Remember the golden age of shortstops? It was from the late 90s into the early 2000s, and shortstops were no longer slick-fielding pipsqueaks who struggled to hit 10 home runs or slug .350.  OK, Cal Ripken, Alan Trammell and Barry Larkin probably deconstructed that perception of shortstops years earlier. Not only were they excellent fielders, […]

Something cool happened in the Rangers' 16-5 smashing of the Astros on Monday night. After a marathon third inning that saw Texas plate ten runs, Houston manager Bo Porter threw utility infielder Jake Elmore behind the plate to catch, replacing Carlos Corporan. After Wade LeBlanc and Phil Humber had varying degrees of success with Elmore […]

The Washington Nationals have acquired outfielder

Alex Rodriguez can't get a damn break. Not only did he get vociferously booed in Boston this weekend (which honestly, is part for the course), but even the umpires aren't giving him any love. After Ryan Dempster threw at Rodriguez in the second inning (eventually succeeding), both benches were warned and Dempster was allowed to […]

The Pitching Matchup of the Day I put together at the end of the Dugout Digest every day usually lives up to the hype to some extent. However, on Saturday night, the matchup I picked was a complete and utter bust. I thought Mike Minor and Stephen Strasburg would light the world on fire in […]

Friday was a good night for the Pirates. After a disappointing series loss in St Louis, the Pirates got back on the winning track by beating the Diamondbacks 6-2 in Pittsburgh. The Cubs curbstomped the Cardinals 7-0, and the Brewers dealt the Reds a 7-6 walkoff loss, helping give Pittsburgh a little more separation in […]

The NL Central race has always been close, but now…it's *close*. The Cardinals took two out of three from the Pirates this week (with a pair of extra inning, walkoff wins in the mix), and the Reds have ripped off five wins in a row. St Louis is now two back Pittsburgh, while Cincinnati is […]

Ready or not, MLB is set to expand the use of instant replay starting with the 2014 season. After years of considering options, studying different implementations and a few false starts of expanded replay, Bud Selig and his VP Joe Torre have gotten approval from the league's executive committee on their grand scheme for giving […]

If the Kansas City Royals are indeed a playoff contender in the American League, their five-game series against the Detroit Tigers beginning Thursday night provides an excellent opportunity to show they're the real deal. Both the Royals and Tigers have been among the hottest teams in MLB since the All-Star break. Kansas City is 19-6 […]

Something odd happened in Arizona this week that quite frankly, I didn't even notice. The Diamondbacks swept the Orioles, which isn't too eye-opening. But they won all three games in walkoff fashion, with Wednesday's 5-4, 14 inning victory as the cherry on top. The Diamondbacks also beat the Mets 5-4 in a walkoff win on […]