Why now? Well, McGwire probably wants to be in the MLB Hall of Fame and he probably thinks doing this is his ticket.

After losing out on the Hall of Fame voting for God knows how many times already, Mark McGwire felt it was time to finally admit to the very thing that has cast a shadow over what was once a stellar MLB career.

Yup, he finally admitted of using steroids during the time he and Sammy Sosa were blasting all them balls out of the park. He finally came clean people. But what difference does this make, we all knew he was on steroids anyway when he broke the home run record back in 1998 right?

McGwire said in an interview that he used steroids on and off the field for nearly a decade. But he believes the drugs didn’t gave him more power to hit home runs. As far as he’s concerned, his ability to hit home runs is a God given gift. Yeah, suuure it is.

”I was given a gift to hit home runs,” McGwire told Bob Costas on the MLB Network. He also told Costas that studying pitchers and making his swing shorter led to his increase in home runs and that he could have hit them without PEDs.

”I truly believe so,” McGwire said. ”I believe I was given this gift. The only reason I took steroids was for health purposes.”

Jeez… He’s almost as bad a liar as Manny Pacquiao…

The American League has always been all about the Yankees. And it doesn’t matter if they are playing well or not.

But since the New York Yankees are just clicking on all cylinders this 2009 MLB season, you just know that they’re talking about them Yankees like never before. But can they really win it all?

The New York Yankees hold the best record in the league. Mark Teixeira leads the American League in RBIs, Derek Jeter is having another great season and they have a good supporting cast in Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Hideki Matsui, and Jorge Posada.

The pitching has improved, and that’s the main reason why they are where they are. CC Sabathia has 19 wins, AJ Burnett has 12, and Andy Pettitte has 13. And of course, closer Mariano Rivera continues to dominate from the mound.

So if the New York Yankees are the best team in baseball right now, who’ll challenge these guys in the conference? We have two, the Los Angeles Angels and the Boston Red Sox.

The Los Angeles Angels are six games behind the Yankees, and the second best team in the league. Angels manager Mike Scioscia says this is the deepest lineup he has taken into the playoffs since the 2002 team that won the World Series.

Let’s see if they can indeed win it all…

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…

The New York Mets are not the worst team in baseball.

They are not even the most incompetently run franchise in their own division. Yet, their campaign this 2009 MLB baseball season may have forever redefined the concept of losing.

Nothing has gone right for the poor New York Mets in this calendar year. From the ownership down to the bat boys, the entire organization has been beset by financial issues, management missteps, injuries, errors, poor timing, and just plain bad luck. Every week seemed to bring a new crisis or terrible disaster and through it all, they constantly found inventive and entertaining ways to squander victory. And there’s still a month left!

Let’s take a look at this disgruntled franchise on what has gone wrong this year. Actually, it started in the offseason when the Mets first gave Francisco Rodriguez a three year, $37 million contract. This was the biggest buyers market in years and no other big market teams were in the mix for a closer, and yet they still gave him premium money. Frankie finishes 55 games in 2010, 100 games between 2010 and 2011, and is deemed healthy after the 2011 season, his fourth year option vests for $17.5 million. The bad news is, Frankie has been declining the past four seasons and the decline has continued this season.

Then the injuries.

The first set of injuries came within a few days of each other in May. Carlos Delgado got injured in a game against the Pirates on May 10th, yet doesn’t go on the disabled list until May 16th, despite requiring hip surgery. Jose Reyes injures his calf in a game against the Braves on May 13th but was placed on the disabled list on the 26th, almost two weeks after the initial injury. Reyes has not been seen since, and apparently everybody thinks he’s a wuss for making sure he is completely healthy before returning to the field.

The Mets lost their last remaining star when David Wright was…

It looks like these Yanks’ just made a huge statement.

With all the problems these guys have been having prior to the start of the 2009 MLB baseball season, it looks like the Yanks’ are finally pulling it together. They won three games in a row to further establish their spot on top of the American League and after they added into that by sweeping their rivals from Boston 4-0, these Yanks’ definitely have something going on now.

