Blanton to Pitch Game 4

Todd Zolecki just reported on his Twitter that Charlie Manuel is going to pitch Joe Blanton in game four in Philadelphia on Sunday versus CC Sabathia. This will line up Cliff Lee for game five, Pedro Martinez for game six, and Cole Hamels for game seven. Lee will be eligible to pitch out of the bull pen for game seven if necessary.

Manuel's reasoning via @ToddZolecki: "Manuel said he didn't want to pitch Lee on short rest in Game 4 because he's never done it, he's pitched a lot of innings this year, etc."

Blanton this year in the post season has only made one start in the NLCS and two relief appearances in the NLDS, posting a 4.50 ERA. In his start versus the Dodgers, he went six innings, allowing four runs and three earned on six hits and two walks, striking out two. In last years playoffs, he went 2-0 in three starts with a 3.18 ERA. He also hit a home run in game four of the World Series versus the Tampa Bay Rays.
I think this is a good move. Manuel actually makes a lot of good moves just the players don't perform and it makes him look bad. It will make sure Lee is fresh plus it puts the Phillies three best hitting pitchers at the plate in Philadelphia. Also Martinez seemed to enjoy the negative response from the Yankees crowd during game two because he's a little twisted. "I know they really want to root for me. If I was on the Yankees I’d probably be like a king over here."

Gotta love Pedro.

Phillies Lose 4th Straight Series

This day totally sucked (outside of my softball team kicking some serious butt to go 7-0). We lost the King of Pop and Ferrah Fawcett and now the Phillies lost their fourth straight series. They are just "Bad." They're no "Thriller" on the field. This skid is starting to get "Dangerous" as the Mets won again today to improve to 1/2 game out of first. OK I'm done with the MJ puns. The Phillies lost the series 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tuesday: Coming off their 1-8 home stand, the Phillies offense exploded and Jamie Moyer pitched stellar en route to a 10-1 victory. John Mayberry Jr. and Chase Utley hit homers and Moyer only allowed a solo homer to Pat Burrell.

Wednesday: JC Romero and Chan Ho Park got beat up when the Phillies were only down 2-1 in the eighth. But I won't put the blame on them as the offense completely disappeared despite Jayson Werth's solo homer. Phillies lost 7-1.

Thursday: The first inning looked like the Phillies would bust out of their slump when they plated four to start the game. But that was it as Antonio Bastardo got shelled, giving up six runs on seven hit before leaving the game in the fourth inning with a strained shoulder (severity unknown). Phillies lost 10-4.

This series was just plain ugly. My confidence was restored for one whole game and one whole inning on Thursday. The offense was just dead and the pitching was shotty. Despite great starts by Moyer and Joe Blanton, the offense could not support. I really have nothing more to say because I would just be redundant.

Series MVP's:

Phillies: Joe Blanton: 7 IP, 6 Hits, 2 runs, 10 K's

Rays: Carl Crawford: 5-11, 2 runs, 3 doubles, 2 RBI's

Rays: Matt Garza: 8 IP, 3 hits, run, 7 K's

Next Series: Philadelphia Phillies (37-33; 24-11 on road) @ Toronto Blue Jays (40-34; 23-14 at home)

Jays lead series 3-0. The Phillies suck. The Jays are playing solid ball. The Phillies are still good on the road and the offense is also showing some life in areas. I always expect a series win with this team but right now, I'm not too sure. With the Mets 1/2 a game back, I am afraid the Phillies may be the 2nd place team they are playing out to be. Pick up your game or the magic will run out.

Probables:

6/26: Hamels (4-3, 4.24), Romero, R (4-3, 3.59)

6/27: Happ (4-0, 3.47), Mills (0-0, 9.82)

6/28: Moyer (5-6, 5.97), Tallet (5-4, 4.36)

Lidge to be Activated Tomorrow

Via David Murphy's Twitter:

(Brad) Lidge will definitely be activated tomorrow, GM Ruben Amaro Jr says

Good news for a Phillies bull pen that gave up five runs in the eighth to the Rays tonight.

