Baseball Matchup Report

This past baseball season has been another interesting and exciting campaign. Although the World Series is underway, there have been many good moments in this year’s baseball season so far. Part of the season’s memorable aspects has been the performance of many players including the pitchers. Baseball always features a few top pitchers that consistently play at a high level and help their teams win games. With these pitchers the teams they play for will be in good position to be competitive and have a great chance at winning the World Series if they have enough talent to compliment them.

The first pitcher who gets a lot of praise and who is known to be among the best is Roy Halladay. Halladay is a pitcher for the national league east team the Philadelphia Phillies. He has been among the most talented pitchers in all of baseball over the years and this season is no different. This pitcher finished the season with a record of 19 wins and only 6 losses along with a 2.35 ERA. He is among the contenders for the leagues most prestigious honor the Cy Young Award. Halladay helped the Phillies win their division and make the postseason.

Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander is another one of the best pitchers of the 2011 MLB season. Verlander had a 2.40 ERA and won 24 games and suffered only 5 losses on the entire season. He helped the Detroit Tigers win their division and get to the ALCS after defeating the perennial powerhouse the New York Yankees. With his performance this season Verlander will likely win the AL Cy Young Award. Verlander arguably had his best season this year as he reached career [...]

The Philadelphia Phillies have, on paper, what could arguably be one of the best starting rotations in the history of baseball. Last season, fans thought that the Phillies had the best starting rotation in baseball with Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels. Late in the season, the Phillies added Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros. Just when it seemed that life could not get any better for the Philadelphia Phillies, they found themselves the winners of the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. Now there is no question that this is one quality starting rotation.

Roy Halladay is a two-time Cy Young winner. He is one of the few pitchers ever to win the Cy Young in his first year in both the AL and the NL. He also pitched a no-hitter in his first playoff start for the Phillies last season. It is hard to point out one ace on the Phillies staff, but if you had to pick one it would have to be Halladay.

Placing a close second to Halladay in the “Phillies’ Ace competion” is the newly-acquired Cliff Lee. Lee was a major factor in getting the Texas Rangers into the World Series last season. He was a Cy Young winner in 2008 when he won 22 games and posted a 2.54 ERA in 31 starts.

Roy Oswalt is a three-time all-star and was the 2005 NLCS MVP. He has five

[...]

Tim Redding, a right handed pitcher inked a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers two law minor league contract and open arms to spring training on Monday.

Redding, had played for the New York Mets in 2009 adding three wins in six losses and a 5.10 earned run average within 17 starts that season. He is 32 years old has a career record of 37 wins and 57 losses during eight seasons in major league baseball and has played with the Astros, the Yankees, Washington, San Diego, and the Mets.

He had been hanging around the minor leagues for the Rockies and the Yankees [...]

Now that the World Series is over and San Francisco Giants fans are nursing their postseason hangovers, it’s time to fire up the hot stove and start looking ahead to examine our favorite team’s weaknesses and the possible free agent acquisitions that could fill those holes. Whether your favorite team is looking for hitting or pitching, you’re in luck! The Hot Stove is in stock with both of those items. Let’s examine the top three free agents available, according to most baseball analysts.

Since good pitching dominates good hitting in the postseason, on top of the list is Cliff Lee. Remember him? He utterly dominated the Yankees in the 2009 World Series (even though the Phillies lost) and [...]

The 2010 MLB season may ended, but it is never to late to start thinking about 2011. It still remains to be seen which free agents sign where, who gets traded, and which players recover from injuries, but given a team’s progress this season and past history, it is possible to pick out the potential World Series contenders for next season.

Although the Giants may have won the World Series, the New York Yankees would appear to be the early favorite for next season. They already feature the best lineup in the game, and are willing to shell out the big bucks to sign Tampa Bay Rays all star outfielder Carl Crawford. Their biggest issue is [...]

The Tampa Bay Rays are an anomaly among baseball when it comes to offense. They rank 27th in team batting average at .248, but lead the league in stolen bases with 170. Two players had over 40 steals for Tampa Bay. They also ranked third in the league in strikeouts with 1271, behind only Arizona and Florida. Minnesota, on the other hand, weighs in at third in team average with an impressive .275 clip. They also rank low in strikeouts with 955. The pressure of the postseason on the players will be interesting. Minnesota sports veterans like Jim Thome, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Orlando Hudson. Tampa Bay will counter with Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and Carlos Pena. The veteran presence and lack of strikeouts give Minnesota the advantage offensively. Minnesota’s pitching staff gave up the least amount of walks in baseball this season with 378. Carl Pavano, the ace of their pitching staff, gave up only 37 walks in 221 innings pitched. Francisco Liriano led the team with 201 strikeouts on the season. The Twins acquired closer Brian Fuentes from the Rockies to solidify their bullpen to fill the absence of Joe Nathan. The Rays were led pitchingwise by Cy Young candidate David Price, who broke out this year with 19 wins in 31 starts and a stellar 2.73 ERA. The turning point of the series could be a projected game 3 between James Shields and Scott Baker. Defensively, both teams play fundamental baseball very well. They both rank in the top 10 in baseball in fielding percentage, separated by only one thounsandth of a percent.

Anybody who has ever grown up in the United Kingdom 1960s, 70′s, and ’80s– British, American, or otherwise — may have one possibly distinct childhood memory. Their father and uncles, crowded around the radio, listening to the BBC with sweaty anticipation. The sportscaster dutifully reads off the soccer results from the week’s regional contests. Mind you, this is not major British teams, but the smaller more localized clubs. So, the local BBC personality drones on: West Ruislip one, Horton-cum-Studly, nil; Maidenhead 2, Loudwater 1; Upper Ambersham 1, Lower Ambersham, nil; Ruxford and Ashwell Heath were in aggregate; Saltwell 4, Shabblestown 2 … and on and on it would go.

Yet, the father and uncles in this picture would sit there for several long minutes, with their hands clasped together, giving the monotone announcements their rapt attention, only to become joyous or crushed at a moment’s notice. Part of the agony had to be the monotany of ones, nils, and aggregates. One thing remained certain: if informed of a defeat, the father and uncles would go to a pub or bar, buy a couple of rounds, and drown their sorrows. If informed of victory, they would still go to pub or bar, buy a couple of rounds, but toast their triumph.

[...]

The Major League Baseball strike of 1994 and 1995 lasted for almost eight months, caused the first cancellation of a World Series since 1904, and indirectly led to the Montreal Expos’ move to Washington. The sport as a whole suffered losses – both financial and in popularity – and several years passed before support returned to pre-1994 levels.

The primary sticking point in the negotiations before the strike centered around the owners’ desire for a salary cap and a reduction in the player’s share of the revenues from 56 to 50 percent. The Major League Baseball Players Association felt the cap took them down a road towards lower salary growth, and the owners’ offer of player free agency after four years (instead of six) seemed to them a poor compromise.

[...]