Predicting a no hitter is a bit silly of course, it takes some luck and goes without saying is rather rare. But with Strasburg’s stuff it’s possible any time I suppose and against an offensively challenged team (again, despite their mis-leadingly high BA so far this season) it’s perhaps a bit more likely today. We’ll see at 4:35 ET.

I’m going to wrap up this post before I really get started because I might not stop. I have no tolerance for cheating or lying and that’s all baseball was for a lot of years.

So all that is impressive enough but consider just a few years ago Zack literally walked away from the game. He simply didn’t want to play baseball anymore. A long story short, Zack suffers from social anxiety disorder. After a year plus away from the game Zack has not only made it back to the game, he now finds himself on top of the game of baseball.

The numbers are great, the story is great but the best part – have you seen him pitch? Wow!
It’s unfair. 92 mph fastball under a chin followed by a 72 mph curve ball that has the hitter bailing out of the box while the pitch lands in the heart of the plate but the hitter never had a chance. Baseball keeps endless stats – perhaps it’s out there somewhere – but Zack has to lead the league in check swing strikeouts. His splitter is just plain nasty and hitters are helpless against it.
You truly have to see Zack pitch to appreciate the dominance that lead to historic numbers.

It’s only 6 starts into the season but Zack is clearly the best pitcher in baseball right now. Will he win the Cy Young? Or the MVP? Will he throw a no hitter? Or a perfect game? Will he at least keep it going long enough to start the All-Star game? A yes to any of these questions wouldn’t surprise anyone and all appear for now to be good picks. It is of course a long season and a lot remains to be played out. But on May 5th, 2009 the Kansas City Royals are in first place and Zack Greinke is simply unhittable.

After elbow and shoulder injuries kept the super talented right-handed 2005 Cy Young Award winner on the shelf for most of ’08 and ’07 Chris Carpenter made it only 10 innings into the 2009 season. However, it should be noted they were 10 scoreless innings.

So this brings up another point, and a blog post for another time – Are players more injury prone these days than 20 years ago? 30, 40, 50 years ago? And if so is it because they’re softer, get paid too much, too many steroids, or are teams just being too careful? Or perhaps you think not careful enough. That’s a much longer subject for another day but it’s something I’ll absolutely ‘speak’ on eventually.

First (although these are not meant to be in any particular order, other than the order I typed them) is simply that its great that baseball season is back! Nothing like the crack of the bat on the radio.

It’s only April 16th and I’m already sick of Manny talk again. Actually, I think I’m still sick of it from last season. And the season before that, and the season before that……etc…..

Too many people talk about “fast starts” and “slow starts” – lets talk in another 20 days and it might matter. Sure – Florida, Seattle, San Diego, Toronto off to fast starts is a surprise its only been 10 games! And yes Cleveland, Anaheim, Boston and Tampa Bay stinking so far is a surprise – but’s it only been 10 games! Like I said, lets talk about in another 20 days and bad starts or good starts mean something for the other 5 months of the season.

Managers on the “hot seat” – really? We’re already talking about this? How many times will I say it – it’s only been 10 games!

So I guess my point is rather simple. The best thing about the baseball season so far is that baseball is back!

Sadly, earlier today, Harry Kalas longtime Phillies broadcaster died.  But if there is a most certainly a poetry to the fact he died in the booth.

A huge loss for Phillies fans and a loss for many sports fan as Harry Kalas’ voice was well known beyond the Phillies booth.  He was a very recognizable voice of NFL Films, the 76ers and Westwood broadcasts for years.

He was not only a great announcer, but a great guy.  The stories of generousity and kindness are endless when you talk to anyone who knew Harry Kalas.

He will be missed.

Time and time again (not just this season obviously) I see major league players in the field botch plays – balls of their glove, missed side swipes (god forbid they get in front of a ball to knock it down), or they’re just plain too lazy to get close enough to make a play.  And time and time again the official scorer’s ruling: hit.  Hit?  What?  These are major leaguers for crying out loud! 

Last season there an especially bad bad play by an infielder that was scored a hit.  It was controversial enough that the official scorer was asked about it and the response from the official scorer as to why it was a hit and not an error….”It was a really hard play”
NO SHIT!  It’s major league baseball – of course it’s a hard play!  They’re supposed to make the damn play!  If they don’t – it’s an error!  That’s why it’s called an error!
No wonder ERAs are getting so high – there are no errors anymore, everythings a hit and there’s no unearned runs anymore. 

I had a coach in little league a lot of years ago who was always yelling at us – “If you get your glove on it you should catch it!”
Not a bad point.