The Oakland A’s are a couple hours away from starting the final game in a three game series at Texas. The A’s picked up game one and two by beating the Rangers 9-3 and 5-3 respectively. Texas has now dropped to 9 games back and is all but out of it. There are just 31 games left in the season for most teams. If the Rangers are going to keep hope alive, they must win tonight and get back to within 8 games. Since they are trailing a second team—the Angels—the task is twice as difficult.

Dontrelle Willis has been part of the trade rumors all season. However, he says he wants to stay in Florida. The problem is Florida. They are dragging their feet. While Willis wants to stay, he’s not about to sign for peanuts. His former teammate, Josh Beckett, got a nice extension with the Boston Red Sox […]

The New York Yankees are at Baltimore for game two of their series today. Yesterday, the Yankees won 6-5 in dramatic fashion. Farnsworth for the Yankees got the win and Ray for the Orioles got the loss. Today’s match up puts the struggling Randy Johnson of the Yankees against even higher ERA Adam Loewen for the Orioles.

It’s been a long time coming—for Dodger fans—but Eric Gagne make his return in Los Angeles tonight. The Phillies spoiled the night as they scored five runs in the 7th inning and eventually won 8-6, but many fans were probably more interested in Gagne’s return. It was perfect timing. Gagne’s return was before a sellout crowd of 55,142.

It’s a bird, no it’s a plane, nope, it’s the Rocket! Roger Clemens has officially announced his return to baseball today. It’s tough to keep a good player out of the sport. Roger Clemens gave into the lure of competition and money. After months of rumors and flirtations with various teams, Roger Clemens has decided to return to Houston—and they sure need him. The Houston Astros basically laid it all out on the table. They are in a desperate situation. Andy Pettitte has been struggling and they found themselves 6.5 back of the NL Central Division leading Cardinals and 3.5 back in the NL Wild Card Race.

What a great day of baseball. Technically, the seasoned opened last night with the Indians at the White Sox, but today is when all the other teams played. That game last night was disgusting. Today’s action featured some blowouts and some players picking up where they left off. Some notable action:

With spring training nearing an end, I thought it was a good point to look at pitchers to see who is dominating so far. Leading the strikeout list is the usual suspect, Randy Johnson of the New York Yankees. He’s also pitched 24.1 innings this spring training, which is the most of any pitcher. As we look at the top 15 strikeout leaders so far, let’s also look at innings pitched and see who is a real fire baller this spring training.

Nomar Garciaparra is showing a slight sign of life. Of course, when you are one for twenty, there’s no where to go but up. It’s been some time since we checked in on Garciaparra and he’s had some hits since then. Garciaparra still remains a question mark for the regular season. While his average is starting to improve slightly, he is still struggling in spring training.

Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies is definitely not looking back this spring training. As of this writing, Ryan Howard is destroying the baseball and feasting on spring training pitching. Looking at what he did last year in limited action, there should be no surprise. Ryan Howard looks like the real deal and that has Philadelphia Phillies fans excited. Take a look at what he’s accomplished already this spring training.

It sure hasn’t been a good spring training for Nomar Garciaparra so far. Sure, it’s only spring training, but this is the time when hitters are normally tearing the cover off the ball due to soft pitching. Has Normar Garciaparra lost his ability or is he just in a mental funk? Let’s take a look at the number so far.