Are the Dodgers really that good?

Since Manny Ramirez came back from his suspension, the Los Angeles Dodgers have been on a roll this 2009 MLB baseball season.

You read it, the Los Angeles Dodgers look like the team to come out and represent the National League in the World Series. The Dodgers lead the pack in the NL West. However, slugger Manny Ramirez is in a downward spiral and he appears to be bringing the Dodgers down with him.

On their fifth attempt to clinch the National League West, the Dodgers fell 4-3 to the second-place Colorado Rockies as Manny Ramirez struck out in each of his four trips to the plate. The Dodgers may have gotten some sort of momentum since Ramirez came back from the suspension but with Ramirez himself struggling, I’m not sure how long can the rest of the Dodgers keep themselves afloat.

Last year, after acquiring Ramirez, the Dodgers looked like a completely different team. Before trading for him, they were 54-54. In the Dodger blue, Manny hit .396 with 17 homers and 53 RBI in 53 games. Truth be told, they have been led by outfielders not named Manny in Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, along with first baseman James Loney, and young pitchers like Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw.

It’ll be interesting to see how everything unfolds around the Dodgers.

One team looking to challenge the Dodgers are the Colorado Rockies. Under new manager Jim Tracy, the Rockies appear to be a completely different team. They don’t have any superstar pitchers, but Jason Marquis has 15 wins, Ubaldo Jimenez has 14 along with an ERA of 3.47, and Jorge De La Rosa has 15 in addition to…

And while you probably wouldn’t give a flying fuck about it, at least we informed you about it.

That’s right, the 2009 MLB All-Star Game is set this Tuesday as the players fans voted in to play will hope they won’t make an ass of themselves like Brock Lesnar did over the weekend.

So who made the cut? Let’s start with the 2009 MLB National League All-Star starters. The NL team consists of catcher Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals, and top vote-getter Albert Pujols at first base.

And since Pujols was the leading vote-getter in balloting for the Midsummer Classic, he became the very first Cardinal to start an All-Star game in his home ballpark. ”It feels great to be there and represent the organization and the city you play in,” Albert Pujols said.

Albert Pujols is well on his way to another amazing year, leading the majors with 31 homers and 82 RBIs. He collected 5,397,374 votes to finish with the second-highest total in Major League history, trailing only Ken Griffey Jr.’s six million votes in 1994. Pujols has made the NL team eight times in nine seasons and will be making his sixth start.

The rest of the National League all star infield consists of…

He has to, since he will be kicking off the Midsummer Classic in front of his hometown fans in St. Louis.

THAT is the kind of pressure top vote-getter Albert Pujols is in coming to the 2009 MLB All-Star festivities in St. Louis. Imagine this, he was just voted in by baseball fans the most, getting majority of the votes to play in the All-Star game. But before he can get to play the actual game, he has the 2009 MLB Home Run Derby to worry about first. And did I mention he has the entire town of St. Louis watching his every move?

There is no doubt that Albert Pujols will go for broke once the Midsummer Classic gets to St. Louis. The top vote-getter for the 2009 MLB All-Star Game will compete in his third Home Run Derby and while the last two were already great, this one should be more special since this will be the first time Pujols will perform in front of the Cardinals fans in Missouri.

There’s this one problem though.

In the 23 previous Home Run Derby contests, only one hometown favorite has hoisted a trophy at the end of the night. That was Ryne Sandberg back in 1990. But if there’s one guy who can win the Derby for his hometown, it’s Albert Pujols.

Other guys who’ll be competing against Pujols include Prince Fielder. Fielder is the first second generation player to be a Home Run Derby contestant. His father, Cecil Fielder competed back in the early 90s. He never won, which…

For all ya’ll who missed the MLB All-Star game this year, NL manager Tony La Russa benched World Series champ, Albert Pujols.

Yep, Albert Pujols, the only player selected from the MLB World Series champions St. Louis Cardinals, ended the 2007 MLB All-Star game with a DNP after NL manager Tony La Russa absolutely BENCHED him during the game.

Albert Pujols was understandably pissed about it after the game. ”If I wasn’t expecting to play, I wouldn’t have come up here,” Albert Pujols said right after the 2007 MLB All-Star game in San Francisco. And to think both of these guys are on the same freaking team in St. Louis.

After his somewhat agitated ranting in Cali, Pujols spoke again but THIS TIME, in a rather calmer mood.

”People want to start World War III with me and Tony, and I think they’re picking the wrong person,” Pujols said Thursday during a workout. ”I’ve got so much respect for Tony, and he’s got so much respect for me.”

The St. Louis Cardinals star also talked about his tirade after the benching incident in the 2007 MLB All-Star game.

”Was I disappointed because I didn’t get in the game? Of course, because…”

Yep, the defending MLB World Series champions are not looking like champions at this point of the MLB season.

SIX games below .500. Yep, that’s where the St. Louis Cardinals are at this point of the 2007 MLB baseball season. They are trailing only the Milwaukee Brewers in their division of National League standings. Not bad if you’re in a highly competitive group like… say… the West, but being in a dump like the National League Central, it’s definitely not a good thing.

The National League Central doesn’t have a team with a winning record last May and if the St. Louis Cardinals want to ever defend their MLB World Series title, they better start winning games NOW.

Of the 96 playoff teams since MLB baseball had this wild card thing in the playoffs, only the 2005 Houston Astros had as many games below .500 as the Cardinals are now headed for June.

