More MLB Links posted by Erick Pacheco

http://atdhe.net/7388/watch-mariners-vs-yankees    Yankees vs Mariners

http://atdhe.net/5632/watch-rays-vs-blue-jays : Blue Jays and Rays

  http://atdhe.net/5711/watch-red-sox-vs-orioles   Red Sox vs Orioles

  http://atdhe.net/5546/watch-rockies-vs-dodgers  Dodgers vs Rockies

Tigers and Athletics :   http://atdhe.net/6246/watch-tigers-vs-athletics

MLB Links posted by Erick Pacheco

aight i got links to most MLB games today 

Yankees vs Mariners, Dodgers Rockies, TB vs Toronto and Boston vs Baltimore are there we also got minor league games    http://alexswentonsnitchtv2.webs.com/apps/blog/

http://www.pakodak.com/2009/06/mets-v-brewers-mlb/  

Guide to Coors Field posted by Kevin Seefried

Let's face it. Most people don't go to enough Rockies games each year to figure out the best way to attend a game. Here's my guide for making the best out of a Rockies Game.

Preperation: Bring your wallet, walking shoes (not very fancy/expensive), your cell phone, a sharpie and your tickets to the park. You also should wear a Rockies cap, because A. They look cool, usually B. It shows support. C. The sun is blinding over Left Field at night games and, well almost anywhere during day games D. What better occasion to wear a baseball cap than at a baseball game. Don't bring a glove (Beer spills at Coors Field a lot and you don't want it on your glove or nice shoes. Plus, if you're over 12 and bring your glove to the game, well then there is a problem). Ladies, don't bring a purse to the game, it will get ruined and it'll be a pain to carry through all the crowds. Put cash in your pocket and call it a day. Your cell will come in handy to call friends at the stadium so you can wave mindlessly at no one in particular and ask if they can see you. You can also snap embarassing pics of your friends and family (Chowing in to a burger, dog, burrito, etc usually makes for a funny pic) and send them to the jumbotron. There are also lots of polls via text you can vote in. But do yourself a favor, turn off the email function if your phone has it. A ballgame is a time to relax and get away from the rest of your life. Don't take calls that could be stressful, don't email on your blackberry; just enjoy the game.

Food: Hot dogs at Coors Field are bad. I've been to 17 MLB stadiums, 1 minor league stadium, and 5 or 6 spring training stadiums (1 in Florida, the rest in Arizona) and Coors Field had the worst hot dogs out of all of them. If you are going to pay $4 for a hot dog, it better be a good one. If you really want a hot dog go to a vendor on Blake Street. There are always hot dog vendors down the street, usually selling dogs for $1 or $1.50. I'd buy two, cause you can't just eat one hot dog. If you don't need a hot dog, I suggest buying a burrito (or two) outside the stadium. They're cheap, $2, and delicious. It's not Chipotle, but the burrito will fill you up decently, taste great, and save you money (inside they are much much lower quality and they cost about $6). If you are planning on drinking anything other than beer at the game, buy it outside. The burrito vendors also sell gatorade, soda, and water ($1-$2 depending on the vendor/day/beverage). It doesn't hurt to buy a $2 bag of peanuts either. Don't buy sunflower seeds though, because unless you want to stare straight down everyime you spit, the person in front of you is going to get showered with sunflower seeds and that isn't fun for anyone. For 2 burritos, a Mountain Dew, and a bag of peanuts you're total amounts to about $8. Not bad. Inside the stadium I usually grab Dippin' Dots or a soft-serve ice cream (in a collectible Rockies hat of course) around the 7th inning. If you need something real to eat, the best food (outside of club level) is the hamburgers. They're six bucks and you'll probably want fries too, which I believe are $3.50. I typically think 2 burritos, 2 sodas (one outside, one inside), half a bag of peanuts, and ice cream(totaling an estimated $16) is fully sufficient for one person.

