I’m going to jump on my own bandwagon here.  Last season while contributing for HardballChat.com, I wrote an article about the second wild card spot which was created for each league. I felt it would benefit the teams who maybe in any other season would be considered out of the hunt but could now focus on playing hard and getting in the playoffs. A year ago today the Mets were 18-13 and tied for the lead in the [...]

Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler headline a handful of budding young pitchers who hope to one day bring the New York Mets organization back to relevance again. Harvey,  in his first full season, is doing his best to do just that–as exemplified by his near-perfect, nine shutout frames in Tuesday night’s walk-off victory by the Whitestone kid, Mike Baxter–and Wheeler is knocking on the door to crack the big-league rotation soon enough. As both develop, [...]

A member of the SABR once said, “There are 499 ballplayers. And then there’s Willie Mays.” It was way back in the summer of 1973. Camera Day. I was a few months shy of turning 8 years old. My dad nudged me closer to the railing along the third base line so no grown-ups would block my view. Mets players walked around the warning track, stopping every few feet to smile for the cameras. My [...]

MLB.com reports that the Phillies placed Roy Halladay on the 15-day disabled list Monday because of inflammation in his right shoulder. Philadelphia recalled left-hander Joe Savery to temporarily take Halladay’s place on the 25-man roster. A replacement for Halladay’s spot in the starting rotation will be named before Friday’s game in Arizona against the Diamondbacks. Candidates to make the start include Triple-A left-hander Adam Morgan and right-hander Tyler Cloyd. After allowing nine runs in 2 [...]

The concept of fault lines in the media is something we all witness on a daily basis, but rarely recognize. Fault lines are a tool that help shape the perception of ourselves, others and events around us. The ones most are familiar with are culture and gender, but they can also contain factors of age, socioeconomic status and geographical location of the subject. Some of these categories can help us in understanding the enigma that is Jordany [...]

For those of you that missed it, there was a strange play that took place during the Detroit Tigers’ 7-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night. Quite frankly, I’ve never seen anything like it before. Here’s what happened along with the accompanying video from MLB.com. During the third inning with the Tigers trailing 4-2 and base runners Prince Fielder on third and Victor Martinez at second, Jhonny Peralta lined a single to [...]

Last night, while watching the highlights of the Mets game, I saw the comebacker that struck Jon Niese on the right leg and caused him to leave the game. He was later diagnosed with a contusion, which for the Mets sake is good news. At the moment of impact on his right leg, I thought to myself that something needs to be done to protect the pitchers. The mound to home plate is 60 feet [...]

If you paid $10 to see 42, and you expected to see the story of anyone other than Jackie Robinson, one of two things likely happened: You went to the right movie, but for the wrong reason You missed a great movie … and that’s a shame Maybe, both. Coincidentally, sports media reporter Ed Sherman fell victim to both of those circumstances. In a column for the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana University Sherman [...]

ADD DESTROYING CRIMINAL EVIDENCE TO A-ROD’S RAP LIST? On Friday afternoon, Michael Schmidt of the New York Times broke the story and identified Alex Rodriguez as the player who allegedly purchased documents from a former employee of Biogenesis of America in an attempt to destroy evidence linking him to the anti-aging clinic’s distribution of performance-enhancing drugs. When the Miami New Times broke the story in January, I remember saying “this is the White Whale. This is the [...]