I posed this question to one of the most knowledgeable baseball fans I know, Ed Stern. Ed has followed baseball for over 70 years and teaches me something about the game every time we talk. His answer, well thought out and analytical follows below.

Also check out Ed’s Memories of the Game in the Classic Audio section of the site. Just type in his name in the search box on the Classic Audio page and listen to fabulous stories of baseball from the 30’s to the present.

click read more and tell me what you think. [Read more →]

Other than a handful of pitchers around major league baseball, the rest of the moundsmen are off to the typical slow starts that plague pitchers every season.

Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux have struggled well beyond anything expected in early season starts.

The A’s starters are inconsistent and their offense isn’t picking up the slack. Hence, a five game losing streak.

Same trouble applies to Arizona, Toronto, Atlanta, Minnesota, Boston, and Seattle. You never know what you will get when they take the field.

Everyday is a new day in baseball so let’s take a look. [Read more →]

Two distinctly different weekends for the Bay Area teams.

The A’s came back to earth in Anaheim falling to the Tunder Stix, the rally monkey, and a good veteran line up that punished the A’s pitching.

One only has to look at the ERA’s of the big three to see why the team is in a four game funk. Tim Hudson 4.74, Mark Mulder 6.55, Barry Zito 4.50 and even Ted Lilly 3.95.

The Dodger – Giant games were close affairs. Last night the Giants prolonged the game with outstanding defense and pitching long enough to get LA’s malcontent reliever Andy Ashby in the game in the 12th inning. The taciturn Ashby blew the game for LA by his fourteenth pitch.

More on him later but there is a lot of baseball to catch up on, click below. [Read more →]

Quite a weekend already as the Houston Astros spoiled Tony LaRussa’s strategy for the second consecutive series.

Remember Tony took Matt Morris out of a 1-0 game in the eighth inning last weekend against Houston only to see the bull pen blow the game after a valiant 100 pitch effort by Morris.

Fast forward to Friday night, Morris has a 2-1 lead over the Astros going into the ninth, La Russa leaves his ace in to finish the game even though his pitch count has exceeded 110 (he finished with 119).

Morris gets two outs, gives up a single to Lance Berkman, then Jeff Kent, my MVP candidate in the NL, smacks a two run homer to win the game 2-1.

What’s a genius to do? Wait for Jason Isringhausen to get better, then let him pitch the ninth, until then, pray that Steve Kline can can be the closer.

More news ahead. [Read more →]

The Expos finally get to go home. Only problem is the team plane missed Montreal by about 3000 miles. They play the Mets today in San Juan in the first of 20 or more “home games” in Puerto Rico.

Why? The only viable reason is MLB is being sued by the former minority partners of the former owner Jeffry Loria, and the moguls can’t sell the franchise to anyone until that lawsuit is settled. MLB has indicated they will choose a new home for Montreal’s team by the All Star game, so the lawsuit is probably going to be settled shortly.

Meanwhile, the Mets blew another ninth inning lead and now go to Puerto Rico to open the Expos Caribbean schedule.

The opposition is running on Mike Piazza every chance they get. Expect more this weekend. Piazza’s day as a ML catcher is over, he needs a new position even if it means not breaking the home run record for backstops.

A lot more baseball this weekend. [Read more →]

Marty talks with Rangers manger Buck Showalter about Buck’s days at ESPN, the Cape Cod League, and the prospects in the Ranger oraganization. [Read more →]

I know it’s early in the season, but now that I’ve seen the three teams chasing the Athletics in the West, I am having a hard time envisioning any of these three teams beating the A’s over 162 games.

Seattle is treading water, hoping that the injuries don’t pile up. The Angels have the most potential because they will get healthy and have some excellent starting pitching.

Texas is about where I thought they would be, some offense, but not much pitching.

There is a lot more going on in the majors let’s look. [Read more →]

I don’t know about you, but I get tired of watching the highlights of the first two weeks of the season when the players have turtle neck shirts pulled up over the mouths.

Why not open the year in the warm weather cities and those cities with enclosed stadiums?

Home field advantage doesn’t apply when you have to play in 32 degree weather. It hurts both teams. Don’t you think Detroit would like to take their .133 batting average on the road and maybe have a chance of hitting the ball.

Plus, these teams come out of Florida or Arizona and then have to play in freezing temperatures. It just doesn’t make sense to continue this way, I’m sure the fans in the East and Midwest wouldn’t care if their teams spent ten days or so on the road to avoid the snowballs of April.

More action today in the majors, let’s look. [Read more →]

One week certainly doesn’t make a season, but you cannot ignore some of the results this week.

The A’s are outplaying the Angels just as they did the Mariners in their first series.

The Giants are using their bull pen every day and this is not a good sign. SF’s rotation needs to give the pen some rest especially considering the team is 5-0 against their cousins the Padres and the hapless Brewers.

The AL Central has two teams Detroit and Cleveland who will rival Baltimore and Tampa Bay for the worst in the league.

There’s more, click below. [Read more →]

Most teams in baseball get decent starting pitching from their number one thru three starters. What really separates the very good teams from the also rans is the back end of the rotation.

With off days common the first month of the season, most teams go with a four man rotation, not needing a fifth starter until May.

On Friday, the fourth starters were working all over baseball. It’s worth a look to see who did what, because if you have agood one, things are looking up for your team.

Click below and let’s see what happened. [Read more →]