Surprised with the Rockies? Well, you shouldn't be! posted by Anthony Arroyo

The Colorado Rockies, a team that went from the N.L. West cellar to just a half a game out of the wildcard spot, have won nine of their last 10 games. They have gone from hosting an 18-28 record to currently standing strong at 37-33.

Better yet, they have won 17 of 18 games, very much similar to the run to the World Series just two years ago. Colorado is 19-5 under head coach Jim Tracy and is 8-2 in interleague play, the best in the majors by percentage points. They have also won nine games in a row on the road, which is unheard of based on previous history.

Surprised? Well, you shouldn’t be. This is what should be expected, even with the off-season departure of Matt Holiday.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is no fluke. No one ever seems to take the Rockies seriously, which in 2007, and now, has provided an advantage, which has led to six-straight series wins. Also, a lot of the great play has been catered to Tracy. Since he has taken over, the team seems to be playing much looser, and are smiling more, which is evidence that they are having fun on the diamond.

How are they doing it? Well, do you remember the start of the season? They team was a victim of one-run losses, posting an 0-9 record in one-run contest before posting its first win decided by one run. The Rockies are still struggling in that area overall with a 6-10 record, but the team in 4-1 in their past five games that had a winner by one run.

What is the difference? Well, to simply put it, everything. The team is getting good pitching, timely hitting and are putting runs on the board. In the month of June, the Rockies have scored five or more runs 14 times and have allowed five or more on three occasions.

Rosenthal’s Picks to Improve Yankees Bullpen before the trade deadline posted by Cesar Valverde

Hazel Mae interviewed Ken Rosenthal from Fox Sports the other night on MLB Network’s show Quick Pitch. Mae brought out the point that the Yankees needed to improve their bullpen. Ken mentioned that the Yankees are all set with Brian Bruney and that they expect improvement in their bullpen upon his return. He also brought out some possibilities considering that Brian has been on the DL twice this season. Here are his picks along with my personal reaction to each pick:

Jose Valverde (Houston Astros) – Valverde is the closer for the ‘Stros. Last year he had over 40 saves for them for the 2nd year in a row. Last I read, he’s only got 3 saves this year so far. He’s been hampered by an injured calf and an injured foot from a comebacker hitting off his leg against the Dodgers earlier this year. He tried his best to work through it but ended up on the disabled list and ex-Yankee LaTroy Hawkins filled in for him. Do you think Houston will give him up if they fall out of contention? At first I thought, “He is their man. He is their closer. He’s their version of Mariano Rivera. He’s had 40+ saves the previous 2 seasons. They’re keeping him.” Then I looked at their place in the standings and found that they were in the cellar 6 games behind the 1st place Cardinals in the NL Central. If they fall out of contention by the trade deadline, I believe they might trade him to a team looking for a reliever.

Huston Street (Colorado Rockies) – The 2005 AL Rookie of the Year with the Oakland A’s, Street is now the closer for the Rox. He recently got his 100th career save. In the series against the Tampa Bay Rays that MLB.com called the battle of the 2 hottest teams in baseball, Street was lights out against the Rays. He was called in to close those last 2 games and did not disappoint: 2 games, 2 saves. I believe that if the Rockies continue to win and move up the standings, Street will be the key to close out their ball games. They may not be able to catch up to the Dodgers in the NL West. L.A.’s running away with that division this year. But they may be able to catch up to the Brewers in the Wild Card and Street will be key in those close games.

Why 2009 is a Special Year posted by Tony Rossi

Yesterday on the MLB Channel, they were replaying Game 4 of the 2007 World Series.  I tuned in during the 8th inning and was very content in watching the final innings.  What made it so much fun was  remembering who I was watching with and things that they were saying as the score changed.   It was a bit emotional to bring back those memories that were still fairly fresh.  And it was even more fun to remember how excited we all were after Papelbon recorded the final strikeout to win the game, and the series. 

