Tuesday, FanHouse had the opportunity to discuss the MLB Playoffs with Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who currently serves as a studio analyst for TBS. TBS will be broadcasting all four Division Series and also the NLCS again this season. Ernie Johnson is the studio host while Dennis Eckersley and David Wells join Ripken as studio analysts for these playoff games.
Of all the things Ripken discussed Tuesday, the most intriguing subject, not surprisingly, was one Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod is an oft-maligned regular season superstar, in that he's put up extremely gaudy regular season numbers throughout his career, yet has never played in a World Series and has pretty sub-par numbers in the playoffs overall -- especially of late.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
A few weeks ago we discussed the possibility of the Padres promoting 21-year-old phenom Mat Latos. Well, he now has four major league starts under his belt, and, needless to say, he's doing just fine. After a solid outing Monday night, Latos is 3-1 with a 2.66 ERA and a sparkling 0.89 WHIP. He's struck out 16 while only walking 6 in 23 2/3 innings. He's also pitching in one of the best pitcher's parks in baseball.
So, he should be owned in all fantasy leagues, right?
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Justin Verlander and the Tigers are pretty tough.
They spotted the Orioles five runs Monday in the top of the first inning but somehow came back to win, 6-5, on Clete Thomas' ninth-inning home run.
"I've never hit a walk-off homer before - not at any level," he said. "When I was rounding first and realized it had gone out, I didn't know how to react. It feels better than you even think it will -- and that's something you always dream of doing."
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.
The second half of the season is in full swing and lo and behold if capitalism hasn't reared it's ugly head once again. Billy Beane was spun off Matt Holliday (as expected of course) and the eleventy billion dollar payroll machine that is the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. (Of course, that can't explain why the Mets are horrible but that's a whole other thing.)
Will the Yankees' surge be enough to propel them into the critically important No. 1 slot of the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings? Find out after the jump.
David Ortiz is hitting .294 with 3 home runs, 7 RBI and a .986 OPS in his last 9 games. Is he back, or is this just an aberration. After a terrible start, Justin Verlander is 7-0 with a 1.10 ERA in his last 9 starts. During that span, he's struck out 81 while walking only 16 in 65 1/3 innings. Do you consider him the most dominant pitcher in baseball (we do)? Join Fantasy FanHouse for these topics and more, when we fire up the hour-long live chat machine at 2:00 PM Eastern.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Red Sox haven't had a streak like this against the Yankees in a long time. Nearly 100 years, actually. The Red Sox beat the Yankees, 6-5, on Wednesday night, their eighth consecutive victory against their rivals, dating back to last year. It is Boston's longest winning streak against New York since 1912.
That was before Babe Ruth played his first big -league game.
The Red Sox have hit .295 and they have a 3.66 ERA against the Yankees this season. They've outscored the Bombers, 51-28.
"We're moving guys over, we're getting big two-out hits, and when you do those little things like that and you're playing good baseball you're going to win ballgames -- regardless of it's the Yankees or anybody else," Jonathan Papelbon said. "We just happen to be playing good baseball against them right now and we've got to keep this momentum."
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.
We had to break the trend. Sure, the Dodgers might have a better record than everyone else -- but competition has to count for something, doesn't it? The Dodgers have mutilated the mediocre-at-best NL West to the tune of 26-9. This means they are 14-11 against everyone else. Is that a top-two team in baseball? Hardly, I'll take the heated-rivals: Yankees (who have overcome a slow start to go 19-7 since May 12) and Red Sox (18-8 against the best division in baseball) as the top two.
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.
Sorry for the delay, kiddos, on the Power Rankings. I'm sure you spent the entirety of Wednesday wondering "WHERE IN GOD'S NAME ARE THEY??? WITHOUT THEM I'LL HAVE NOTHING TO BANTER SENSELESSLY ABOUT TO MY CO-WORKERS!!!1" Or something like that. Either way, it's time to debate the worthlessness of your favorite baseball team in numerical form once again. Do enjoy.
Tuesday, FanHouse had the opportunity to discuss the MLB Playoffs with Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, who currently serves as a studio analyst for TBS. TBS will be broadcasting all four Division Series and also the NLCS again this season. Ernie Johnson is the studio host while Dennis Eckersley and David Wells join Ripken as studio analysts for these playoff games. 
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
MLB Power Rankings
Starting Five
MLB Power Rankings
