The Sports Review

Tampa, Florida is home to the team with the best record currently in the MLB. The Tampa Bay Rays are sitting a top the AL East with a 20-7 record as of today. Right on there heels are the New York Yankees, who are coming off a World Series Championship. The Rays’ have the 21st highest payroll in the majors, while the Yankees have the first. The average salary for a player on the Yankees is $8,253,336. The average salary for the Rays is $2,663,882. How is Tampa Bay in 1st place?? It’s because they are a really good team. Evan Longoria is a certified star player for the Rays, leading the team in batting average (.349), home runs (7), and RBIs (23). Carl Crawford has also been phenomonal for Tampa Bay, hitting .343 and sporting a .408 OBP. The Rays’ starting pitching, however, has been the real success story. Matt Garza (5-1, 2.09 ERA) and James Shields (4-0, 3.15 ERA) have looked like the best 1-2 punch in the big leagues. We’ll see if the Rays can hold off the much wealthier Yankees in the coming weeks, but seeing Tampa Bay on top of the league does remind us that $$ isn’t everything in baseball. Well, not aboslutely everything anyway.  

Sports fans react to opening day of Major League Baseball unlike any other sport. In many cities in America, the way of life in the city immediately changes once that first pitch leaves the mound. From that moment until the season ends in the fall baseball is on the lips of Americans everywhere. Whether fans are complaining about how their closer can’t hit the broadside of a barn or how their team is destined to be crowned World Series Champions this season, the topic of discussion will be baseball at neighborhood pubs, office water coolers, and dinner tables across the country. Some of us will be fortunate enough to hear the crack of a bat in person or begin the tradition of listening to games on the radio or watching them on T.V. Over 162 games, baseball fans will live and die with their baseball teams. From coast to coast baseball season will begin and another season in America’s most historic sport will unfold.

“The Freak” has landed. After only making $650,000 in 2009 and winning the Cy Young Award for the second year in a row, the San Francisco Giants have agreed to pay Tim Lincecum $8 million this season and $13 million the following year. The 25-year-old has become one of the toughest pitchers to hit in the big leagues with a unique pitching motion batters can’t seem to figure out completely. In his three years playing professional ball, Lincecum has gone 40-17 with a 2.90 career ERA. The right hander from Bellevue, Washington was busted in October of 2009 for a marijuana possession while being pulled over for speeding. The deal is full of sweeteners should Lincecum continue his success with numerous bonus possibilities. Should the two-time All Star win the Cy Young Award again he’ll earn a hefty half million dollar bonus check. The Giants look to build on a strong 2009 season where the team went 88-74, but just missed out on the playoffs. Lincecum and the Giants will now head into spring training next week on the same page as they prepare for the 2010 season.

Minnesota is faced with the dilemma of dealing Johan Santana of their starting rotation. Two-time Cy Young Award winning player can become a free agent following the 2008 season. Minnesota is not ready to fork over the kind of cash the player is going to command. In this edition of Major League Baseball Fastball, Neil Borenstein examines Johan Santana’s situation, including who will be the top suitors and when is the right time to trade the player away

A-Rod is happy to be back to the New York Yankees, where he believes he belongs. The player has discovered happiness with the Yankees this year, and all along has a desire to stay, despite the specter of free agency. The power-hitting 3B said Saturday that his wife and he finally feel like they are New Yorkers. The club seemed prepared to move on, until Alex Rodriguez contacted them recently about a new contract that turned out to be worth about $275 million over ten years.

The Indianapolis Colts have lost their defensive end Dwight Freeney till the end of the season. He injured his left foot during the matchup against the San Diego Chargers on last Sunday. The team were two points behind the Charges, and Freeney, while making a spin motion, badly hurt his foot, which caused its dislocation and get him out of the games for quite a long period. Actually it was the midfoot, which will take time to heal. For this period the Colts want to replace Freeny with a defensive end from the Denver Broncos, because he is likely to be sacked by them.

Jacque Jones, 32, is a .294 hitter against right-handed pitchers, who averaged 25 home runs and 78 RBIs a season from 2004-2006 before hitting just five homers this year to go with 66 RBIs and a .285 batting average. Having been Tigers’ opponent some time ago, he is now one of the Tigers! Jones was traded by the Cubs, and feels that this deal will be successful for him; according to his words, he is moving from one good team to another good team and to the very good manager. By pulling off the one-for-one swap, the Tigers filled their need for a left-handed bat to add some semblance of balance to a predominantly right-handed lineup. As president/general manager Dave Dombrowski says, Jones is a proven left-handed hitter that can play left field. Therefore the team gained a lot by acquiring him, and we can hope for new and better results.

The brightest fact of the season is that the Red Sox took over first place in the American League East for good on April 18, and kicked the Angels off in the AL Division Series. Unfortunately, this stripe of luck ended, when the Sox dug themselves a 3-1 hole against the Indians. After that, the Boston Red Sox stayed in the moment and showed an amazing comeback by winning the series in seven games (!) In the World Series, the team beat Colorado and became the first team to win two championships at once in the new millennium.

The Sox has the perfect mix of youngsters, core players in their prime and grizzled veterans, which, most probably, contributed to their success this season. For example, Josh Beckett, 27, who advanced in his playing very much, Jonathan Papelbon, 26, as well as David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez who once again proved why they are such a feared 3-4 combo.

No matter what will happen next, the 2007 squad will be definitely put down in the books as World Series champions!