some run support.

Rookie Jason Heyward of the Braves picked up HR #2 of his career and how about Nelson Cruz pounding out #4 of the season to tie Vernon Wells of the Jays. All in all it was a great day of ball from the oldest to the youngest.

First round pick delivers

The benefit of being so bad for so long allowed the Tampa Bay Rays to garner many top prospects. Once you have the opportunity to make those picks it is essential to draft well and the Rays have done this. Here are just a few of their first round draft picks over the last few years:

• 1999 Josh Hamilton
• 2000 Rocco Baldelli
• 2002 BJ Upton
• 2003 Delmon Young
• 2004 Jeff Niemann
• 2006 Evan Longoria
• 2007 David Price
• 2008 Tim Beckham

This is a pretty impressive list.

David Price was one of those can't miss prospects that the Rays drafted out of Vanderbilt. In his first season in the minors he had a record of 12-1 and fast tracked to the Rays squad. Last year he was 10-7 with a fairly average ERA of almost 4.50.

Price started his 2010 season against the mighty Yankees and showed that he is ready to take the next step towards being that superstar. The 24 year old pitched 7 2/3 innings of 7 hit ball with 7 K's allowing just three runs. If the Rays are to do well this year they need Price to win 16-18 games, which he is very capable of.

The starting staff for the Rays this year consists of Price, staff ace James Shield age 29, Niemann 28, Matt Garza 27 and other Rays draft pick Wade Davis 24. They are young and talented but do they have enough to knock off the experienced staffs of the Yankees and Red Sox? Or is the team to beat in the AL East the Jays?

In the minors last night one of the top pitching lines was from Dodgers prospect 24 year old Scott Elbert. He finds himself in AAA with Albuquerque and hurled six innings of 2 hit ball while striking out 10.

Pedro Alvarez the Pirates third base prospect continued his hot hitting in the first two days of the AAA season knocking 2 more HR and 5 RBI. Add that to the previous days HR and 2 RBI and it seems he wont stay too long in the minors. He is just23.

Young players look good

One of the young players that I think is going to put up good numbers over the next few years is Brett Anderson of the A's. He certainly got off to a great start for the 2010 season as he dominated the Mariners over six innings of shutout ball. He allowed just three hits and had 4 K's. He is just 22 years of age and last year he won 11 games and flirted with some no hitters along the way.

Another of the great youthful starters in the league is Brian Matusz of the Orioles. He managed to pick up his first W of the season. He didn't dominate like Anderson but he still pitched effectively. Matusz K'd an impressive 7 Rays batters over 5 innings of ball. He allowed just 2 hits before handing the ball over to the bullpen. Matusz is a 23 year old that picked up 5 wins in the late season last year.

Chad Billingsley started off the season in the W column as the Dodgers took it to the Pirates. Chad pitched 5 1/3 innings allowing just one earned run while striking out seven. I am reminded of Roger Clemens whenever I see him toe the rubber. I think you know my opinion of Clemens, not a big fan, but I am a fan of Billingsley. Chad now has 48 career wins and I expect big numbers from him, this could be his breakout year.

Offensively it was nice to see the Cubs Tyler Colvin pick up his first career dinger. Being a Cubs fan for a long time, it is always exciting to see them developing some talent. Speaking of Cubs talent, AA pitcher Andrew Cashner was impressive in his debut striking out the first seven batters he faced, and striking out 10 of the first 12. help is on the way soon.

Fausto is back? How about Cole?

Very rarely does a guy go from a record of 1-10 in a season to having a Cy Young type season the following year and putting up a record of 19-8. That is what happened to Fausto Carmona in 2006-2007. Since that time he has been up and down, actually a lot more down. Maybe 2010 is the year he will get it back together. He certainly pitched well in game #1 of the season allowing just the one hit over six innings. Unfortunately he gave up six walks, so maybe we shouldn't be too optimistic.

Optimism is something I have for another guy who struggled last year Cole Hamels. I remember well watching this phenom come to the big leagues. His numbers were crazy, crazy good in the minors. In 2006 he had three starts in AAA and went 2-0 and struck out 36 in 23 innings. He was hyped by all the sports writers and deservedly so. After being called up he went 9-8 and then in 2007 he improved to 15-5 and was dominant again.