Then they showed Manny Ramirez running across the field.  That almost put a damper on my mood – almost.  Not because of how he treated the Red Sox and us fans the following year (although that certainly didn’t help), but because of the news about Ramirez using steroids.  No, you can’t take away our World Series titles.  But it sure would be great to win another one without Manny. 

I’ve found that iIf you start to win too much it’s not as exciting. Let me elaborate: I know I’m not nearly as passionate with the Patriots as I am about the Red Sox, but I know that after the Patriots won their third Super Bowl it wasn’t as exciting for me.  And last year had the Red Sox won the World Series for a second consecutive year, it wouldn’t have been as exciting for me either.  Not to say it wouldn’t have been exciting at all, it just would have been a little less so. 

This year, however, is a different story. 

This year we learned the bad news about Manny.  I haven’t heard from many Yankee fans lately, but I’m sure they’d love to point out that we won both our World Series in the last decade with a player who just got caught using steroids.  While I’d like to believe he wasn’t using them with us, I know it’s a stretch.  To win this year without Manny (and with our beloved Jason Bay) would be an excellent way to show Major League Baseball that we’re the team to beat, with or without Manny. 

Mile High Baseball posted by David

I’ve been in Denver all week and was able to attend two Rockies games at Coors Field.

Among the highlights:

I saw Evan Longoria hit home runs – his 15th and 16th - on back-to-back nights.  The first shot got the Rays on the board in the first inning on Tuesday en route to their 12-4 win over the Rockies, whose 11-game winning streak came to an end.

I watched Rays’ phenom David Price pitch against Aaron Cook, who in my opinion should have been the MVP of last year’s All-Star Game.  (People have a hard time voting for a player from the losing team, but Cook was more valuable to the N.L. than J.D. Drew was to the A.L.)  Price got knocked around for four runs in the second inning, but recovered to last seven innings while allowing five runs.  He was outpitched by Cook, however, who went seven innings and gave up just three runs.  Each surrendered two home runs, but the ones hit off Cook were both solo shots (including Longoria’s).  In addition to a solo homer, Price served up a three-run bomb.

How ‘bout that?

How about Luke Scott?  In just 170 at-bats, Scott has hit 14 home runs and is tied for 14th in long balls among American Leaguers.  Though he is not on the official list of league leaders because of a stint on the 15-day DL, Scott is slugging nearly .600 and if he had enough at-bats to be eligible, he would be ahead of the likes of Justin Morneau, Jason Bay, and Carlos Peña – among others - in the A.L.

How about the Nationals?  With a winning percentage of .281 (18-46), the Nats not only hold the worst record in the majors, but no other team is even close.  The Indians – the team with the next worst record – are 29-39, good for a .426 winning percentage.  Despite their awful record, Washington actually beat the Yankees the last two nights (including shutting them out on Thursday) to win the interleague series against the Bronx Bombers.

Rockies return the favor, snap the Rays 6 game win streak posted by Matt Hewitt

The Rays put up a dozen runs in the first game of the series, but can only muster three in the second game, as the Rockies hand them their first loss in seven games.

 Apart from his 4 run second inning, which included back to back base hits and a three run homer, David Price's outing last night was decent. He was finally able to go deeper into the game, something he was determined to do after several of his previous starts fell short. He gave up 5 earned in 7 innings of work. Unfortunately for the Rays, the couldn't match that offensively. Solo blasts from Crawford and Longoria and a RBI single by Burrell was the only support Price got, giving him his first loss of the season.

 Aaron Cook performed extremely well, pitching exactly the way you need to at Coors field; with a hard sinker and ground outs upon ground outs. Cook went 7 innings, giving up 3 earned runs and striking out 3, putting up the best performance by a red-head since Kathy Griffin on "Celebrity Mole".

With Toronto putting a pounding on Jamie Moyer and the Phillies, the Rays fall back into fourth place in the AL East. However, its still early in the season, the Rays just got Burrell and Bartlett back, and are still waiting on Bradford and Kazmir to complete the team. So it won't be long before the Rays are once again at the top of the division.

