AL East has all new feel

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, MLB,

The lesser teams of the American League East were busy on Friday night with the Tampa Bay Rays rumored to have signed and reunited former Red Sox teammates Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon, each signed to one-year deals; Ramirez’s worth $2 million and Damon for $5.25 million. Up in Toronto, the Blue Jays ended an era as they traded 12-year veteran center fielder Vernon Wells to the Angels in exchange for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera.

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Cliff Lee signing helps shape AL East

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, MLB,

What does Cliff Lee signing with a National League team mean for the American League East? A lot, actually. The New York Yankees didn’t land this year’s greatest free agent, and that changes the whole landscape for the 2011 season. No longer are they the juggernaut that would win the East title year after year; now they spend twice as much money as anybody else to simply contend for wild cards, if they even get those.

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New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays finish possible postseason preview

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: MLB, Playoffs,

If the series between the Rays and Yankees is any indication, this year’s MLB playoffs may hold the series of the decade if the two aforementioned teams can claim victory over their Division Series opponents. New York visited Tampa Bay for a three-game set that saw the Rays take two out of three – and first place in the AL East – while managing to outscore the Bronx Bombers 12-11 in what may have been one of the most exciting; and important series’ of the season.

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The divergent paths of the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: MLB,

The Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays both play in the American League East. The two also have names three words long with rhyming mascots, but beyond that, few similarities exist between the two franchises. Both have battled the best in the AL East, competing with the juggernauts from New York and Boston, but up until the 2008 season, there was little about the Rays and Jays for fans outside of Tampa Bay and Toronto take note of.

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Josh Beckett’s return bodes well for the Boston Red Sox

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Injuries, MLB, Rumors,

With a 2-1 win over Oakland on Monday night, the Boston Red Sox have now won four of their last 12 games. They have fallen behind both the Yankees and the Rays in the AL East and are one more string of losses away from being out of it; considering the level of competition in their division at least. But with almost a dozen regulars out with injuries, the Red Sox are still in a surprisingly good position.

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Dominating division putting others to shame

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: MLB,

Has anybody else noticed that four of the five best records in the American League belong to teams from the East? The Rays and Yankees are one, two, split up only by Minnesota, who is a half-game ahead of both Boston and Toronto. Behind them is the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, who are two games back of them. From the Rays to the Jays, there is a 3.5 game gap, and there’s still two-thirds of the season left to play.

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Baltimore wins their weekly game

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: MLB,

The Boston Red Sox managed to accomplish something that few others have this season. They lost to the Baltimore Orioles despite the best efforts of the O’s to give the game back to the Sox. It took a pair of three-run innings to get the win in extra innings, but the Sox put two on the board in their half of the tenth to fall a run short. And now for the first time in 2010, the Orioles will be carrying a winning streak for more than 24 hours as they have an off-day Monday before traveling to Yankee Stadium.

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Toronto’s Wells on pace for 243 homers

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, MLB,

Vernon Wells, Toronto’s highly overpaid All-Star center fielder is already 20 percent of the way to matching his home run total from 2009. With a pair of big bombs against Texas’ Dustin Nippert and Darren Oliver on Wednesday night to go along with his Opening Day blast to ruin Scott Feldman’s start gives him three homers in the first two games of the season. In 158 games last year, he only managed to reach a total of 15.

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The Tampa Bay Rays have proved nothing

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Editorial, MLB,

Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Rays dropped their 11th straight game, one of the longest losing streaks for any team in 2009. These are the same Tampa Bay Rays whose bandwagon everybody jumped on after a successful run to the World Series last year. The Rays took those fans for a ride this year, and many thought that the team would be a force to be reckoned with; that their minuscule payroll would be able to match the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees. Boy, were those people wrong.

The Rays of ’09 are just another name in the bunch. Sure, the Rays aren’t going to lose 90 games this year like they had every season prior to 2008, but they’re certainly not the same team that they were a year ago. With neighbors like the Red Sox and Yankees in their division, 90 wins will never be good enough, and the Rays certainly aren’t going to win 90 games this year. If they continue at the pace they’ve had for the past month or so, they’ll be lucky to finish with a second .500 season.

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John McDonald Cracks Number…Two

Posted by Adrien Griffin Categories: Athletes, Editorial, MLB,

John McDonald is on a tear. Last night, he cracked his second home run of the season; a three-run shot that gives him a whopping seven RBI in 2009. The blast brings him within one of tying a season high and he now totals 11 home runs in his 11 year career. Like I said, John McDonald is on a tear.

Realistically, McDonald is a bench player. As the backup shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays, McDonald has suffered from limited playing time in the last few seasons, but when his name has been scratched into the lineup, he’s wowed fans on a nightly basis with acrobatic defensive stops and highlight-reel plays. The only thing that has kept him out of the everyday lineup is his below-average bat. His under-.240 batting average over his career has been enough of a hindrance to his team to drop him to a utility position with the Jays.

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