Then came last year and he struggled greatly. One game he was great and the next he couldn't make the pitches he needed and his record of 10-11 was mediocre at best on a dominant team. I have a feeling his numbers will go way up this year. The main reason I sense that is because of the influence of Roy Halladay. I think he will learn about the strong work ethic required and the way to really pitch. He will become a pitcher and not just a hard thrower. With his first victory he now has 49 career wins.

On the hitting side of things it was nice to see Chipper Jones attack the ball and hit HR #427 of his career and hit #2408. I hope he can stay healthy and productive so he could get 500 HR and 3000 hits before he hangs em up.

Vlad Guerrero is one of the guys I really like to watch hit. His numbers are impressive but not quite as great as Chippers. He took one deep for #408 of his career and hit # 2253. I think a more realistic amount for him will be 450 HR and 2500 hits. I enjoy following players that play for years and are still productive.

How about you, who do you like to follow?

Who is Barry Zito?

I don't know about you but it seems like Barry Zito has been in the league for much longer than 10 years. He seems older than 31 to me, but that is likely because he started pitching in the majors at age 20. His big league debut took place in 200o and during that first season he had a not too shabby 7-4 record. What was eye catching was his ERA as a rookie which was just 2.72

The next season of 2001 Zito began his streak of 9+ wins seasons with a very impressive 17-8 record an averaged close to a K/inning. His ERA went up a bit at 3.50 but the A's knew that they had someone who was very special. He was the number three starter on the team which featured Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. He ended that season with hopes for a great season in 2002.

Then came the dream season for Zito. He was the best pitcher in the AL and won the Cy Young award. His numbers were very impressive as he put up a record of 23-5 and his ERA dropped once again into the 2.75 zone. He was dominant as he led his team to an AL West 103 win season good enough for first place. The A's lost to the Twins that year in the playoffs (3-2) despite Zito winning game 3 for the A's. He only got the one start as Hudson and Mulder each got two starts.

Then mediocrity settled in for Zito, and that level has continued for the last 7 years. Zito has a won-lost record over the last 7 years of just 86-89. It has been a struggle for consistency. The talent is still there as no one has a better curveball than Zito. Now the question is what will he do in 2010 and the years ahead.

If last night was any indication he is in for a good year. Last night he pitched six solid innings of shutout baseball allowing just three hits and striking out five. With the first win of the season under his belt, he now has a career win total of 134 wins. If he has a good season along with Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, the Giants will be tough to beat. Maybe it will be like the glory days for Zito of being on a staff with three dominant pitchers.

Could he pitch 10 more years until he is 41, sure he could. Could he win 12 games a year during that time, I think that would be possible too. Just project those numbers and and Zito has a chance to win 250+ games. If he could average 15 wins he would have close to 280+ wins. What does all this mean? Not much if he sinks back to mediocrity. I say go Barry go!

Play of the year?

Mark Buehrle has a knack for doing incredible things on the diamond. Most of the time he does it with his pitching, but he did it with his glove and his arm on opening day against the Indians. If you haven't seen the play you need to have a look. After he made the foot save like Patrick Roy used to, he chased down the ball as it headed through the infield and past the foul line, then he reached down with his glove and scooped the ball between his legs to Paul Konerko.

On top of that he dominated on the mound as he pitched a solid seven innings of 3 hit ball without allowing a run. He is the fastest working pitcher in the bigs and is almost always a treat to watch. With this first shutout win of the season, Buehrle has now won 136 career games.

Roy Halladay shook off some early inning hits and settled down very nicely to pick up his first win of the season. With Doc you better get to him early because once he settles in, he is going to be tough to put a string of hits together. Halladay struck out nine in seven innings of work allowing just three hits after the first inning. I could see Doc winning 22 games for the Phillies this season. With this victory he now has 149 career wins. The next one win puts him half way to 300.

Tim Lincecum dominated the Astros in his season debut. The thing I love about watching him pitch is how he throws in reverse. When he is behind in the count most pitchers throw fastballs, but not Lincecum, he throws the curve or slider or change up. When he is ahead in the count and they are looking for the off speed stuff he will blow the 96 mph fastball by the hitter. I have a feeling the NL Cy Young will be a fight between Doc and the Freak. With his dominating victory, 7 IP 7K 0ER yesterday, Lincecum picked up career win #41.