In case you didn’t get that, yes, the New York Yankees just swept the Boston Red Sox to win their four-game season series in the Bronx. Them Yankees did that in style too, beating the Red Sox for the fourth and final time with back to back homers from Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira in the eight inning. And mind you, they were down to their last out then.

The Boston Red Sox simply had no answer for the Yankees as New York defeated Boston 5-2 for the four-game sweep. To say that the last four games in the new Yankee stadium were special could very well be an understatement since the four-game series with Boston marked the first time that the crowd watching Yankee games screamed that loud.

”It felt like the playoffs,” Johnny Damon said.

It sure felt like the postseason as Yankee fans were in a sense of hysteria only reserved for huge playoff games with a lot at stake. After the Yankees rallied with four runs on 15 pitches in the eight inning with Matt Teixeira hitting another homer…

Peter Rose definitely deserves a second chance.

There are reports claiming that MLB commissioner Bud Selig is considering lifting the lifetime ban on should-be Hall of Famer Pete Rose, saying that Selig was close to letting the game’s all-time hits leader back in the game.

Before Rose entered the recognizable door on a possible reinstatement this 2009 MLB baseball season, Selig slammed it again. Ugh.

It has been nearly 20 years since Pete Rose was banned from baseball by late commissioner Bart Giamatti following allegations that he gambled on the sport that gave him a different name, ”Charlie Hustle” and made him one of the most adored players in baseball.

In his final decision, Giamatti concluded that Rose violated Major League Rule 21 and was placed on the ineligible list on Aug. 23, 1989.

No one knows whether or not Giamatti, who passed away a few weeks after issuing the ban, had planned to reinstate Rose in the future, but one thing is for certain, Rose has paid his dues and even admitted to gambling on baseball when he released a book five years ago.

Rose definitely deserves a second chance, which is what life is all about, second chances and learning from past mistakes. Even Hank Aaron himself has hinted recently that Rose deserves a second chance.

Rose the manager may have broken the rules, but…

Now that’s something new right?

And in case you didn’t get that, yes, the Rangers have been playing terrific defense this 2009 MLB baseball season. And for a team that has been known for anything BUT their D, it definitely looks like this club has finally moved on since losing A-Rod years ago.

The Texas Rangers have done a lot to get this defense going the way it is right now. For one, they knew they would get a full season from Chris Davis, a very good defensive first baseman, otherwise known for his power. To tighten the defensive skills of catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, they dispatched former big league catcher Scott Servais to Saltalamacchia’s home in Florida over the winter for some defensive tutoring.

The Rangers installed rookie Elvis Andrus at shortstop while shifting erstwhile shortstop Michael Young to third. ”It made us better at two positions,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. They have jumped from last in defensive efficiency to second, similar to the worst to first improvement by the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rangers’ pitching has also improved. The hiring of pitching coach Mike Maddux away from Milwaukee was an inspired move. Ace Kevin Millwood (4-3, 2.93) not only has set the tone for a rotation that goes deep into games, but ”has set the example for everyone else as far as conditioning and work ethic,” Daniels said.

”In the past couple of years we had people to…”

Vindication, that’s what Pedro should be gunning for at this point of his career.

Well, that’s what the Philadelphia Phillies are hoping for after they just signed the veteran for the remainder of the 2009 MLB baseball season. They just signed Martinez to a $1 million, one-year contract that can earn him up to $1.5 million in incentives and as far as the Phillies are concerned, they’re hoping he’s worth every penny.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner hasn’t pitched since last season with the New York Mets. He was miserable, to say the least, in his final two seasons in New York, winning only eight games in 25 starts. Still, that didn’t stop the Philadelphia Phillies from signing him up.

”Of course there’s some risk here. But we’d rather risk it on someone of his caliber and who knows how to win,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said of Pedro Martinez.

As for Pedro, he’s just happy that somebody gave him a second chance. He knows he’s no longer the same player he was a few years ago but he’s willing to find out just how good (or how bad…) he could end up to be this season.

”I might surprise you, I might not,” the 37-year-old Martinez said. ”It’s going to be really fun to go find out.”

”I don’t expect to be the same Pedro that I was when I was 26. There’s…”

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…