Can you smell what the Rockies are cooking? posted by Anthony Arroyo

Well look what we have here. The Colorado Rockies are streaking again.

Do you remember during their “Rocktober” where they won 21 of 22 in September to get in, the greatest streak to end the regular season? Well, don’t expect that this time around, but I do admit the Rockies do have some sort of a new identity with Jim Tracy taking over.

It all starts with pitching. And for a change, the Rockies are winning on the road, collecting 16 road wins to just nine at home. It was a bit controversial with the firing of Clint Hurdle on May 27, after the completion of the Los Angeles Dodgers series, but people are soon forgetting about that as the team has gone 7-4 since.

It isn’t much to brag about, but hey, it is better than any similar stretch this season. The run has officially brought Colorado out of the cellar, as they are now tied with Arizona for the worst record in the N.L. West with its 25-32 mark.

Jorge De La Rosa (1-6) picked up his first win of the year during the team’s latest five-game winning streak. In fact, the Rockies recorded their first sweep of this season and its first sweep of the Cardinals since July 1994, when they won four straight at Mile High Stadium.

It was mentioned earlier that the team has done it through pitching. In the Cardinal series, the Colorado starting pitching totaled nearly 30 innings of work, with a 2.45 ERA and winning all four games. They were even able to hold Albert “The Machine” Pujols in check, allowing him to just one hit all series.

Top 10 Reasons the New Orleans Hornets shouldn't bother playing Game 5 posted by Chris Strickland

"There's no analysis here...what happened?!" - ESPN's Steve Levy, 4/27/09

The New Orleans hornets suffered the all-time-tying worst playoff loss in NBA history yesterday, getting stomped on 121-63 by the Denver Nuggets. Don't wet yourselves, Nuggets fans. The Hornets just played THAT BAD. Here are the Top 10 Reasons why they shouldn't bother showing up for Game 5:

10) Jackie Moon from the Tropics just called - he guarantees they'll lose by 80 points or more, PLUS he'll fight a bear afterwards. That's entertainment. 

9) Peja's been getting with one of the Hornets cheerleaders for some time now, and they've already got Rockies tickets that night. Behind the dugout - Peja's cool with Tulowitzki.

8) TNT would rather air "Sex and the City" and "The Closer," back-to-back, twice. 

7) FEMA would have to attend. Just in case.

6) Desperate, Chris Paul will drop a triple-dub, but he'll end up doing too many over-the-back reverse lay-ups, and odds are he'll eat it or get clocked one of those times.

5) Harry Connick, Jr. wants to dress.

4) Nuggets staff will serve shrimp in the stands in order to entice Hornets fans into staying through the end of another blowout. An angry, drunk Hornets fan will probably toss shrimp on the court...things could get out of hand. It'd be like Artest at the Palace all over again...except with shrimp. 

3) Chris Paul's already entered into "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me out of Here!"

2) Chauncey Billups paid 'Sheed a hundred bucks to yell "Jackass!" every time David West touches the ball. 

Off-duty officer shoots 2 in lot after Angels game

An off-duty police officer shot and wounded two men who had assaulted him in the crowded Angel Stadium parking lot after Wednesday night's Colorado Rockies-Los Angeles Angels game, authorities said.The officer, who was walking to his car with his wife and small children about 25 minutes after the game, was hit in the head with an object, police Sgt. Tim Schmidt said.The off-duty officer then shot the men with his duty weapon, Schmidt said. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for MLB

Cameron suspended 2 games for umpire contact

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Mike Cameron has been suspended for two games after he made contact with an umpire Saturday against the Atlanta Braves.The suspension was scheduled to begin Tuesday night when the Brewers hosted the Colorado Rockies. But because Cameron has filed an appeal, he will be allowed to play until it is heard.Cameron was ejected by plate umpire Marvin Hudson for arguing a called third strike in the ninth inning of the Brewers' 3-0 win. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for MLB