Manuel's Odd Lineup

Charlie Manuel did a little bit of a line up shake up but not the one I was hoping for. As I stated in my other post, I wanted to see Jimmy Rollins drop down to sixth. After Todd Zolecki posted today's line up versus Tampa Bay, I was left a bit confused. Here are his Tweets within the past hour:

Tonight's lineup in TB: Rollins SS, Victorino CF, Utley 2B, Howard 1B, Werth RF, Feliz 3B, Mayberry LF, Coste DH, Ruiz C.

Howard will DH. Coste will play 1B. Manuel changed his mind.

I like the nine hitters we put in but I still don't want Rollins, who is sporting a .261 OBP, to get things started. I am officially starting the "Lead Off Shane Campaign." I also think Manuel's choice of putting Chris Coste at first was interesting but smart. David Price is pitching tonight and as a lefty that throws some serious heat, Greg Dobbs would be more ineffective than Jamie Moyer. Coste can play the corners and catcher. Having Paul Bako also allows the Phils to use both Coste and Carlos Ruiz in the line up.

Howard Had Sinusitis, Improving

Ryan Howard was diagnosed with acute sinusitis. The club stated that his 104-degree fever is gone and he's at home resting. Howard could possibly be in the line up as early as Tuesday when the Phillies go down to Tampa Bay to face the defending AL champion Rays.

In other news, Brad Lidge could be activated this week. He will make his second rehab appearance in Class-A Clearwater and could be activated Wednesday or hold off and pitch on Friday for a third rehab outing. Lidge allowed one hit and struck out two in a scoreless inning in a rehab outing with Double-A Reading on Saturday night.

Phils Swept; Go 1-8 on Home Stand

On th 45th anniversary of Jim Bunning's perfect game, you would expect a special game from Cole Hamels. Well he did indeed deliver, going eight innings, striking out 10 and surrendering two runs on seven hits. Surely one of the best offenses can give Hamels the support. Wrong. After Greg Dobbs solo home run in the second, the Phillies offense could only manage two hits as they lost 2-1 to the Baltimore Orioles, capping another sweep and a 1-8 home stand.

Hamels was just fantastic despite giving up the two runs. His change up was deadly and his fastball was hitting all the spots. Just shows how good a pitcher does when the game is being caught by Carlos Ruiz. He also showed more promise at the plate than most of the Phillies offense as he almost doubled down the line during one at bat and almost hustled out a grounder in another.

I don't like to play the "if card" but seriously, if the umpire made the right call in the eighth when Jimmy Rollins was "tagged," Shane Victorino's double would have driven him in. Rollins hit a slow grounder to first basemen Ty Wigginton who then flipped the ball to the pitcher who clearly missed the tag. The umpire called Rollins out, forcing Charlie Manuel to argue the call and get ejected. Victorino doubles and then Chase Utley grounded out to waste the opportunity.

Unfortunately for Jimmy, that does not excuse him for the ripping he's about to get. He sucks, plain and simple. Ever since his MVP year, he has tried to be better than the player he truly is. He's a great fielder and a 6-8 spot hitter and nothing more. A lead off hitter should not have a .260 OBP. Once Raul Ibanez is back, Victorino should be the lead off guy with Utley and Jayson Werth flopping in the two-spot depending on the opposing pitcher. Rollins should sit in the six or seven spot, swapping with Pedro Feliz now and then. I understand he's trying to draw more walks but he's hitting fly balls and not getting on base.

Friday: The pitching got knocked around en route to a 7-2 butt kicking to the lowly Orioles.

Saturday: It was a very exciting game. Down 3-0, the Phillies got two runs in and had two men on. The sick Ryan Howard pinch hit, and drove a ball deep into the bull pen to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead. In the top of the ninth, Ryan Madson surrendered a solo home run, allowed a base runner, and then Brian Roberts took his two-out, 1-2 fast ball deep to right to give the Orioles the 6-5 lead. They held on and won.

