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Major League Baseball pitchers are having a banner year in 2010, their first in a long time.

Year of the Pitcher

Whether it is because Major League Baseball has manipulated game conditions to counteract the bloated offensive numbers of the steroid era, or because decreased steroid use has increased pitching efficiency, or because of something else altogether, 2010 has truly become the Year of the Pitcher. This season is already being compared to that magical year of 1968, when Denny McLain became the last big league pitcher to win at least 30 games (31) and Bob Gibson set the modern era Earned Run Average record with a sparkling 1.12… and that’s only naming a couple of 1968’s pitching accomplishments.

But in 2010, baseball purists are once again rejoicing. True fans of the game love and appreciate pitchers’ duels far more than slugfests, the taut, tense strategy and technical accomplishment of defense over the mere brute strength of offensive.
Continue Reading Year of the Pitcher – MLB Baseball

The Texas Rangers, not the New York Yankees, win the Cliff Lee trade lottery.

Texas Rangers Not Saying “Wait ‘Til Next Year”

Your humble (okay, maybe not so humble) editor has been somewhat lax in writing articles himself lately. For that, I apologize. It is not for lack of interest and desire. A teething baby and–to a lesser extent–a cold have me beyond exhausted. Every time I set down to write the letters have grown blurry and the words have lacked cohesive sense.

The last few weeks have provided for an unusually active summer season, what with baseball, the World Cup, Wimbledon and the LeBron James free agency farce played out last night on ESPN. Initially my plan was to rail against this self-serving, shameful display–I feel for those Cavalier fans and Cleveland as a whole. At least there was one saving grace: the proceeds went to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

But then I saw this little–now big–tidbit cross the sports wire: Continue Reading Cliff Lee Traded to Texas Rangers – MLB Baseball

Analysis of the Wimbledon Men’s Semifinal matches.

Todd’s Tennis Takes: Wimbledon Semifinals Preview

So Berdych comes through in beating Federer, only needing four sets, and shows the tennis world that indeed Fed’s aura has even taken a hit on the lawn, where he will fail to be in the finals of Wimbledon for the first time since 2002… and for the 2nd Slam in a row will even miss the semis.

Berdych played well, very steady, with strong groundstrokes, but make no mistake, the Federer of ‘04-’06 wins this match in 3 or 4 sets. Turning 29 this August, Fed is in the sights of Father Time… and the results tell the tale–heck, how can this result be so shocking if Falla was serving for the match against him in the 1st round… Alejandro Falla!!!!!
Continue Reading Todd’s Tennis Takes: Wimbledon Men’s Semifinals Preview – Tennis

Analysis of the Wimbledon Men’s Quarterfinal matches.

Todd’s Tennis Takes: Wimbledon Quarterfinals Set

What a tournament this has been! Federer and Nadal with early round troubles, the Isner/Mahut Marathon, and, just recently, Roddick’s loss to 82nd ranked Lu Yen-Hsun.

First, I want to cover the now legendary Marathon Match, which not only set an impossible standard for tennis overtime, but for overtime in all sports. If you use 3 hours & 40 minutes as the average length of a full five-set match, the Isner/Mahut Epic was the equivalent of three full five-set matches, running 11 hours and 5 minutes. The prior record was four-and-a-half hours shorter–6 hours, 33 minutes–in another first rounder, Clement/Santoro at the 2004 French Open (Santoro won). In an NBA basketball game, it’s like playing 19 overtimes, 8 overtimes in the NFL, or over 30 innings in a baseball game. The maximum number of games possible in a US Open match (tiebreaker used in the 5th set) is 65. Each player in this marathon held serve at least 68 times in the 5th set alone. The prior record for games in a set was 48, or 25-23. Their 5th set went 138 games, 70-68. At 41-41, I thought Mahut would win in the next 5 or 6 games, as Isner looked gassed. The 6′9″ American managed to hold his serve another 18 times that day, then 11 more the next. A phenomenal endurance test we’ll likely never see again.

Now, onto the quarterfinal match-ups…
Continue Reading Todd’s Tennis Takes: Wimbledon Men’s Quarterfinals Set – Tennis

The worst sports team logos and names in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL.

Logos and Names

Most of my readers have probably figured out last week’s column was really another way for me to continue my never-ending rant on the blatant racial insult that the NFL team playing in our nation’s capital foists upon every living and dead Native American.

Being the stubborn Sicilian I am, I wanted to end this multi-part series on logos and team names by starting a letter-writing campaign to Daniel Snyder complete with your suggestions for re-naming his team.

I’ve come to realize that the effort would be futile.

Really, what good would it do? The way Snyder runs his team, it’s obvious he’s too stupid to care.
Continue Reading Worst Sports Team Names & Sports Team Logos