Out of the 103 MLB baseball teams that went on to win the World Series, only three were even a game below the .500 mark after 50 games. That’s the 1914 Braves, the 1924 Senators and the 2003 Florida Marlins.

To make matters worse for the St. Louis Cardinals, NO TEAM has been outscored by more than 60 runs through its first 51 games and went on to…

Lately, it seems when people talk about baseball, I begin to hear stuff about Barry Bonds and this whole steroids thing.

Enough already. It’s about time we let that go and move on. Of course, doing that is harder than you think. With a guy like Barry Bonds having a date with history while using illegal substances like steroids to get there, turning away from MLB’s major issue is next to an impossibility.

But then again, if we have two or three guys who can play good enough for people to talk about them OTHER than Barry Bonds, then maybe people will start talking about the sport and not drug junkies in the San Francisco Giants locker rooms.

One of which is baseball’s fastest rising superstar, the Japanese pitcher of the Boston Red Sox, Daisuke Matsuzaka., Daisuke, or ”Dice-K” as he is called in the States, has brought international attention back to baseball since Hideo Nomo began all that hitting streaks in the past.

With guys like Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and our little Japanese dude, Dice-K here, baseball is in good shape as far as Asia is concerned.

As far as local talents go, the States do have guys like…

As bad as the New York Yankees looked the last couple of games, Alex Rodriguez remained hot.

GO FIGURE. Remember the time when A-Rod was being booed in New York after becoming the very reason why the team was losing so much? Well, it’s the exact opposite these days with A-Rod playing in a high level while the rest of the New York Yankees simply fail to show up.

These days, every single ass seated inside Yankee stadium expects a homer from their now beloved Alex Rodriguez. Hell, the Yankees season is starting to become like all those Sammy Sosa / Mark McGwire days in a hurry, days when the fans simply doesn’t care if their team wins as long as their favorite slugger gets a goddamn home run.

This week, the New York Yankees superstar hit his 13th and 14th homer, in a single game. The first one was his first at-bat and the second, a two-run shot home run. Unfortunately, the New York Yankees lost again, but no one seems to care.

A-Rod’s 13th home run of the season tied the American League record for homers in the month of April. His second one broke that record (obviously…) and tied the St. Louis Cardinals MLB record for April home runs held by none other than Albert Pujols.

”When you’re where he is, you’re allowing your ability to take over,” New York Yankees manager Joe Torre said. ”Right now, as good as he seems to feel…”

Yep, you read it, St. Louis Cardinals icon Albert Pujols taught TNA Wrestling star Kurt Angle a lesson. IN A STEEL CAGE.

As much as I’d want to see Kurt Angle and Albert Pujols in an interesting steel cage wrestling match, seeing Pujols in wrestling tights is definitely not something I’d look forward to.

Albert Pujols did taught Kurt Angle a lesson inside a steel cage, but it wasn’t a wrestling match. St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols and professional wrestler Kurt Angle took turns slugging balls at spring training inside a cage.

Angle visited Albert Pujols in the Cardinals camp as part of Team Eckstein, named after World Series MVP David Eckstein, a lifelong wrestling fan. Eckstein played the role of manager for a professional wrestling match in Orlando earlier last February. Angle was working to promote a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view event that will be held in St. Louis on April 15.

”By the time he retires, he’ll be considered one of the best ever. It was an honor him telling me what to do in there. It would be like me getting him in the ring,” Kurt Angle said. ”I really admire these guys because of their work ethic and the way they go all year long.”

For all ya’ll not familiar about…

Nope, it ain’t that park in St. Louis.

Here’s why. Did you know who was the man who discovered Albert Pujols and knew then that he WILL be a force to be reckon with in MLB Baseball? That’s former St. Louis Cardinals scout, Dave Karaff. FORMER because he doesn’t work for the team anymore.

Now, he stocks grocery shelves at the local Wal-Mart. Five days a week.

What a way to go after discovering the reigning National League MVP for MLB Baseball eh? I guess some people get bonuses and some people get watches. Dave Karaff was, um… fucked. Well, we won’t be talking about Mr. Karaff if it wasn’t for Pujols anyway. And hell, we won’t be talking about Wal-Mart either.

Dave Karaff spent seven years of his life working as a Cardinals scout for MLB Baseball before he was finally let go in 2003. Karaff, a friendly 64-year-old grandfather, doesn’t mind if you come watch MLB Baseball with him, but under one condition.

He’s not gonna talk about Albert Pujols.

Though the slugger is wildly talented, he’s also as sensitive as a junior high cheerleader…

Saturday night. That’s when Game 1 of the World Series kicks off to full throttle.

Will you be rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals or will you be shouting ‘’313! 313!’’ for the Detroit Tigers? Well, as far as the history of the World Series is concerned, it seems it’s ready to crown the Detroit Tigers as your 2006 MLB Baseball World Series champions.

Here’s why.

The Detroit Tigers will come in this Saturday night with an NFL Football – like rest, earning a full week off after sweeping the stunned Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. As for the St. Louis Cardinals, they went through an entire seven-game stretch with the tough New York Mets and will come in the World Series with only one or two days off from MLB Baseball.

That is the problem right there.

The last six MLB Baseball teams that started a World Series with five or more days off went on to win it all. And if my math is correct, the Tigers will definitely have that edge.

‘’I would love to be in their situation. I think we all would,’’ St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. Oh yeah, the Cardinals got their asses banged up in the NLCS too. St. Louis is already missing starter Mark Mulder and closer Jason Isringhausen while…