Series MVP's:

Shane Victorino (PHI): 5-9; 2 runs; 3 doubles; stolen base

Brian Roberts (BAL): 5-13; 3 runs; double; game winning HR; 5 RBI's; SB

Nex Series: Philadelphia Phillies (36-31; 23-9 on the road) at Tampa Bay Rays (37-34; 21-12 at home)

This is the World Series rematch MLB has been waiting for except for both teams aren't as hot as they were when they last met in the fall classic. For the Phillies, this will be the first real rematch versus Pat Burrell. We also will have to listen to those damn cowbells all series.

This is a huge series for the Phillies, who are currently on a six game losing streak. The Rays took two of three from the Mets, helping the Phillies. The Phillies are 3-9 versus the AL while the Rays 8-4 versus the NL.

I expect to see some shaking up of the line up during this series. I don't know if Manuel will stick with Rollins at lead off but I certainly wouldn't. If I could chose the line up, it would look like this:

Victorino CF/Utley 2B/Feliz 3B/Howard 1B/Werth LF/Rollins SS/Stairs DH/Ruiz C/Dobbs RF

Rollins will not be swinging out of his slump so I want to drop him to six. As for my 3-4-5 pitch, Feliz has done a great job at getting on base. Howard could use the RBI opportunities with Victorino, Utley, and Feliz in front of him while Werth can protect Howard. This line up will also force the Rays to dig into their bull pen in late innings.

Probables:

6/23: Moyer (4-6, 6.35 ERA); Price (1-1, 3.46 ERA)

6/24: Blanton (4-3, 5.28 ERA); Garza (4-5, 3.83 ERA)

6/25: Bastardo (2-2, 5.21 ERA): Sonnanstine (5-7, 6.60 ERA)

FIM #1: Your 2008 World Champions

Sitting on the edge of my couch I watched on as Brad Lidge had a man on second with 2 outs. Up to the plate stepped Eric Hinske. The first pitch slider was fouled off. The second pitch was also a slider and was swung at. With his deadly slider working like it has all year, the same slider that saved 41 games in 41 chances in the regular season and another perfect 6 in the playoffs, Lidge decided to go with it one more time to get one more save.

To tell you the truth, Hinske didn't stand a chance.

Hinske couldn't touch it and at that moment, a lot happened. Lidge fell to his knees, Carlos Ruiz rushed him, Ryan Howard completely flattened him, and 50,000 people in attendance at CBP got on their feet and cheered. Thousands of others rejoiced around the country as their Phillies did what teams before them couldn't do and that was win the World Series.

I sat there, staring at the TV. My roommate, who doesn't like baseball that much was watching with me and rambling on and on. I turned to him and told him to shut up as a soaked in the glory of finally watching a team and city I followed for 15 years finally win.

The whole series, just like the playoffs, was one sided for the Phillies. After dominating the Brewers in four games and the Dodgers in five, a series versus the virgin Rays would be tough but in the end, it didn't appear that way.

Game one was held in Tampa because the American League won the all star game on a Billy Wagner blown save and Brad Lidge loss (his only of the year). They got the game started early as Chase Utley hit a two-run homer in the first. Ruiz had an RBI in the 4th to make it 3-0. Tampa was able to add a run in the 4th and 5th but that was it. Cole Hamels was dominant as he allowed the only two runs the Rays could muster. Lidge got the save in the 3-2 win for Philadelphia.

Game two was the only game where the Rays had hope. They got two early runs in the 4th and added a couple more later in the game. The Phillies could get a run in the 8th and 9th and would lose 4-2.

Game three was a dramatic one and was where all the momentum became Philadelphia's. With the game tied at 4 in the bottom of the 9th, Eric Bruntlett was hit by a pitch. He moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on a throwing error. Tampa Bay intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases. Bruntlett scored the winning run on Carlos Ruiz's 45-foot infield single.

Game four was complete and utter dominance as Ryan Howard hit two homers, Jayson Werth hit a shot, and Joe Blanton hit his first career home run while pitching a dominant game. The Phillies went on to win 10-2.

Game five was the screwiest game in the history of the World Series. They got things going early again as Shane Victorino drove in two runs in the first. The game got suspended after the top of the 6th inning due to heavy rain. The game was moved to two days later, where they resumed it in the bottom of the 6th.

