The Blue Workhorse

Rocco Baldelli’s name once invoked awe and excitement. He was the sixth overall draft pick in the 2000 draft, shot through the Tampa Bay (no longer Devil) Rays’ minor league system, and made his major league debut in 2003. In his rookie season, Baldelli batted a respectable .289 with 11 HR and 78 RBI while scoring 89 runs and stealing 27 bases landing him third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Angel Berroa of KC and Hideki Matsui of NY.

Baldelli again put up good numbers in 2004 in 136 games, but then missed all of 2005, nearly half of 2006, and barely played in 2007. Instead of awe and excitement, his name became synonymous for the punchline of a joke, much the same way Mike Hampton’s name has been for several years.

Then in March, Baldelli was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder that left him severely fatigued after doing only minimal activity. The jokes and punchlines about Rocco turned into concern over whether the disorder would necessitate the retirement of the 26-year-old centerfielder, who had been thought to be a huge part of the Rays’ future success.

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That’s right folks, we’re hitting the road. As of Thursday night/early Friday morning, half of the staff of this site along with three other companions will be on the road for half a day as we travel to New York City (well, technically we are staying in New Jersey).

Why drive 10-15 hours? Why travel to New York?

It’s actually quite simple: the hallowed grounds of the “House that Ruth Built” - Yankee Stadium.

We’re headed up for the final three games (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) of the Yankees four game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (yea, I struggle to write that out every time…it was so much simpler when they were the California Angels).

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Major League Baseball’s All-Star Break is great for many reasons.

Getting to see the collection of baseball legends along with the current stars on the field at Yankee stadium was a truly special moment.

In addition to the festivities, I have always enjoyed the game itself. Watching stud pitchers give maximum effort for an inning, both leagues assembling a numbers-packed studly lineup, and the overall atmosphere of the game is a great treat midway through the baseball season.

Another great reason for the game: we all get a break from fantasy baseball. A mental break is nice from the leagues we have been keeping up with since late April.

Since we have one-more day of the All-Star Break, I want to give some props to players who brought the wood, and others who fell off the baseball map:

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Every season there are a handful of players that come out of no where to surprise us and become instant stars. We touched on some players who jumped out to incredible starts after the first couple of weeks of the baseball season.

However, there are also a handful of players that play no where near what was expected of them. At the midway point of the season and in lieu of the recent trend of teams demoting established players (Phillies’ starter Brett Myers, Indians’ closer Joe Borowski, and young Braves’ slugger Jeff Francouer — even though Francouer has scored 40 runs, hit 8 HR, and driven in 41 RBI), we examine those players who have failed to meet expectations and would be well deserving of a demotion:

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Earlier today, Major League Baseball announced the rosters for the 79th All-Star Game being held at Yankee Stadium, which is only appropriate since this is the final season for the historic ballpark.

The starters were determined solely by the fan vote once again, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, we wanted to do what we hadn’t seen anywhere else and break down the selections team-by-team, so that you could easily see who was selected from your favorite team (starters are in bold):

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In the Sunday Sports Selection series, we showcase a sports-related product (gadget, book, film, equipment, etc.) that we have enjoyed and think you may find of interest as well.

For half of the baseball fans that come across this post, they are going to hate that I featured these shirts that they would find despicable. For the other half? Well, they probably are going to think these shirts are great ideas.

This is because half of baseball fans are either Boston Red Sox fans or New York Yankees fans (or at least it seems that way), and if you are a baseball fan, you typically either are a fan of one of those two teams or hate both of those teams.

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After Thursday night’s melee in Boston between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay (no longer Devil) Rays, Red Sox centerfielder Coco Crisp called out his Rays’ outfield counterpart in a post game interview.

The basis of Crisp’s assessment of the bench-clearing brawl was that Carl Crawford employed some less than masculine tactics when the teams went down to the ground duke it out on the pitchers mound.

The Boston/Tampa brawl can be seen here: RedLasso.

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As we gather with family and friends on Memorial Day weekend, we must remember that nearly a third of the Major League Baseball season has passed us, and for those of you whose fantasy teams are faltering, there is still hope, but it is likely time to make some changes.

One successful method that could get you back in the running for your league title is the “buy low” strategy, in which you nab up or trade for underperforming players. Using split-statistics, in which the players statistics are divided up into each individual month or Pre/Post All-Star Break, here are a few players who might not appear to be overly appealing now, but as the weather heats up, these players seem to follow: