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In a move that shows how desperate JR Motorsports is they have hired 57-year-old Greg Sacks to drive the number 88 car in the July 22nd race at Daytona International Speedway. Sacks last competed in a NASCAR sanctioned event in 2005 when he did a pair of start and parks at Pocono for his own team.

The car will be sponsored by Grand Touring Vodka. Steve Arpin will continue to drive car number 7 while Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be driving a special Wrangler laced car number 3 in tribute to his father.

Future driving plans for car number 88 have not been announced but anytime Greg Sacks gets to be a race will bring back memories to his cup win in 1985 at Daytona in the Pepsi Firecracker 400. Sacks would later add a Nationwide series win in 1996 at Talldega to his resume.

Popularity: 6% [?]

One of the easier ways to tell when an organization is nearing the call up of a top prospect is by a similar move of calling up a lesser prospect who figures to stay with the club for some time.

That’s exactly what the Washington Nationals did today. They called up prospect Drew Storen. While Storen projects as a possiable late inning reliever or a closer he’s certainly not Steven Strasburg.

So why is this even news you ask?

Well by caling up Storen the Nationals have started his service clock ahead of that of Strasburg. Ok…

Well the top 17% of players who haven’t played three years become super two players in terms of arbitration so basically what the Nationals have done is exactly what I thought the Braves may try to do this year with Jason Heyward.

In other words they did the same thing the Braves did by calling up Kris Medlen before they called up Tommy Hanson last season.

These types of manuevers, like the Storen one, have become a clear sign of a top prospect about to be called up.

Popularity: 11% [?]

It’s easy to sum up why the Atlanta Braves are on an 8 game slide. They can’t score. The Braves have managed a whopping 13 runs in their 8 losses or an average of 1.62 runs per game. Their pitchers have allowed 4.62 runs per game but if you take out an 8 spot that Philadelphia put up on Thursday it comes down to a respectable 4.12.

On the season the Braves have one player hitting above .250 in Martin Prado. (.361) That could be fine if they could get on base but only 4 players in the everyday lineup have an OBP above .310 and with the exception of Jason Heyward there’s a major power outage in the lineup as well.

Going back to when they were no-hit by Ubaldo Jimenez the Braves have been shutout four times. They have scored more then 3 runs a total of 3 times. Yikes.

With Adam Wainwright on the mound for the Cardinals in series finale thing’s are looking quite bad for the team.

A shakeup is needed but with the players the Braves have and a less then thrilling bench it’s hard to envision much change anytime soon unless some of these veteran bats start to click.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Last night as I turned on the Braves/Rockies game I told my wife “we’re in for a treat tonight”. Of course the reason I made that comment was because I originally thought the pitching match-up was Ubaldo Jimenez and Jair Jurrjens. I then found myself a little bummed I was watching the Rockies feed but it wasn’t long before the treat turned into a nightmare for my Braves.

That’s because Ubaldo Jimenez pitched the first no-hitter in the majors for the 2010 season. Jimenez threw a major league high 128 pitches in the contest and was still hitting the high 90’s as the eighth and ninth inning came around.

I’ve never been a big one for no-hitters because I’ve always found them to be a little cheap. My reasoning has always been the same no matter who was pitching. “So the pitcher didn’t give up a hit but he walked how many?”

True enough. Jimenez walked six in this contest and one could argue it may not have even been the best pitched game of the day as the Mets and Cardinals raced to a 0-0 tie before the top of the 19th.

But it is a no hitter none-the-less. Troy Tulowitzki provided the Rockies with a run in the top of the first and Jimenez singled in the fourth to drive in a run of his own while Carlos Gonzalez doubled in two as the next batter.

Perhaps the biggest break for Jiminez in his run at a no-hitter was the costly base-running mistake of Kenshin Kawakami in the bottom of the third. After reaching base following bunting into a force out Kawakami was advanced to second on a Martin Prado walk. That brought Chipper Jones to the plate and following the second fastball for a ball Rockies catcher Miguel Olivo threw down to second to catch Kawakami off base.

Those thrill seekers hoping for some heroic defensive play can feel a little left out in this one. The only play even close to a dramatic defensive play to save the day was that of Dexter Fowler who chased down a Troy Glaus line drive in the seventh. Never-the-less it’s being highlighted on MLB.com and other places.

I’ll admit I missed parts of the game. We went out to get some ice cream, I had turned on the computer to compete in a on-line NASCAR 2003 event and didn’t realize the game had no hits until a well after 9.

Not the best game ever pitched. It probably will be beat out by a few others in my opinion this year but still it’s a no-hitter and I can’t change that.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Would anyone truly have been surprised if Jason Heyward struggeled upon his promotion to the major leagues?

Despite all the hype it was just that. Hype. Things rarely are as good or as bad as we hear. Even your child’s chorus concert sounded bad but you’ll tell them it was good not to crush their spirits. So exactly why is Jason Heyward living up to the hype at 20 years of age?

All spring we heard concerns that the left handed hitter lacked experience at Triple-A. Even I suggested  the Braves would delay his path to the majors in order to stall his service clock and yet on Opening Day there he was in right field.

The legend continued from there. He homered in his first big league at-bat and suddenly his spring training batting practice was starting to look like the real thing.

So what happened next?

Rob Neyer at ESPN and all the other big wigs decided Heyward can’t possibly be this good. Neyer went on to write a piece saying Heyward strikes out too much.  Maybe it’s true, maybe his sample size doesn’t correlate well with projecting any season numbers as you could just as well say absurd things like he’s on pace for 50 homers or 120 RBI.

Will big league pitchers adjust to Heyward by throwing him breaking balls? Probably. But will Heyward also adjust? Maybe.

We could go through a whole bunch of what-if’s but isn’t it better to just watch Heyward on the field? That’s where I like to see him right now.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Brad Ausmus has opted to undergo surgery on his lower back and while he could be able to return late this summer part of my has to wonder if this is indeed the end of the road for the 41-year-old catcher.

Ausmus spent last season backing up Russell  Martin in LA. He was expected to occupy a similar role this year but pain in his lower back may prevent him.

Ausmus won three gold gloves in his career and was a mainstay behind the plate on some competitive Houston teams over the last ten years.

He’s played 18 seasons in the major leagues and is a career .252/.325/.345 hitter.

Ausmus has little reason to return to the field and even during his time in Houston made his desires to play on the west coast near his family be known. This back injury may indeed push him into that role.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Yikes. If Jake Peavy had of pitched this way in those three starts last September then maybe I’d be a little worried. Peavy was brought into Chicago bolstering their starting pitching depth and while it’s easy to say the real needed addition was a bat it’s the pitcher GM Kenny Williams really wanted.

Peavy is as accomplished as any big name pitcher in baseball and yet after tonight’s 5.2 innings, 8 hits, 7 runs, and three walks you have to start to wonder what is going wrong. Peavy gave up two homers tonight and uncharacteristically recorded 6 ground-outs to 7 flouts. And it’s not that things were that much better in his first outing of the year against Cleveland where he allowed 7 hits, 3 runs and a pair of walks to what is a questionable lineup.

Even with the two bad outings to start the season it’s probably too early to turn into a complete panic about the 28 year old right hander. After all he’s got a 95-68 career record and even if it was aided in part by Petco Park his 3.27 ERA and 1.18 WHIP show signs that this is a pretty good pitcher.

Peavy made 16 starts last season while missing time following an ankle injury in May. On July 31 he accepted a trade to the White Sox after rejecting a trade earlier in the year. He made three starts for the White Sox at the end of the year pitching 20 innings and compiling a 3-0 record, a 1.35 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP.

Obviously those numbers are impossible to keep up with even for a pitcher the caliber of Jake Peavy but they do suggest it’s not all a shift to the AL or away from Petco Park that has seen him struggle to start this season.

His next start of the year comes in Cleveland.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Jack Cust has hit 25 or more home runs each of the last three seasons yet the Oakland A’s and others still don’t seem that excited to add him to their rosters. Over the winter the A’s didn’t offer arbitration to Cust and later resigned him to a smaller deal after everyone else seemed to pass on the 30 year old left handed hitter.

Cust was again figured to occupy the DH spot in Oakland but this spring the team decided to reward long time third basemen Eric Chavez with that spot again leaving Cust out in the cold. The A’s put him on waivers and again no one claimed him. Now he’s been out-righted to Triple-A for the start of the year.

The slugging left hander didn’t mix any words when asked about the situation by reporters.

“I think it’s messed up. They’re going to go on 50 at-bats after three years of what I’ve done here? It’s ridiculous. … This is a joke. The fact is, this team has no power and they’ve just released a guy who (averaged 28 homers) the last three years, that’s amazing.”

It’s easy to fall in love with Cust’s power. 26, 33,  25 home runs each of the last three years. But while the home run totals have remained high Cust has seen a decrease in his OBP which is never a good sign when you’re a career .239 hitter. In addition to all the home runs he’s offered little in terms of doubles and his strike out total for the last three years is 546 or roughly 40% of his at-bats. Again not a great thing especially when your general manager is Billy Beane.

As if Cust needed another knock against him he’s always been a liability in the field. He’s gets to very few balls, he’s error prone and if they kept defensive stats for deers they’d likely rank higher then Cust has.

The addition of Jake Fox to the A’s likely was the biggest reason the A’s have taken the approach they have with Cust. Fox, a player with similar attributes to Cust, also is not a great fielder but he’s capable of playing far more positions then Cust including catcher.

While it may seem like the A’s have pushed Cust out the door it will only take one injury for him to again be a prominent member of the club. With Eric Chavez always seeming to get off to slow starts and not having more then 89 at-bats in the last three years he’s the most likely fall guy. But there are other dominions that could fall rather quickly. Travis Buck hardly is guaranteed a long leash in right field, if an injury were to strike Kevin Kouzmanoff or if Daric Barton continues to disappoint at first base all could be moved around to make Cust an everyday player again.

Even if there doesn’t appear to be much interest in him around baseball or even in the A’s organization the Jack Cust experiment isn’t over. Not yet at-least. They wouldn’t have brought him back if it was, they would have simply released him if it was.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Never mind how well Randy Wells pitched or how silly Carlos Marmol made Jason Heyward look in the ninth. The Braves lost the finale of a three game set to the Chicago Cubs because they couldn’t advance baserunners.

Yea Tommy Hanson pitched great in his season debut but the Braves still loss. It’s not a knock against Hanson but if the Braves don’t figure it out on the base paths we’re going to see this scenario again and again this year.

The Braves had a combination of 12 hits and walks off the Cubs staff, still none were able to come around to score. Officially there were three double plays turned by the Cubs.

Do you know how many runners the Cubs had total? 7 None of that really mattered as the Cubs scored both runs on solo home runs by Tyler Colvin and Marlon Byrd.

The fact is the Braves were awful moving runners around last night. The evidence may be even sicker then the comments already made.

First Inning. Martin Prado got a single as the second hitter in the first. He never moved off first base.

Second Inning. Troy Glaus lead off single in the second. Flyout by Escobar then Heyward grounds into a force out taking Glaus off the bases. Nate McLouth then singeled by Heyward was unable to score from first. Then the pitcher hit.

Third Inning. Martin Prado doubles as the second batter then Chipper walks, McCann reaches on error to load bases. Glaus grounds into double play

We got a reprieve in the fourth as everyone grounded out.

Fifth Inning. Melky Cabrera walks with one out. Prado then grounds into a double play.

Sixth Inning. Omar Infante who came into the game for an injured Chipper Jones leads off with a single. McCann lines out in front of a Glaus single. Yunel Escobar figures he hasn’t done one yet so he grounds into a double play to end the inning.

No base runners in the seventh. I guess they were gearing up for the final let down.

Eighth Inning. Prado singles again with one out. McCann walks with two outs. Glaus grounds out.

Ninth Inning. Escobar leads off with a single. Carlos Marmol makes Jason Heyward look silly with a breaking ball and then walks Nate McLouth. Pinch hitter Eric Hinske flies out and Melky Cabrera sits at home plate with the bat on his shoulders to end the game.

Obviously there’s not much that can be done with the lineup right now. Nate McLouth is still dealing with a hamstring issue so the two biggest speed assets to the Braves (Heyward and McLouth) are stuck back to back in the lineup. With Chipper Jones already dealing with his first injury of the year the Braves also lose quite a bit of power in the downgrade to Omar Infante at third.

It’s also true the Braves won’t be facing Randy Wells every night so maybe they can avoid the 13:2 ground/flyball ratio sometimes.

Popularity: 5% [?]

C.J. Wilson may never have thought of himself as a reliever following his move to the bullpen in 2006 but that’s what his role was. This spring the left hander came to Rangers camp asking to compete for a spot in the rotation and the Rangers gave him a chance.

With some help from an injury to Tommy Hunter, Wilson was awarded a spot in the rotation.

His biggest asset in the bullpen was his ability to get out lefties. Big, small, good and bad he got them all. In his career lefties have hit .195 against him, right handers have hit .281. Those numbers obviously will remain a concern to the Rangers as the season starts but right now they are happy with what he brings to the mound.

In Thursdays game Wilson breezed though the Blue Jays lineup for the first four innings. Then it was time to show what he had. He gave up back to back singles to start the fifth. Wilson dug in and recorded back to back strike outs of Jose Molina and Travis Snyder before getting Mike McCoy to ground into a force out.

Thus far his goal to cut down the number of pitches was going as planned. While Wilson had thrown just 39 pitches for strikes, he had thrown just 70 pitches by the time the final out came in the fifth. Those are the type of totals you can come to expect from Wilson if he’s on this year. He’s never been the type of pitcher who has shied away from walks and yet his assortment of hard sinking pitches has allowed him to record 50% or more of his outs via ground-balls in three of the four years he spent as a reliever.

Wilson again ran into trouble to start the sixth allowing a lead off double to right handed hitting Jose Bautista and then a single to lefty Adam Lind. That prompted Mike Maddux out of the Rangers dugout with Vernon Wells coming up. Wells was struck out on a change-up. Lyle Overby made Wilson work when he came up next fouling off four pitches before being retired on a fastball. Edwin Encarnacion was then retired on a flyball to right.

When the sixth inning came to a close Wilson was up to 87 pitches for the game thanks in part to the seven strikeouts he recorded and the jams he was beginning to work himself into to start the innings.

Wilson was left in to start the seventh with the bottom of the order coming up. Alex Gonzalez flew out then Wilson struck out Jose Molina for the third time and Travis Snyder to end the inning.

In the end Wilson threw 98 pitches, 63 for strikes and set a career best with nine strike outs. His seven innings of scoreless work are unquestionably a good sign going forward.

Popularity: 6% [?]