Other pitchers picking up victories and moving closer to that 300 win # were Jered Weaver with an unspectacular outing of 3 ER over 6 innings of work for career win #52 and Johan Santana who effectively pitched 6 solid innings of 4 hit ball while surrendering just one run for #123 of his impressive career.

I have to include Albert Pujols in my blog due to the fact I believe he has the potential to be the greatest HR hitter of all time. Opening day for Albert say him launch career HR's 367 and 368, which puts him just 332 more away from the 700 number. Could he hit 50 + HR this season, I say if anyone could Albert could.

My final thought on opening day is regarding the rookie phenom Jason Heyward. What a debut as he crushes a deep HR in his first big league AB. Has there been a better looking hitting prospect come to the majors over the last few years than him? At 6'5" and 240 lbs, this 20 year old has huge potential. It will be a pleasure to watch this kid perform. Could he be the next Pujols?

All in all a great day of ball. We almost got to see an opening day no hitter as Shaun Marcum pitched great and maybe was the most impressive of all the pitchers during the day. Too bad the pen couldn't save the W for him. Oh well, now we know why Halladay needed to get out when he did.

Opening Day Starters

Opening day is the day us die hard baseball fans love because all teams start out today (except the Yankees who are a game behind) equal. We all believe that this will be the year our team will do well and maybe make the playoffs and if everything goes well they could win the World Series. Even the Nationals fans hope beyond hope.

It is also fresh beginnings for players as many have switched teams and have new opportunities. For others they have finally been able to make the jump from the minors to the bigs in hopes of making an impact for their new teammates. For others whose careers are on the decline this may represent their last chance to win a ring. For these players opening day produces hope.

Today there are some great pitching matchups as staff aces go against staff aces. Here are the three that I have the most interest in. First is the Phillies and the Nats. Doc Halladay will be starting his career in the NL and faces a talented lefty in John Lannan. I have a feeling that within a couple of years Lannan will be a top five lefty in the bigs. I am expecting a low scoring game. ( just like the Yanks and Sox game last night)

My next matchup I hope to catch is the Detroit and KC game featuring two of the best pitchers in the game. Justin Verlander has incredible talent and knows how to pitch, I expect his numbers to be better than his 19-9 record which was pretty impressive last year. Zach Greinke will finally get his career win total higher than his loss total with another run for the Cy Young. Imagine the numbers he could put up with a team that could provide some run support. The 26 year old had 16 wins and a low ERA of 2.16.

The final intriguing matchup for me will be the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays. In this game it will be the recently new contracted Scott Feldman against the injury recovered Shaun Marcum. Why does this game intrigue me, because I feel that both pitchers are underrated. Feldman comes off a great season where nhe was 17-8. His ERA was over 4.oo which does not put him in that elite class and he is not overpowering with only 113 k"s in 190 innings, but he does get W's. Marcum has only won 24 career games but each year he seemed to get better. His surgery took him out of the highlight reels but I look for a big year from Marcum.

Enjoy opening day and I think we will see some good pitching. Oh yeah and the Nats are tied for first. Go Nats!!!

Pesky Pole

Yesterday I wrote about the Yankees and the Red Sox. I was talking about the strength of the Yanks and pointed out their weaknesses. One of those I indicated was Jorge Posada. So what does Posada do? he goes deep, I mean short around Pesky Pole.

Now I am a big fan of Curtis Granderson and he certainly looked good in his first AB of the season. He homered deep to center as he crushed the Beckett offering. It looks like Curtis will hit 162 this year if he can stay healthy.

Let me continue though with my comparison with the Red Sox. Lets consider their starting staff: Beckett is their ace and the #2 guy is Jon Lester. I am a big Lester fan and when he is on he is as good as any lefty in the game. John Lackey is a great pickup and will serve as a great #3 guy, he will eat up lots of innings and be a clutch pitcher in big games. After this I don't think the staff is too impressive. You have the old man Tim Wakefield, the over rated Clay Buchholz, and the oft injured and inconsistent Matsuzaca. When it comes to pitching advantage Yankees.