Geoff Jenkins led off with a double and was bunted to third. Werth then drove in Jenkins to take the lead for the Phillies, 3–2. In the top of the 7th inning, Rocco Baldelli re-tied the game with a solo home run. Later in the inning, Utley faked a throw to first, then threw Bartlett out at home for the third out in a play later described as having saved the Series for the Phillies. In the bottom of the seventh, Pat Burrell led off with a double. Bruntlett, pinch-running for Burrell, scored on a single by Pedro Feliz to put the Phillies up by a run again, 4–3.

Now we move to the top of the 9th, with an 0-2 count to Hinske. Tell it to us one more time, Harry:

One strike away; nothing-and-two, the count to Hinske. Fans on
the their feet; rally towels are being waved. Brad Lidge stretches.
The 0-2 pitch — swing and a miss, struck him out! The Philadelphia
Phillies are 2008 World Champions of baseball! Brad Lidge does it
again, and stays perfect for the 2008 season! 48-for-48 in save
opportunities, and watch the city celebrate! Don't let the 48-hour
wait diminish the euphoria of this moment, and the celebration.
And it has been 28 years since the Phillies have enjoyed a World
Championship; 25 years in this city with a team that has enjoyed
a World Championship, and the fans are ready to celebrate. What a
night!

Manuel Chooses Torre For NL All Star Staff

I saw this on Comcast Sports Net this morning and Todd Zolecki posted it on the Zo Zone:

One of the perks of being the National League Champion is that the manager gets to coach his respective league the following year. Charlie Manuel will do such when the NL plays the AL on July 14 in St. Louis. Joe Maddon of Tampa Bay will coach the AL.

Each manager gets to choose 2 managers from their league to be on their staff. Manuel already made one selection, choosing Joe Torre of the Dodgers to be one of his assistants. A little fun fact: Torre chose Manuel as one of his coaches in the infamous tie in the 2002 game in Milwaukee.

Me versus a Mets fan.

Oh the fun continues as I got bashed by a Mets fan for my Whit Article run in the this weeks issue. Well some wonderful Mets fan decided to post his wonderful opinions on why he thinks the Mets are a better baseball team than the Phillies. There may be more to come but this is the meat and potatoes of the argument.Here's a look at the growing debate:

mike says:
April 2,
2009 at 1:23 pm
First of all, their infield is good, but not even close
to the best. Howard is a terrible fielder, and you’re joking if you think Feliz
is a good hitter. The Mets infield is about as good as it gets, with Delgado,
Luis Castillo , Reyes and Wright, the last 2 of which are ranked in the top 4
players in fantasy baseball, meaning their offensive statistics are phenomenal
in all categories. Sure, Castillo isn’t the hitter he was with Florida, but he’s
still a very good fielder. And theres no way you can argue that the Phils
infield is better than the Yanks. I’d take Tiexiera, Cano, Jeter, and A-Rod any
day of the week.

Next off, Peflrey and Ollie Perez both have very promising upsides, and
you completely forgot to mention John Maine, who has the potential to be a great
#2 guy. I dont find much attractive about the Phillies staff beyond Hamels, and
he’s no guarantee at this point.

Continuing on, before I start refuting more of your points, I’d like to
say that any team with a very solid first 5 hitters in the line up has a shot at
going places. The Mets have that, so theres no reason you should even say that
they only have a shot at a wild card spot. In addition to the first five, Ryan
Church has the potential to be a top tier outfielder, in addition to Dave
Murphy, granted he gets playing time. No, Brian Schneider isnt much of a hitter
at all, but that leaves us with 7 quality hitters in our line up, not
5.

The Braves have a great shot, and should not be counted out whatsoever.
If they get hot at the right time, much like the Phils did last year, they can
easily take everyone by surprise too. The Marlins will likely be a streaky team,
but they cant be counted out either. They have a lot of talent in the middle of
the infield that could take them to the playoffs.
The rest of the National
League doesnt really matter, because I have no doubt that whatever team makes it
out of the East will be the NL’s World Series team. Before finishing the first
paragraph, I could easily tell how biased your opinion is about your favorite
team, and how quick you were to overlook everyone else in the division.


