Vulnerable Teams for Monday Toronto Tallet imploded against KC in his last outing, and the key here is that he has not gotten past the 6th inning against anyone this year. Word on the street is that teams are dialing in on him, and that doesn't bode well for a guy that tends to exhaust 93 pitches by the 5th. Fourteen of 26 Royal batters reached base, THAT'S A SIGN THAT YOU MUST NOT TAKE THE JAYS. But we can... Read more

Embrace an Indian if you can! Laffey Should be able to hold Detroit down Backing Cleveland is never a happy experience, but sometimes you have to go with the facts and let it ride. The Backside? Yeah Cleveland has one of the worst bullpens in recent memory, but I'm almost certain that Perez will be replaced by a little known lefty named Tony Sipp (3 innings 6K's and 1 Walk), and I think we might luck out,... Read more

DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH THIS INFORMATION: After all, it's your money.... The Boston Game Is More Likely To Exceed 9 Runs. The drawback comes first: Lester is actually getting his strike-outs (22/7 K/BB), but he's really missing the zone on batters and it appears that he's falling into hitter's counts on far too many occasions. He struck out 7 in a recent game, but hit 114 pitches after 6 innings of work. This... Read more

Slip Slider away........ This is an open letter to all of those of you that are riding on the idea that Santana is a better second half pitcher. Johan Santana mowed down the hapless San Fran offense in his last start before the break, and I'm sure this touched off the excitement that is currently being paired with Pelfrey's resurgence (against bad offenses), and the new management of the Mets. The Metropolitans... Read more

Long-Term Tends Can Be Dangerous Can you rely on a trend like this? Pitcher X is 31-12 VS The Phillies The answer is NO . That trend may be built on several surgeries, numerous weather conditions, multiple teams, hundreds of different supporting batters, hundreds of opposing hitters, numerous coaching changes, hundreds of "mechanical" adjustments, aging bones, an altered center of gravity, a complete change... Read more

Today I learned that the right and left poles at McAfee Coliseum are only 330, and that a wind blowing out to RIGHT, at anything above 19 MPH, will carry ANY hard-hit, fly ball, WAAAY out and over anything right of Center. So much for the pitcher's park, eh? For me, the small section just to the left of the right-field foul pole was clearly a home-run zone for ANY lefty , but to see one of those sky-rockets fly... Read more

MLB UMPIRES AND PITCH COUNT: Expansion and Contraction Avid baseball followers have all seen it! Suddenly, an Umpire's strike zone seems to expand or contract as the game reaches the later innings. We've all seen games that we pegged as OVERS suddenly make us smile as 7 runs go across the plate in the first 4 innings, and we have had times where those games end on the same 7 runs on the last pitch! Most frustrated... Read more