MINNEAPOLIS -- Johan Santana had never seen the Metrodome before the Twins took him from Single-A in the Rule 5 draft.
"When I first got there," Santana told FanHouse, "my first impression was, 'How can you play baseball in a place like this?'
"I came from Single-A and from Venezuela, and we don't have any of that stuff. ... I couldn't figure it out. How could this thing [the roof] be up in the air? And then it feels like you're in a bubble. And then you play baseball."
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... All everyone could talk about earlier this week was the stunning manner in which the Rockies nearly closed the gap on the Dodgers in the NL West. Of course, they still only got within two games of the wire-to-wire Dodgers, and it's now back up to a 4-game deficit for the Rox after consecutive home losses to the boys in blue. Vicente Padilla followed up Randy Wolf's Wednesday gem with a nice outing of his own. It was his Dodgers debut, as he just signed Wednesday.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Mired in the middle of a quite reprehensible offense, Adrian Gonzalez had been struggling at the plate for quite a while. Sure, he was still hitting home runs and drawing walks, but his batting average from May 1 to August 9 was an atrocious .228 in 298 at-bats. He hadn't had a multiple hit game since July 29 and hadn't had more than two hits in a game since June 18.
Tuesday night, Gonzalez went 6-6, giving him more hits in one night than the rest of August combined.
With the introduction of the 2009 All-Star teams, the next step for fans is to complain about their favorite players not making the squad. Thus, we'll get a head start and go through each position in the American League.
The rosters, which will be complete once the fan vote for the final player in each league concludes, were announced during a selection show on TBS Sunday. Remember, this season baseball added yet another pitcher to the roster, in hopes that the game doesn't end in a tie like the 2002 debacle. The concern once again came to the forefront last season as the game went deep into extra innings and the pitching depth began to run out.
MLB Power Rankings:Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... The "Silver Boot" will stay in Arlington, Texas.
It ain't the Axe, or the Old Oaken Bucket, but the Silver Boot is an attempt to add college football flavor to interleague play, as it goes to the winner of the Texas-Houston six-game series.
By winning 6-1 on Tuesday, the Rangers went up 4-0 in the series and clinched the boot for the third straight year.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a nod to what's ahead.
You Oughta Know... That rumors of Jake Peavy's demise have been exaggerated. When the San Diego Padres' ace got out of the chute with a 5.74 ERA in his first five starts, there were certainly a lot of folks wondering if he was going to suffer a second World Baseball Classic Hangover (see 2006).
Since then, though, he's been more like his normal self. Peavy pitched a four-hit complete game, beating the Reds, 3-1, on Sunday. Over his past four starts, Peavy has a 1.80 ERA.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a nod to what's ahead.
You Oughta Know... That John Lackey would have told you if he was trying to hit Ian Kinsler. Honest. After the Angels right-hander got tossed two pitches into his first game of the year, he said he wasn't trying to hit anyone.
"If you know anything about me, I'd go straight to the source if I was going to do something," said Lackey. "If you've ever talked to me, I'd tell you I was going to do something, I'd tell you if I did it, I'd stand up and own up to it. I did not try to throw at him.
"I hadn't pitched in six weeks. The last thing I wanted to do was come out of the game early."
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
I think we can all agree that it's far too early to start voting upon who the best 2009 players are when it's only the middle of May. That being said, there are certainly some shining stars at this point who deserve some props. Plus, Major League Baseball recently released their All-Star ballots for our voting pleasure -- we vote on who will start the All-Star Game. If that's not important, I don't know what is. Let's take a gander.
On Saturday night with the White Sox up 3-2 on the Texas Rangers in the top of the ninth, Ian Kinsler came up to the plate with two outs. White Sox closer Bobby Jenks then reared back to throw his first pitch to Kinsler, and it was a 96 mph fastball delivered behind Kinsler. It was a purpose pitch.
Anybody in the stadium or at home on television knew this. The White Sox had been talking the last few days about how they were tired of being used as target practice and were going to respond sooner or later. After Rangers pitching beaned two more Sox players on Saturday, you knew a response was coming. So Jenks threw that pitch, got a warning, and got Kinsler to pop out to end the game. It was a perfect response to everything, and then the postgame interviews came and Jenks messed up.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
With the introduction of the 2009 All-Star teams, the next step for fans is to complain about their favorite players not making the squad. Thus, we'll get a head start and go through each position in the American League. 
Starting Five
Starting Five
Starting Five
On Saturday night with the White Sox up 3-2 on the Texas Rangers in the top of the ninth, 
