FanHouse JasonVaritek

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

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."

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Adam LaRoche, he of the longest swing in the majors, is starting to heat up. In the last 9 games, he's hit .387 with 3 home runs, 5 RBI, 4 runs, 2 doubles, a .444 on-base percentage and 1.186 OPS. If his career history is any indicator, we can expect things to continue along this pace.

It's just that he's starting things up a bit early. In LaRoche's career, he's been two different players per season. Just look at his splits. He's a decent hitter with good power in through June. From July on, though, he's a good hitter with great power.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Oh what a difference a month makes. Josh Beckett's ERA in April stood at 7.22, including a two-game span where he was shellacked for 15 runs. Since then he's hurled five straight quality starts and posted a 2.38 ERA in May. His ERA is now 4.60 and his WHIP is 1.47, both of which fail to indicate his true current value. Often, like in Beckett's case, you can only get an accurate gauge by looking at what a player's done lately instead of viewing overall stats.

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.

The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.

There's something about Patriots Day that seems to bring out the best in the Red Sox. Or maybe it's the Baltimore Orioles. Either way, it only took a long weekend at Fenway Park to put to rest many of the fears that began to bubble up after Boston's 3-6 start to the season.

It didn't look like it would be that way after the top of the second inning in the series opener Friday night.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Red Sox are still trying to figure out what they've got in Brad Penny, this All-Star turned No. 5 starter.

Catcher Jason Varitek, who caught all 86 of Penny's pitches in his Boston debut on Saturday, and manager Terry Francona both said they are feeling out Penny. Even after his six innings, he still seems like an unknown, albeit a promising one.

"We're still trying to figure out who he is, to learn him," Varitek said. "He's done a good job to get his work in and be where is at right now."

MLB Power Rankings: Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.

Baseball is here. Only for three days so far, but that's enough for knee-jerk reactions and our collective excitement, certainly. Are the Yankees in trouble? Will Ken Griffey, Jr. lead the Mariners back to glory? Are the Orioles for real? Are the Braves bound for the playoffs again? Will the Marlins manage to save baseball and win the National League East? What happens when Jim Thome and Kyle Farnsworth meet in a hadron collider?

Find out the answers to these questions -- and more! -- after the jump.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Boston Red Sox.

In a little more than half of a decade, the fortunes of the Boston Red Sox have done a 180-degree turn. Once a franchise of managerial incompetence, front office ineptitude and fatally flawed teams, the Sox have become a well-oiled winning machine -- smarter than the Yankees, but with similar financial might.

'Eye Spy' details first-hand Spring Training notes and observations from a fantasy baseball perspective.

After a long trip from Atlanta to Jupiter, Florida Wednesday night / Thursday morning, who could think of sleep when the Red Sox were playing the Cardinals? The game was sold out (all Red Sox and Yankees games are in Florida, I hear) but the nice scalper told me he'd do me a favor (he hates breaking up tickets for singles) and sell me a ticket for twice face value. Hmmmm. Josh Beckett was pitching, but the only other regulars were Jason Varitek and Jed Lowrie in the lineup on Friday. I opted to decline the nice man's offer and waited to head up to Tradition Field and see the Mets.

FanHouse breaks down the who's who and the what's what of the baseball world each week with our MLB Power Rankings.

Spring Training is always a time of year when false hopes or false assumptions are built based on performance. It might Jeff Francoeur lacing the ball, for instance. Or Yovani Gallardo stinking the joint up. But it is also a time of year when season-altering injuries are revealed. For instance, Alex Rodriguez will miss the first 10 weeks of the season because of surgery. Chipper Jones is dealing with an oblique injury. Oh, and this Manny Ramirez guy signed with the Dodgers. So even though it might seem premature to react in a knee-jerk fashion, it's not.

Hence, we have our second installment of preseason MLB Power Rankings, just to keep your jones going for America's pastime.