J.J. Putz

Allow me to tell you a story. The story takes place at a condo in Connecticut. There's four main characters: Myself, a die hard Yankee fan friend of mine, a die hard Met fan friend of mine, and a fridge full of Coronas. It's Opening Day, rainy, 37 degrees, 1:00 PM EST, and SNY is on the beautiful  HD television as Keith Hernandez, Gary Cohen, and Ron Darling discuss the most recent wave of disappointments that have plagued the Metropolitans and their fans. failing to make the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and the epic collapses that caused them. I wince a little, as I always do, but it's okay; we've got Coronas. I grab one.

Best pen money could buy

"I think it's very important that the guys we acquired come in and produce right away," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "To get into a close game and perform on Opening Day, I think that says a lot about the guys we acquired." Rodriguez put it bluntly: "The reason J.J. and I and Greenie came here for was to stop those things that happened last year and the year before."

And so they did.

Closers may be the most intriguing breed of baseball players. They are highly debated, analyzed, ridiculed, and speculated on. Their biggest contribution to a fantasy lineup (Saves), they have little control over. They warm up, get ready to pitch, and when their offense scores a run to put their team up 4, they sit down and go back to spitting seeds while a guy, possibly just as capable, making a fraction of what the closer makes, trots out for the 9th inning. If you tried to describe fully, the modern MLB closer to somebody who had never heard of the concept, they'd look at you like you were crazy.

Ouch. You just never know with rib cage injuries, especially with pitchers who do so much twisting and turning each and every pitch. It could be three weeks or it could be three months. Everybody is different, and this one didn't sound good with JJ Putz. There is no clear cut favorite to take over the ninth inning duties as of right now, so monitor this situation closely. 

Alex Rodriguez's bat propelled the New York Yankees into the playoffs, and Alex is about to be amply rewarded for it. Rodriguez batted .314, scored 143 runs, belted 54 home runs and had a career-high 156 runs batted in, and now can add a third Most Valuable Player award to his mantle.