Infielders for the Red Sox are Youkilis, good glove and bat. Pedroia good glove and bat. Scutaro good glove and productive hitter who is an upgrade over last year. Beltre at third will be a big upgrade too. Comparing the Yankees and Red Sox infielders I would give the advantage again to the Yankees, defensively they are about equal but offensively the Yanks have a big advantage.

Outfielders are another interesting comparison. Mike Cameron is a great pick up for the Sox, he will cover lots of ground and will be a decent stick. In right Drew will fly under the radar and hit 18-20 HR and drive in 80 or so. In left the Sox have a big advantage with the speed and defensive ability of Ellsbury. I expect him to have a great year. Advantage in the outfield to the Sox.

Catching the advantage goes to Boston by a long shot. Victor Martinez will be more than adequate defensively and he will put up huge offensive totals. This is a no brainer, Boston gets a big check mark.

I like the Red Sox depth much more than the Yankees. I think that the Yankees will have some big challenges if one of their infielders were to go down. I believe the Sox are in a much better position.

Overall here is my final analysis:

Pitching: Yankees

Infielders: Yankees

Outfielders: Red Sox

Catching: Red Sox

Bench: Red Sox

As much as it hurts me to say this I think the Yankees are the team to beat. Injuries will play a big part in what happens. If the Yanks are injury free for the most part they win, if they aren't the Sox will win.

By the way the score is 2-1 for the Yanks, but I say "Go Sox Go"

Beckett vs CC

I can't wait, in less than 24 hours a new season will begin. Opening day for the Sox and the Yanks. CC vs Beckett. I love that the rivalry begins right away. Whenever these two teams go head to head much is at stake. The last week of October will determine the playoff seeding and maybe it will come back to what happened in that first series of the year.

The Yankees starting five is pretty impressive. CC will put up great numbers again I am sure. AJ Burnett could be the #1 guy for many clubs. Andy Pettite is a winner and knows how to pitch, he is the crafty veteran. The number four guy is Javier Vazquez who seems to be a great fit for the Yankees, and #5 is the 23 year old Phil Hughes. That is a pretty impressive group of pitchers.

On the back end the Yanks have Joba pitching in the eighth inning to set up Mariano who is a lights out closer. I believe that if the NY boys can get six or seven innings from their starters they are going to be tough to beat.

I don't think it is going to be easy to outhit the Yankees either. Texiera, Rodriguez, Jeter, Cano, and Granderson give them lots of pop, but I think there are some holes in the lineup. Posada is slowing down and Gardner in left and Swisher in right wont scare too many pitchers. An injury to one of their infielders may cause them some concern.

It hurts me to say this but I think on paper the Yanks are still in better shape going into the 2010 season than the Red Sox. I will tell you why I think that tomorrow.

What do you think, who is the better team in the AL? How about in the AL East? What about the MLB? Thoughts...

Fantasy baseball

I love playing fantasy baseball. I especially enjoy keeper leagues, where you can build for the future and try and win for the upcoming year at the same time. It is always a challenge to put together a strong team, but I must say I am very pleased with my pitching staff.

Here are my starting pitchers:

I have two aces Zach Greinke and Roy Halladay, I think I have the two 2010 Cy Young winners.

I have two great talents in Yovani Gallardo and Brett Anderson and I am expecting breakout years for them.

I have two young studs in Mat Latos and Brian Matusz, if I could get 12 wins from each of them I would be thrilled.

I have two more veteran guys in Tim Hudson and John Maine. I hope Hudson can stay healthy because he can get me some W's if he can pitch at least 22 games this season.

Pitching is my strength. On top of that I have the best catcher in baseball with Joe Mauer. Here is the rest of my starting lineup:

1B Garrett Jones

2B Delwyn Young

SS Stephen Drew

3B Adrien Beltre

OF Curtis Granderson

OF Chris Coughlan

OF Jason Heyward

My bench consists of future studs:

C Buster Posey

C Chris Ianetta

1B Luke Scott

OF Julio Borbon

OF Kyle Blanks

OF Austin Jackson

SS Everth Cabrera

It is gonna be a fun year.

How bout you are you in fantasy leagues? If so who do you think is going to have a break out year?