Life is like a baseball game. When you think a fastball is coming, You gotta be ready to hit the curve.
-- Jaja Q
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| WINTER BLUES, SUMMER BLUES - by UKMLB Supporters Club Feature Writer Ronnie |
 I noticed a malaise among Baseball fans over the Winter, the season has ended and the reality of no Baseball over the long, dark, cold Winter Months has a depressive effect upon many. But not all! For fans of the teams on the wrong side of the tracks this is the best time of the year. Let’s be honest, once May comes around people in Tampa or K.C. or Pittsburgh or half a dozen other Baseball outposts have little to look forward to, but during the Winter they can believe. Sure they probably are kidding themselves, but at this time of year they can chat happily to fellow sufferers about the latest recruits and how these new guys really are actually misunderstood budding superstars, no really, they are! They can make believe that their time is just around the corner, they will be like the Marlins and come from nowhere to be crowned World Champions. This keeps them smiling during the long, dark, cold Winter days. Sadly, life, and Baseball, isn’t like that. For proof just see the trade between the Mets and Twins for Johan Santana, the Twins were backed into a corner and were left with almost no choice but to trade him or see him leave for virtually nothing. They had thought a battle between the Yankees and RedSox to acquire him would bring in a goldmine of talent, but for whatever reason the bidding war never materialised and the Mets jumped in with a package that included not one established MLB player, this for one of the best pitchers in the game today. Where do small revenue teams derive hope from that? The Twins lost both Torri Hunter and Johan Santana for financial reasons and the Twins have been established contenders for the past few seasons, what genuine hope do the likes of Tampa & K.C. really have?
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Posted bygalraen on Thursday, May 01, 2008 - 04:04 AM (171 Reads)
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| NL West preview - by DP |
Considered to be one of the weakest divisions in baseball in 2005 and 2006, a resurgence took place in the NL West in 2007, four teams finished with winning records and it produced a NL champion for the first time since 2002.
Another division that went to the wire, the surprising Diamondbacks have young team which will be expected to improve with another years experience and the addition of Dan Haren. The Rockies and Padres, who played the one game play-off for the wild-card berth at the end of last season, both bring back similar teams to last season and will expect to challenge once again. The Dodgers, who went 82-20 last season, are full of talented youngster and the likes of James Loney, Matt Kemp, Chad Billignsley, Jon Broxton and Russell Martin should develop into a team that will contend for years to come though, in such a tough division, this may be a year too early for them to reach the play-offs. Finally the Giants, a team lacking identity or direction, should be contenders for the worst team in baseball this year.
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Posted bygalraen on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 05:03 PM (148 Reads)
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| NL East preview - by DP |
Despite many strong regular seasons from the Phillies, Braves and, more recently, the Mets, the NL East has not produced a National League champion since the World Series winning Marlins in 2003.
After a close race in 2007, which was capped by the infamous Mets collapse, another fruitful regular season is likely this year. The Mets made the major move in the off-season, making the trade for Johan Santana, and start the season as favourites for the World Series in many peoples eyes but the Phillies, who look just as strong as the division winning team of last season, will have other ideas. The Braves, trying to bounce back after two below par seasons, will also expect to be in the mix. Washington, in their new stadium, and Florida are both young team who should find it difficult to compete this season
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Posted bygalraen on Saturday, April 05, 2008 - 05:23 AM (210 Reads)
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| NL Central Preview - By DP |
In six out of seven years between 1998 and 2005 at least 93 wins were needed to top the NL Central. Then considered one of the strongest divisions in baseball, it has fallen into decline recently.
83 wins in 2006 and 85 wins in 2007 enough to win the division and another poor season seems likely in 2008. The Cubs and Brewers are the favourites again but neither as made major improvements in the off-season. Both have young teams and should get better this year but it's difficult to see either making a sustained push in the play-offs. A young Reds team may be dark-horses, top prospects such as Jay Bruce, Joey Votto and Homer Bailey should all be called-up this season and could help a team that is building a decent nucleus of players. The Astros and Cardinals, the cream of the division earlier in the decade, are both rebuilding and should struggle and the Pirates, well they're still the Pirates.
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Posted bygalraen on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 02:02 AM (286 Reads)
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| AL East Young Guns - by Rich1 |
As far back as I can remember the American League East has been won by one of two teams; the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees. The rest of the division have been building, trying to challenge these two power-horses. But so far, they’ve been trailing behind.
However, if you look closely you’ll notice an influx of young talent coming up through the ranks of every team in the division. Even the Red Sox and Yankees have been focusing and relying on some young prospects to propel them to the division championship. 2008 looks no different, as we take a look at some of the players looking to make a big impact this year - and possibly un-balance the Boston/New York dominance.
