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Jamie Moyer became the third pitcher in baseball history to top 100 wins after the age of 40 when he threw a complete game against San Diego on Saturday.

The numbers may be hard to understand but at 47 years of age Moyer has won 100 games over the last seven and a half seasons or just over 13 a season. Moyer broke in with the Chicago Cubs back in 1986 but it wasn’t until 1996 that he developed into a worthwhile pitcher. Since that 1996 season Moyer has won 205 games. It wasn’t until he was 38 that Moyer finally won 20 games in a season, a feet he would do again at the age of 40.

Moyer was given six runs of support from a surprisingly struggling Phillies offense and it was all he needed.  True to form Moyer allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out one for his sixth win of the season. He had pitched well in two of his last three starts but had taken losses in each.

Popularity: 14% [?]

The New York Yankees headed into Toronto with a five game win streak and promptly lost thanks to two home runs by Jose Bautista.

Jose Bautista?

Yep that Jose Bautista.

The guy without a regular position who leads baseball now with 18 home runs. The same Jose Bautista who had never hit more then 16 in any season or the one who set a career high in OPS last season at .757. The same Jose Bautista who appeared at the big leave level with four different teams in his first  season back in 2004.

Needless to say Baustista is on his way to setting career highs in every offensive category.

In 56 games for the Blue Jays this season Bautista is hitting .259/.380/.627 with 18 homers and 45 RBI.

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Jamey Wright’s time in the bullpen for the Cleveland Indians appears to be over. The journeyman reliever who had made a history of winning roster spots out of spring training had a 5.48 ERA, 1.59 WHIP and a 9/9 K/BB ratio over 18 relief appearances with the Tribe.

Wright spent last season as a member of the Kansas City Royals and had previous stops in Texas, Colorado, St. Louis, Milwaukee and San Fransisco. He has a career line of 83-117 with a 5.03 ERA in 438 big league appearances.

There doesn’t appear to be a ton of interest for him on a big league roster but if he chooses to accept a minor league assignment there’s a fair chance some team will call him up for a job in middle relief.  Wright has pitched his best baseball over the last four years of his career since being used strictly as a middle reliever.

Popularity: 8% [?]

It’s the only thing I can even thing to say following the veteran umpires blown call with two outs in the top of the ninth of what to that point had been a perfect game pitched by Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga.

Upon about a thousand different replays and multiple angels it’s clear Joyce missed the call.

I suppose if there is one positive of this it’s that it may actually usher in instant replay for more then just home run calls.

Then again these guys pride themselves so much of being macho that they will fight that one to the end.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Ken Griffey Jr was one of the biggest faces in baseball during his 22 years in the majors. Known as Junior or “The Kid” he rose to the majors at the ripe age of 19 and finished his career with 630 career home runs. Known for his wide smile early in his career he rose to fame quickly patrolling center-field in the Kingdome.

If baseball players were ranked like super hero’s Ken Grffey Jr was unquestionably one you wanted on your side.

The son of former big leaguer Ken Griffey, he broke into the big leagues when his father was still actively playing. One of baseball’s more memorable moments came when the two hit home runs in the same inning. Throughout the 90’s the younger Griffery was a frequent All-Star and in 1993’s home run Derby he became the first (and thus far only) player to bat a ball off the warehouse past the right field fences in Baltimore.

In 1995 Griffey’s mad dash around the bases in the 11th inning of the ALDS  propelled the Mariners to the ALCS and became an instant baseball memory for fans in Seattle. Griffey won the 1997 AL MVP award after he hit .304 with 56 homers and 147 RBI. He would became synonymous with video game releases and baseball card boxes. After 10-All Star appearances with the Mariners he was traded to Cincinnatti upon request for a list of players most notably Mike Cameron.In his last four seasons with the Mariners he hit 49, 56, 56, and 48 home runs.

After initial success for both Griffey and the Reds it seemed that injuries on Griffery’s behalf and poor perfroamaces from the club were a yearly expectation. When Junior hit just 40 home runs during his 2000 season the media was already ready to claim the decline of him. In eight and a half seasons with the Reds he hit a total of 210 home runs or one more then his last four seasons with Seattle. It was a laundry list of injuries rather then poor performance that hampered Griffey’s time with the Reds but he still averaged nearly 25 home runs a year with an OPS approaching .900. Late in 2007 he was asked if he would ever return to the Mariners to which he replied if the situation was right. This set off a whirlwind of speculation to when he would return to Seattle.

In 2008 he was traded to the Chicago White Sox where he filled the role as veteran/part time outfielder. The highlight of his time with the White Sox undoubtably came when he threw out a runner at the plate of  a one game playoff between the White Sox and Minnesota Twins. The White Sox would win the game 1-0.

Before the 2009 season there was speculation that Griffey Jr was on the verge of signing a one year deal with the Atlanta Braves to play left field. Following an article by David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution citing the expected contract the deal was called off and Griffey made his long awaited return to Seattle.

Originally the remarrige between the Mariners and Griffey was expected to last only for the 2009 season.  Griffey appeared in 117 games for the Mariners in 2009 mainly at DH hitting .214 with 19 home runs and 57 RBI. Over the winter the two sides annouced that Griffey would return for the 2010 season, his 22nd in the major leagues. With Griffey contuning to struggle at the plate there were rumors that the Mariners may opt to relase him. Two still unnamed Mariner players spoke out to reporters that Griffey was in the clubhouse sleeping during a game. With just a .184 average and 0 ho0me runs Griffey made the annoucement today that he was ending his time in profesional baseball.

You can stack Ken Griffey Jr’s numbers against anyone in the history of the game. A lifetime .284/.370/.538 hitter he was the premier power hitter in the American League during the 90’s and finished his career with 630 homers and 1836 RBI. Those numbers rank him fifth and fourteenth all time. He had a string of 10 consecutive Gold Glove awards from 1990-1999 and was a 13 time All Star.

