What a season it has been

What a season it has been, are we just getting started?

So far this season seems to be the year of the pitcher.  Ubaldo Jimenez  has thrown a no-hitter and is 14-1 with a sub 2 era. Dallas Braden of the Oakland A’s threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Roy Halladay threw a perfect game against the Marlins down in Miami.  Edwin Jackson no hit the Rays in Tampa last Friday and we all know about the famous “should have been” perfect game thrown by the Detroit Tigers Armando Galarraga.

So why have all these pitchers been so successful? Could it be the lack of steroids now in baseball? Or have pitchers command and use of the off speed pitch been able to fool young hitters?

Burning Thoughts:

Burning Thought #1: This year there have been a couple of topics that have surfaced over and over again in my mind.  One being, like I mentioned earlier, the dominance of the pitcher.  I often wonder, are we going to see another no hitter, or another perfect game even? As great as pitchers have been this year I don’t believe that we will see any more perfect games.  There have been only 20 perfect games in the 100+ years of baseball and I think we will have to wait until next year before another one is thrown.  As for the no hitter, I think we can expect 1 more on this young season.  We still have July, August and September. If I had to throw out a prediction of who it would be, I would put my money on Gavin Floyd of the White Sox who has flirted with perfection many times in his short baseball career.  Floyd’s confidence is sky high right now and I believe it is only a matter of time.

Burning Thought #2: Ubaldo Jimenez .  Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies is 14-1 with a 1.60 era this season.  My thought so far has been, not how is he doing it, rather how long can he keep it up? Ubaldo has 2 more starts he can make before the All-Star break and winning both of those would put him at 16-1, which I believe he will do.  Some will doubt Ubaldo during the second half of the season but I am on the bandwagon and here to stay! When I look at the schedule I believe that Ubaldo will end up with 24 wins on the season easily winning the Cy Young award.

Burning Thought #3: Stephen Strasburg. Coming into his first start there has probably never been a more anticipated start.  They hype was rightfully deserved as Strasburg struck out 14 while walking 0 in 7 innings leading the Nationals to victory.  He then won his next start against the Indians but since then is 0-2 in 3 appearances.  Many wondered if Strasburg could reach the all-star game if he continued his tear through the Majors.  Obviously those talks have quieted down.  This year baseball has produced 3 amazing rookies, Strasburg, Jason Heyward of the Braves and hard hitting Mike Stanton of the Florida Marlins.  So my question baseball fans, in the next 10 years, who will we be talking about the most then?

Predictions: at this point of the season it is really hard to guess what is going on because of the trade deadline and because of the fact there is still half of a season to play. But ill try me best:

NL East: Atlanta Braves- The Braves have been excellent all year, however there young star Jason Heyward was placed on the DL today.  The Mets are hot, but not good enough to catch the Braves this year.

NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals- The Cards has been excellent all year and I believe they have the pitching and power to get passed the Reds to take the division.

NL West: San Diego Padres. It’s not Manny’s division, it’s not even Ubaldo’s division, the NL West belongs to Adrian Gonazlez.

NL Wildcard: Phildelphia Phillies- The Phils have somewhat struggled this year, but led by Howard and Jimmy Rollins, they are just to good to not make the playoffs.

AL East: New York Yankees- The Rays came on strong but the Yankees are by far one of the best teams in baseball and will take the East.

AL Central: Chicago White Sox- After a huge 11 game win streak to get the Sox just 2 games back of first place, the South Siders are showing us what they could have been doing from the beginning.  I expect the pitching to stay strong and for Kenny Williams to land Adam Dunn giving the Sox there big left hand bat they have needed all year.
AL West: Texas Rangers: They are the best in the West, not much else to say.

AL Wildcard: Boston Red Sox- David Ortiz and the little guy Dustin Pedroia are in it to win it and I expect them to come up just short in the East.

Playoffs: National League.

NLDS: Cardinals over Braves

NLDS: Phillies over Padres

NLCS: Cardinals over Phillies

Playoffs: American league.

ALDS: Yankees over Red Sox

ALDS: Rangers over White Sox

ALCS: Yankees over Rangers

World Series: Yankees over Cardinals in 6.

Thank you for joining me for the first addition of,  What a season it has been.

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