Baseball Analysis

25th October, 2005 Minute Maid Park, Houston. Roy Oswalt was huge in Game 6 of the ALCS and he'll have to be huge again in the must win Game 3 for the Astros. Read more »

Scott Podsednik might have hit the walk-off job in the 9th, but it was Paul Konerko who hit the grand salami to give the White Sox a 6-4 lead. Read more »

As the trial in the BALCO case wrapped up, America watched as a resounding and powerful message was sent to anyone and everyone who entertained any thoughts of researching, designing, and distributing steroids. That message: GO FOR IT! Read more »

23rd October, 2005 U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago. Andy Pettite will follow his best friend Roger Clemens onto the mound and will have to be healthy to send the Astros back to Houston even. Read more »

Jose Contreras gave the White Sox seven strong innings, winning Game 1 on a night when Roger Clemens was forced to bow out early. Read more »

I've read all the rags, on-line and off-, and it's all been written already. I could come up with a story on the batboys, or on how one team's grounds crew will be the smoking gun in this extremely evenly matched showdown. But who would read that? So I'll just tell it like it is. White Sox Will Win. There. Said it. Read more »

You think it?s going to be tough for Cubs fans to watch this World Series? Yankee fans, too, may want to turn off their televisions. Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte pitching in Astros uniforms, trying to bring the state of Texas its first Series trophy? Jose Contreras and El Duque Hernandez, trying to bring Chicago its first World Series in 88 years? Read more »

The Baltimore Orioles organization may not yet have solved its team's many roster issues --replacements for 2005 fallouts Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa and Sidney Ponson, would be a great place to start. But the flurry of activity within both the coaching staff and the front office bodes well for a team hungry to finally return a winning ball club to the Orioles fans everywhere. Read more »

22nd October, 2005 U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago. Game 1 of the Fall Classic will feature former Yankees Roger Clemens and Jose Contreras. Read more »

Roy Oswalt pitched 8 brilliant innings, giving up just 3 hits and 1 run, striking out 6 Cardinals' batters. Read more »

At a time the Braves were hoping to celebrate a trip back to the World Series, they lost Leo Mazzone, the crafter of all the great pitching staffs Atlanta has had, to the Baltimore Orioles. Read more »

Some people might laugh at this statement, saying that teams are boring or a World Series can?t be great if the Red Sox or Yankees aren?t in it. To those people I say, where have you been all October. Both the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox are exciting, pedal to the metal baseball teams, who aren?t afraid to make a mistake. Read more »

So what do we as Devil Rays fans have to look forward to? Well at this time the Rays are just trying to find a manager. Lou Piniella was let go from his contract, and the Rays have brought in a host of different candidates for the job. The most likely canidates seems to be Joe Giradi, the ex-Yankee catcher, and current bench coach for Joe Torre, and Ron Washington, the Oakland A?s third base coach. Read more »

This was supposed to be a column about the glory of two teams who never make it to the World Series, finally making it. The Cardinals were as dead as their about-to-be-demolished ballpark. They?d already dropped seven straight post-season road games. They were about to waste another 100-win regular season. They were about to. Read more »

The Cardinals were one out from elimination when Albert Pujols stunned the Astros, and their fans, with a monster 3-run homerun, to give St. Louis a thrilling 5-4 win in Game #5. Read more »

19th October, 2005 Busch Stadium, St. Louis. Roy Oswalt RHP vs. Mark Mulder LHP. The lights of Busch Stadium get to go on at least one more time as the Cardinals return home with some momentum going into Game #6. Can the stunned Astros bounce back? Read more »

A team built on pitching, pitching, and a little bit more pitching. Evidence of this can be summed up with the performances from their starters from games 2 through 5. That is a complete game from four different starting pitchers in consecutive games. Mark Buerhle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia, and Jose Contreras were able to do something that hadn?t been done by a group of starters since the 1928 New York Yankees. Read more »

17th October, 2005 Miniute Maid Park, Houston. Andy Pettite and the Astros are one win away from going to their first World Series in franchise history. Read more »

Brandon Backe gave the Astros another fine pitching performance, giving up 2 hits and 1 run over 5 2/3 innings. He also struck out 7 Cardinals. Read more »

16th October, 2005 Angel Stadium, Anaheim. How quickly things change..After taking a 1-0 series lead, the Angels have now lost three straight games and face elimination on their homefield in Game 5. Read more »