Fixing the date for the Baseball Solstice

Now is the winter of our discontent, baseball fans. The World Series ended on Oct. 28, and nearly two months later I’m really starting to miss the game. Musing on this long dormant period for the national pastime, I’ve concluded that like our pagan ancestors, we must mark the passage of the seasons. And that […]

The baseball season ends, and winter begins

It’s no coincidence: The baseball season concluded last night as the Cardinals knocked off the Rangers in St. Louis, and it’s snowing this morning in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York. What more do fans of the Phillies, Pirates, Yankees and Mets need to remind them that the 2011 season didn’t go their way? But what […]

And the most valuable player in major league baseball, 2011, is ….

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance, of which I am a proud member, bestows its annual Stan Musial Award on the best player in baseball by a vote of the group’s members. This is my first year casting a ballot for what is the equivalent of the Major League Baseball most valuable player awards, and it’s a […]

After the first full week of play, some startling names atop the baseball standings

As I write this post, the Yankees and Red Sox (again!) are playing on the Sunday night telecast. If the Yankees win, they’ll manage a tie in first place of the American League East not with the Sox but with the Baltimore Orioles. Whoa. And check the AL Central standings. The Indians, who (be honest) […]

Taking the plunge in fantasy baseball one more time

Fantasy baseball tears me in two directions. On the one hand, I love the concept of creating my own team to see what might happen if I were picking the lineups. On the other hand, pulling apart the game at the seams and stitching into something else should never eclipse the real thing. So I […]

Can the Rangers rebound and defeat the San Francisco Giants?

By coincidence or fate, I spent a week in Texas as the American League and National League championship series were being decided. I returned home to California in the middle of Game 1 of the World Series, in which today the Giants lead the Rangers 2 games to none after improbable back-to-back, high-scoring victories in […]

Switching caps (again): Mark DeRosa

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=Mark+DeRosa&iid=5056280″ src=”3/b/e/3/Mark_DeRosa_meets_d307.JPG?adImageId=8722277&imageId=5056280″ width=”234″ height=”305″ /] Mark DeRosa joined a new team today, the San Francisco Giants. As a Giants fan, I’m pleased. Assuming he keeps pace with his performance in recent years, he’ll add some pop to what has been an anemic offense the last year or two. After seven years with […]