Friday night begins a three-game series between the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox on Chicago’s homeland turf after a 10-game trip.  The White Sox are debuting Manny Ramirez Friday evening who is hoping that he can get out of a hitless run while getting Chicago out of their rut – a three game losing streak. However, Kansas City seems to be stuck in the same losing streak at this time.

For the Kansas City Royals, the starting pitcher will be left-handed Bruce Chen who is currently 9-7 with an earned run average of 4.89.  Against Chicago, Chen is 0-3 with an earned run average of 5.49 in four starts.  Continue Reading…

The NL Wild Card picture is much more complex than that of the American League. Here we have many possibilities, and we probably won’t know how it all shakes out until the last day of the season. However, we can make some educated guesses as to who’s most likely to be atop the standings when the dust settles.

There are several teams who could be on top by season’s end: San Francisco, Atlanta, Colorado, Philadelphia or San Diego.

The Padres, once cruising atop the NL West by seven games, have fallen to a mere one game lead over the Giants. Continue Reading…

This year’s American League Wild Card race looks to be anti-climactic, barring an unmitigated disaster occurring for one of the division leaders. What was once a group of very tight races all the way around, the league has lessened to only two.

The East has the most bearing on the Wild Card. Tampa Bay continues to dog the Yankees’ every move and is now only a game behind. They are also ahead by seven games in the Wild Card standings, which is a nearly insurmountable climb for either the White Sox or Red Sox, their two closest competitors. Though it appeared as if the Bluejays may have a mid-season resurgence, this didn’t happen. Similarly, Detroit and Oakland have fallen back below 500. Continue Reading…

MLB Match-up: Florida Marlins vs. Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies have truly seen some recent success and are now back at the top of the NL East division.  They haven’t been in the top spot in over three months.  Tuesday’s win over the Marlins with a final score of 8-7 moved them up to the first position and past the Atlanta Braves to lead the division – even if it’s just a half a game!

But, what’s going to keep them there? Continue Reading…

The Atlanta Braves  are currently on the verge of a sweep – but not a good one, an upsetting one!  Wednesday, the Braves will play the Pittsburgh Pirates for the final game in the series and will attempt their first sweep of the Pirates tomorrow in 16 years. This three-game series sweep came in 1994.

One good thing for the Braves going into the finale is that they will have Derek Lowe back.  He had discomfort in his elbow and missed his last start but he is currently 9-0 against Pirates for his career.  Lowe has been out since August 29 without pitching.  Continue Reading…

Third baseman Alex Rodriguez is now back in the lineup for the New York Yankees after missing three weeks of playing a complete game – his last complete game played was on August 15.  His first full game back will be Sunday with the Yankees going up against the Toronto Blue Jays.

He is scheduled to bat cleanup in fourth position for this game but that’s given since he just came off of the disabled list due to a strained left calf.  As for his A-Rod’s injury, it occurred on August 16 against Detroit and it caused him to leave the game with only two at-bats.  Continue Reading…

Not long after the Washington Nationals claimed a 4-2 win over the Cardinals on Sunday, the Washington Nationals announced that they signed RHP Livan Hernandez to a one-year contract extension that will be worth $1 million in addition to bonus incentives.

With Stephen Strasburg’s Major League debut not going exactly as expected from the beginning is now having to undergo surgery so the Nationals had to take a step forward and do something to help ensure a stable and strong team for next season.

The 35-year-old is currently 9-9 with an earned run average of 3.49 for his 27 starts this year.  He rejoined the Washington Nationals August 25 of 2009 in which he has started 35 games and is 11-13 with an earned run average of 3.90. Continue Reading…

The Texas Rangers placed one of their relief pitchers on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday.  Due to a strained rib cage, specifically the RHP’s right latissimus dorsi muscle, Frank Francisco was placed on the DL after undergoing an MRI exam, which determined that there was indeed inflammation in the area.  For now, there is no specific timetable of when the RHP may return to the Rangers lineup.

The 30-year-old relief pitcher first aggarvated the area Friday in the Rangers 7-3 victory against the Oakland Athletics.  He was only able to pitch to two batters before needing to leave the mound due to the discomfort that he was feeling. Continue Reading…

The Boston Red Sox have had a pretty good season so far and are currently third in the standings for the American League East.  However, injuries are not becoming for a team that has done well thus far this year and may actually have a chance at the number one position in the 2010 AL East Standings.  You’d think as many key players that have already suffered major injuries this year, some keeping them out the rest of the season, that there couldn’t possibly be any more… Continue Reading…

Various media sources have reported that veteran catcher Rod Barajas for the New York Mets has been acquired off waivers by the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The official announcement came just prior to Sunday’s baseball game where the Dodgers will go up against the Cincinnati Reds.  Reports have surfaced that during this trade, the New York Mets will receive cash considerations for sending, or “letting go of,” Brajas to the Dodgers. Continue Reading…