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Posted bygalraen on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 - 05:21 PM (315 Reads)
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| NL Central- Young Guns by CubbieDream |
NL Central- Young Guns
 In the words of John Turnstill in the 1988 film entitled ‘Young Guns’ ‘These boys are promising young men acquiring an education’. The same can be said for the promising players that will be on show from the NL Central this year.
The Central has often been regarded as one of the worst divisions in major league baseball, and if not the worst one of the easiest. With 13 seasons under its belt and only one world Series winner to boast it seems that its hard to argue with that theory.
For me the NL central could be one of the most improved divisions this season and could in time become one of the premier divisions in the Major Leagues. The biggest division in the Majors has some of the best young players coming up in the game today. I will be highlighting just a selection of players who will be flying the flag for the NL Central in this 2008 season.
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Posted bygalraen on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - 05:44 AM (378 Reads)
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| All American Girls Professional Baseball League- And the Chicago Cubs - by CubbieDream |
I don’t know what it is that interests me about the AAGPBL, maybe it’s the fact that as a young boy I was shown the film A League Of Their Own, really it was my first introduction to baseball, and definitely my first introduction to the history of the game. Ever since those early days I have watched the film many times with a passing interest. As you can see by my earlier blog posts I’m a keen spectator of history, but until now I have never thought to look in more detail. Even though I have never looked at the Girls Professional league before I did learn one thing very early:
‘ There's no crying! There's no crying in baseball’
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Posted bygalraen on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - 01:16 PM (488 Reads)
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| 'One more win' that's all the Mets wanted. |
On the second of February the Mets finaly got the man they were after when they completed the trade with the Twins for Johan Santana. Mets fans started celebrating, whilst Twins fans complained bitterly about getting fleeced. A lot of Mets fans were already assuming that winning the NL East was a forgone conclusion, whilst in Minnesota the fans were starting to wonder if they could hold off the Royals. The Twins fans may well have been too pessimistic, the prospects might well work out, and they still have a lot of good players and a good manager. Were the Mets fans too optimistic, should they already be booking their tickets for the World Series? For an alternative look at what Johan might bring, and whether he can deliver that 'One more Win', read on.
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Posted bygalraen on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 - 01:29 PM (366 Reads)
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| PINK SHIRTS & BOW TIES, IN BASEBALL? by UKMLB Supporters Club Feature Writer Ronnie |
There must be very few of us Baseball fans in the UK who do not owe our love of the game to the coverage provided by FIVE. MLB on FIVE has been a feature of the schedule for 10 years and introduced us to the game, educated us into the nuances and gave us a feel for all things Baseball. For that we and Baseball owe FIVE a debt of thanks and we shouldn’t forget the part played by that small band of dedicated, if slightly insane, people that work long hours to bring us the sport of Baseball.
Unfortunately it seems that we do forget, it appears that as well as having to contend with a disparaging media who take a quiet week in the Premiership to draft up some nonsense “feature” about American rounders etc etc. The usual stupid, uninformed opinions thrown around with a feeling of security because the writers know that there are a host of genuine sports around the World that are not as popular in the UK as the great God Football. It isn’t hard to write a few words making fun of Baseball, Hockey, Curling, Cycling or whichever other Sport is unfortunate enough to have caught the writers eye, make it look silly and the hoards of blinkered Football fans will lap it up.
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Posted bygalraen on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 01:53 PM (903 Reads)
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| Winter Trades: The story so far |
 So far this winter there have been over 30 trades involving major league teams. The most active teams have been the Athletics, Diamondbacks, Mets and Tigers, each making four trades, whilst some teams have made no trades at all, despite making a lot of noise.
 The most number of players involved in a single trade is eight, this has happened in two trades, one between the A's and D'Backs, and one between the Tigers and Marlins. The fewest is one, plus a PTBNL.
So far the A's have traded for the most players, thirteen, and by doing so have made it clear that they are in rebuild mode, and don't expect to compete for a year or two. Although Baseball is a funny old game, and sometimes teams with zero expectations can surprise (see Marlins 2006), don't hold your breath.
 The biggest 'winners' in terms of immediate impact are probably the Mets and Diamondbacks, who would now be many peoples tips to make it to the NLCS this year, but as the old saying goes, “there's many a slip twixt cup and lip”.
For a full list of winter trades click on 'See More', you can chat about it in 'Off Season Moves' in the General Discussion Forum.
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Posted bygalraen on Sunday, February 03, 2008 - 05:44 PM (422 Reads)
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