John Russo says:
April 2,
2009 at 1:38 pm
If I didn’t have a world limit, I would obviously go
into WAAAYY more detail as to why the Mets are (in my unbiased opion) a very
inferior team to the City of Brotherly Love.
Thanks for the comment, Mike,
and I wish the choke artists good luck this season. Please read my AL Preview
next week.


mike says:
April 2,
2009 at 3:02 pm
Inferior must mean better hitters, fielders, starters,
and closers. I wish somebody had told me about the change in meaning.
Choke
must have been redefined as well, in that a couple seasons of not making the
playoffs far outweighs a 2 for 125 history in attempts to Win a National
Championship/World Series.


John Russo says:
April 2,
2009 at 6:17 pm
OK Mr. Met, I think I have to let you know that history
is not a factor at all in this debate, especially when one team has been more
successful during our lifetimes (or when we knew what a baseball was) than the
other.


Since 1988, the Mets have been in 1 World Series, losing to the New
York Yankees and the Phillies have been in 2, winning a championship against a
very good Rays team, that will compete this year and only due to the offseasons
the Yankees and Sox had, will not make the playoffs.


Now back to our little debate. I’ll start with the catchers. Brian
Schneider is not good at all, especially as a hitter. Carlos Ruiz is no super
star either but I would definately take him over Schneider. Now let’s go to the
infield. You’re going to tell me that your cast of four is better than the
Phillies? Feliz doesn’t need to be a great hitter but he is clutch and is the
best fielding 3rd basemen in the league. Now you say Howard is bad? He only led
the league in HRs and RBIs and it doesn’t matter what your average is when you
put up power numbers like that. I will agree that Reyes and Wright are better
than J-Roll and Feliz but Utly is the best player in the division. Also Carlos
Delgado is pretty old, beat up, and not as good as the young Howard.
Now to
the outfield. Beltran is washed up and Church is ok. Victorino, Ibanez, and
Werth are all also ok players but I would rather have 3 solid/good outfielders
than 2. Daniel Murphy? Please. 131 ABs is not a good enough sample to deem a
player to be good.


Your pitching rotation is not good behind Santana. Perez and Pelfrey
good? Please, Mike. You don’t know a good pitcher if he struck you out. I’m glad
you think Perez’s 4.22 ERA last season was good to go with his 1.40 WHIP. and
Pelfrey’s 1.36 WHIP. Or do you even know what that is? How about the bull pen or
I suppose a closer who blew 7 saves is better than a pitcher who was perfect.
And don’t tell me he had more oppurtunities. The Phillies offense was so good
that it won games by more than 3 runs. The Angels’ offense is nothing compared
to Philadelphia’s. 100% is 100%. And stamima would not be a factor because Lidge
actually threw 1 more inning than K-Rod and posted an ERA .30 lower than
Rodriguez. Rodriguez also struck out 77 while Mr. Perfect rung up 92.


Michael, Michael, Michael. The Mets were inferior last year and still are
this year. I’ll be going to the Phillies game next Wednesday when they hand out
their shiny new World Series rings. It’s nice rooting for a championship team
while you watch your team drown in the wake of the S.S. WFC.

mike says:
April 2,
2009 at 8:25 pm
I cant argue against the fact that the Phils have won a
World Series, but I will say that they were lucky to play the Rays. You and I
both know that the Angels were the best team in the AL last year and choked
badly in the playoffs, and Boston would have easily beaten the Phils as
well.
If you took some time to read my argument, you would have seen that I
also bashed Schneider, so there’s no point of trying to argue against me, when
you agreed with me in the first place. However, I’d take Schneider .257 over
Ruiz’s .219 avg. last year.