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For the first month of the season at-bats of Troy Glaus were not a good thing to be on the television in my house. Glaus, a former All-Star, had been signed to play first base for the Braves and provided more hair pulling then hand clapping to start the season.

Glaus had been a notoriously hot hitter to start past seasons so his early struggles only blazzed a fire in me that called for his departure from the club. The sooner, the better.

Well that was April. In May Glaus drove in a career best 28 runs in 28 games. To end the month he went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer off Chad Durbin in a Braves win that restored the team to first place in NL East. A win over the Phillies that completed the Braves transformation from worst to first in two weeks.

On May 1 Troy Glaus was hitting .194 with more strikeouts (21) than hits (14). In May he hit .330, six homers and 28 RBI. Numbers that could  earn him NL player of the month honors.

Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal Constitution asked the Obvious question: What changed? Glaus’ answer: “It didn’t feel any different in April. It’s the results that are different.”

I wrote back in Spring Training that the Braves 2010 season rest on the back of Glaus. At that time I didn’t expect Jason Heyward to be so good, and I didn’t expect Chipper Jones to be so average. In April the Braves were a boat losing water quickly without the bat of Glaus clicking, in May the big guy took charge from the fourth spot in the lineup and the Braves reeled off 20 wins. That’s more then Baltimore, Cleveland, Seattle and Houston have had all year.

The Braves who once had a dreadful 9 game losing streak at the end of  April now seek their seventh win in a row as June starts.

Popularity: 6% [?]

It’s not every season there is a guy who is 10-1 with a 0.78 ERA after 11 starts. That’s 11 quality starts, a no hitter and hasn’t allowed two runs in 9 of those starts. Then again it’s not like you couldnt have seen this coming. Jimenez was a big time prospect in the Colorado Rockies system and despite his big time numbers on the radar is a pitcher perfectly fine with pitching to contact. Since his eventual promotion to the majors Jimenez has been in a class of his own. Even in Jimenez’s lone loss this year he allowed just two runs.

In 94 career games Jimenez is 40-29 with a 3.44 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and a .228 BAA. But you probably knew that about the 26-year-old Dominican.

On Memorial Day he was at it again. This time outdueling two time NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum giving the Rockies a 4-0 win over the San Fransisco Giants. Jimenez threw 128 pitches in the contest striking out 9 just five days after throwing 101 pitches in an eight inning performance in a win against Arizona. Jimenez has went seven or more innings in his last six outings and of his three outings in which he went just six innings two came in his first two starts of the season.

Popularity: 5% [?]

One of the remaining questions in NASCAR’s Silly Season was what was going to happen to David Ragan and car #6. That question was quieted a bit when Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith said he expected both Ragan and UPS to be part of the #6 car in 2011.

UPS has a signed deal with Roush Fenway for 2011 and Ragan has driver options himself. Economic concerns and a lack of competitive options likely have played a factor in the decision.

Of the available drivers following the conclusion of the 2010 season none figured to be options to join Roush Fenway. Kevin Harvick’s past experiences with both Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards would have created an uneasy marriage while Kasey Kahne never really fit into the Ford family of drivers. Brining back Kurt Busch never seemed to be an option and with little success coming from the organizations Nationwide teams there simply were not any pieces to move around.

In his fourth full season,Ragan has just one top 10 this season and recorded just two last season. His best season came in 2008 when he notched six top-fives and 14 top-tens just missing out on making the chase.

Perhaps one of the more disturbing stats about Ragan is that in 123 career starts he has just 20 top-tens and has led just 44 laps. Ragan is just 25 years of age though and last season he won two Nationwide races and picked up 15 top-10’s in 19 starts in the series. In 2008 he had 21 top-tens in 35 Nationwide races.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Just as the last weeks of the season put teams and drivers in a time crunch last year so was the career of Casey Mears. Mears had been given rides at Chip Ganassi, Hendrick and Richard Childress Racing based almost entirely on his last name.

The results have been less then desired for the driver and teams involved. At the end of last season Mears had made 252 starts, cracked the win column one time. He had notched just 12top fives to go along with 46 top tens.

He lost his ride at Childress Racing last season when Jack Daniels who had sponsored the 07 car opted to leave the sport.

Mears had no options for 2010, the economy was struggling and despite some hard runs to close out 2009 he’s largely been considered a fall back option at best. He signed on to pilot the #90 car but poor qualifying attempts and a lack of funds ultimately saw the two part ways when the opportunity to sit on a pit box in case Denny Hamlin could not run a complete race arose.

Since then Mears has moved on to Team Redbull following the recent medical troubles of Brian Vickers. In a way it’s almost odd considering that Mears was also the driver who replaced Vickers in the #5 Kelloggs car at Hendrick Racing.

One thing is sure if Casey Mears is to ever be more then just one of the “Mears” it’s got to be now. In his first run in the #83 car he finished 22nd after starting 39th. Bigger things are needed for both sides.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Brian Vickers return to NASCAR is as uncertain as anything in the sport. Dave Moody had suggested that Vickers might be able to return to pilot the #83 Red Bull Toyota in Saturday’s All-Star race but the team has since changed drivers to Casey Mears. ESPN reports Vickers could miss as much as three months which would put him returning sometime in mid-August.

Whenever Vickers returns he will be welcomed by the 83 team. Vickers resigned to continue driving the Red Bull Toyota last season and made an inspired drive to make the Chase as last year’s regular season came to an end.

Vickers, 26, won four poles last season and was the winner of the second Michigan race last year. It was career win number two for Vickers who had won his first career race at Talladega in 2006 after bumping teammate Jimmie Johnson on the final lap.

Popularity: 8% [?]