Moving right along, lets talk about Feliz. Seems like more of the
same to me, where I only talked about his bad hitting, and said nothing about
his fielding, which I agree with you when you say it is very good. Just for
kicks, A-Rod started 25 more games than Feliz, and made only 2 more errors. And
how about Troy Glaus?? Oh, I guess it doesn’t matter to you if his fielding
percentage is .982, which by the way is 8 points higher than Feliz, who played a
third as much time, as long as he’s not playing in Philadelphia……

Again with the reading on Ryan Howard. I said his fielding was bad. You
cant argue with 48 home runs, which I did not argue against. And average
obviously does matter, because he’s hurting his team hitting that low. And go
figure you wouldn’t mention the 199 strike outs, 2 years in a row either. It’s
easy to hit home runs like he does when you’re that big and all you do is swing
for the fences.

Next of all, Utley is a phenomenal player, and I never argued against
that either. However, there is no question in my mind, nor should there be in
yours, that Hanley Ramirez is the best player in the division, NL, and MLB. The
guy hit as many homers as Utley out of the leadoff spot. He hit for a higher
average, stole more than twice the bases, scored more (with a much worse
lineup), walked more, and had a higher slugging percentage. Cant argue with
facts my friend.

Delgado is old, but it clearly isnt much of a factor as he hit 38
homers.

As for outfield, Beltran is clearly still good, unless 172 hits, 40
doubles, 27 homers, 112 RBI, and 25 SB are suddenly bad statistics… In addition,
you also failed to mention our 3rd starter, Fernando Tatis, who in 92 games with
the Mets, posted, if nothing else, at least as good stats as any Phils
outfielder last season.

Pitching follows the same common theme: you don’t read what I’ve
already posted. I said Perez and Pelfrey had promising upsides, not that both
were “good”. However, his 25 wins in the last 2 seasons as a starter are, wow
look at that, better than Brett Myers last 2 years as a starter.
Moreover, I
never argued against the bullpen either. I do think, however, with the additions
we made in the offseason, our bullpen is better off than yours. You can’t be
serious in arguing that one more inning is truly a significant statistic.

Clearly the Mets benefited from the offseason much more than the
Phillies. If I remember correctly, the Mets were the best team in the NL East
for 150 games last year, which is significantly more than the remaining 12
games. I’m glad you’re still stuck on last year though. It’ll definitely help
you out in 2009. If you need more proof, please look up ESPN magazine’s World
Series pick for ‘09. There you can see a completely unbiased editorial about the
2009 season, which is the only season that matters at this point.

John Russo says:
April 2,
2009 at 10:23 pm
Lucky to play the Rays? The Rays were bested Boston. You
can’t get anymore higher than that. The Angels were a very good team but the
best team last year was the team who played the Phillies in the World Series.
Despite a team BA less than .280, they knew how to win games and that is why
they will again compete this year. See winning isn’t about stats or who has the
bigger names. It’s about how well these guys play together and both WS
combatants were the most deserving in the league last year despite not being the
house-hold names.

One of the big keys to maintaining a winning formula is to keep that
formula intact. Yes the Phillies only real loss was Pat Burrell but they added
Raul Ibanez, who despite being another left-handed, strike out machine and
fielding liability, is still a good pick up and will fill most of the hole Pat
left.

I never said Feliz is a good hitter but he has come through numerous
times for Philly in the clutch, both behind the plate and in the field. And the
main reason I attacked your criticism of Howard is you can’t argue against an
infield when you focus on the only 2 weaknesses in the group: Howard’s glove and
Feliz’s bat.

When I made the Utley statement, I had to think about it because Hanley
is in the same league as Utley. If it wasn’t for Delgado’s late surge, those
numbers wouldn’t be inflated.

As far as pitcing. Remember Kyle Kendrick? Everyone said he had
“promising upside.” That doesn’t mean a thing because with these young pitchers,
the best they pitch is what they do when they come out because no one has seen
them before. Once they get film on them and know their stuff, they become
ineffective unless they are truly something special. With the K-Rod vs Lidge, I
was only using the 1 inning to eliminate any counter you would have to the
oppurtunities and breaking down, kinda like defending against any possible
argument.

You can’t predict a thing in baseball. This time last year, I wouldn’t
have thought my team would be champions. I also wouldn’t think the Rays would
own the AL Pennant. We shall see what this season brings.

American League Preview

So this will also be posted in the Whit, Rowan University's paper. I will be doing both the AL and NL previews and when the season starts, I will be doing weekly recap/previews. Here is the uncut version of my post. A link will be posted when the article comes out:

The AL East used to be a two team division until the Tampa Bay Rays finally showed up and won the division and the A.L. pennant last season. But the New York Yankees are back in business with an unbelievable offseason and the Boston Red Sox revamped to still be competitive. The Central should feature the Detroit Tigers while the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox try to keep up. In the West it should just be the Los Angeles Angels. Here’s a look at the key teams in the A.L.

In the East, the Rays are bringing back some major parts to their A.L. championship team such as Rookie of the Year winner Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, and Dioner Navarro. Their rotation features James Shields, Scott Kazmir, and Matt Garza. The Rays like to play small ball but a power hitter is what Tampa Bay needed. They got that in Pat Burrell, their big offseason signing who will become their DH, a fitting role for him due to his lack of skill in the outfield. This balances out the team, making them more dangerous offensively.

The Yankees re-tooled dramatically in the offseason. Their key signings included pitchers C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and the resigning of Andy Pettitte. They also signed first basemen Mark Teixeira who will instantly boost an offense that was 10th in runs scored last season. Those are just the signings though. The offense still features Alex Rodriguez, who despite the steroid saga and hip injury is still one of the best in the game. They also have captain Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui at the DH. The five-man rotation is filled out with Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain, giving the Yankees the most dangerous rotation in baseball. With five pitchers like that, they should win on pitching alone. Mariano Rivera is still one of the best closers in baseball. They simply have the best team in baseball again.

The Red Sox are still one of the best teams in baseball. Tampa Bay and New York have improved and Boston wasn’t going to sit around and let them have all the fun. The signings of John Smoltz and Brad Penny give them six good starting pitchers. Smoltz will probably see bull pen action which isn’t a bad thing for Boston since he is an ex-closer. Speaking of the pen, it’s anchored by closer Jonathon Papelbon and set-up man Hideki Okajima. The offense is nothing short of amazing either. It features reigning A.L. MVP Dustin Pedroia. He is supported by an excellent offensive cast of Kevin Youkillis, Mike Lowell, and David Ortiz. The outfield also features young centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Bay and JD Drew.

In the Central, the Detroit Tigers look to be the strongest team. They moved Miguel Cabrera to first base due to a lack of glove but he is still a fine hitter. The outfield is very good with Carlos Guillen, Curtis Granderson, and Maglio Ordonez. Marcus Thames is a great bat off the bench and can play the outfield in the late innings. The rotation features great pitching in Justin Verlander, Armondo Galaragga, Jeremy Bonderman, and Dontrelle Willis. They should be good enough to win the division but Chicago and Minnesota are always in the mix.

The White Sox are a shell of the 2005 World Champion team. They lost Joe Crede, Orlando Cabrera and Ken Griffey Jr. in the offseason and didn’t make any vast improvements. They do still have Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye, their two best bats. Gavin Floyd and Mark Buehrle emerged as their two best pitchers and will have to post better numbers to keep Chicago in the mix. The Twins missed the playoffs by a game last year. They added Crede from the White Sox to go with the young stars in Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Pitching isn’t all that awesome this year and could be a problem for them. The Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals should not factor into the race too much this year.

In the West, the only team that truly stands out is the Angels. They lost record-breaking closer, Francisco Rodriguez to the New York Mets but won’t have to worry about him blowing saves this year. Instead they added a steady Brian Fuentes who will not blow games. They also a great bat in the outfield in Bobby Abreau to go along with Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter. Pitching is also a strength for the Angels with John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, and Jered Weaver as the main guys in the starting rotation. The Texas Rangers and Oakland Athletics don’t really impress and the Seattle Mariners brought Griffey Jr. back but still won’t see much of an improvement.

The Yankees will take the East, the Tigers will win the Central, and the Angels will again run away with the West. The Wild Card will be very interesting as the Red Sox and Rays will battle it all year for the final playoff spot. Next week we will have the National League preview.