But besides his fine season -- 89 runs scored, 96 RBI, .823 OPS -- Abreu seems to have passed on his patience at the plate to the rest of his Angels teammates.
"He's got the younger players understanding patience isn't a bad thing," Chone Figgins told FanHouse. "It's not about not being aggressive, but being patient, getting a pitch to hit. There's nothing wrong with being 1-1 and hitting, or 1-2, or 2-2.
"It's not something simple to do, but I think we did a good job of it in spring training and have tried to bring it into the season and have so far done a good job."
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's weekly, extended look at some aspect of America's pastime.
As I look ahead to the MLB playoffs, I'm faced with the fact that my beloved Cubbies aren't going to be competing. Being a devout baseball fan, though, there's no way I'm not watching the postseason. Without a horse in the race, I'm forced to focus instead on individuals, and there are always plenty of reasons to watch certain players. Thus, I'm going to list 10 players I'm looking forward to watching and five players I wish I could come October.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
While the main drama happened on Heinz Field last night, there was plenty of drama to be found in Washington D.C. No, President Obama didn't sign a health plan into law. But the Phillies entered the ninth inning down six and ended up losing by one after having the tying run on third base with only one out. Let's see how we got there.
Joe Blanton has been fantastic this year, and he entered the game with a 3.80 ERA and a 136/43 K/BB ratio in 166 innings. That's why it was surprising to see him perform so terribly in Thursday's game, where he gave up eight runs in less than five innings of work. The big blow came in the fifth inning, when Blanton gave up two homers to hitters at very different points in their careers.
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 Rays left their magic in 2008.
Fading Tampa Bay wasted a dazzling major league debut by Wade Davis, who allowed one run and struck out nine over seven innings, in a crushing 5-3 loss to the Tigers.
Davis' pitching helped the Rays carry a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning, but then the bullpen came unraveled. Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon used five relievers in the ninth, three of whom -- Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell and Russ Springer -- failed to record an out in succession.
While injuries were the main topic, we spoke about other topics, too. We talked a little about a potential platoon situation for Lance Berkman in Houston and we threw out a handful of household names that most fantasy owners should be dumping at this point.
There's bad blood in the Florida Marlins clubhouse, and it couldn't be between two worse people if the team wants to continue its dark horse run at a playoff spot. Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla got into a shouting match in front of reporters on Wednesday afternoon, forcing the Marlins to have a team meeting and close the clubhouse.
At issue was the way Ramirez asked out of Tuesday night's game because of a hamstring injury. He was talking to reporters, telling them he felt "10 percent" healthy, but said he was planning to take the field against the Braves on Wednesday because of the way his teammates reacted to what happened the night before.
Uggla overheard what Ramirez was saying and that's when the fur started flying.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Before we get our heaping of box score browsing, let's look at a related subject: The fantasy baseball stretch run. With the annual ushering in of September baseball, we see roster changes galore. Not only are there call-ups with the legal expansion of rosters, but players with seemingly minor injuries are shut down on teams who have fallen out of the race. You also have younger players being given an audition for 2010, or being shut down so the team doesn't overwork them in their first season of increased workload. If you are in the thick of things in your fantasy baseball race, now is not the time to use a laissez-faire approach.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Matt Holliday is looking like the best midseason acquisition in history. Well, it's probably a little early to make that statement, but his first week-plus as a member of the Cardinals has been remarkable.
Holliday hit two homers among his three hits on Saturday, leading the Cardinals to a 3-1 victory over the Astros. Since Holliday was traded by the A's to the Cardinals on July 24, he's 20-for-33 (.606). Those are high school baseball numbers. Holliday, who actually started heating up in his final few weeks in Oakland, is up to Holliday-like numbers for the season: .314 with 14 homers, a .404 on-base percentage and .507 slugging percentage.
An impending free agent, Holliday is making himself a lot of money these days.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That it's probably going to take some time to sort out the NL wild-card race. The Rockies, 34-15 since the beginning of June, are two games up on a mass of teams, including the Giants, the team they beat Sunday and the team that was leading the race just a few weeks ago.
There are six teams within five games of the wild-card lead, the same number of clubs that are more than five out, and it's hard to ignore any of them. The Cardinals, trailing Colorado by 2 1/2 games, added Matt Holliday on Friday, for example. And the Braves, who made a big trade of their own in acquiring Nate McLouth from the Pirates, have won eight of 11 since the All-Star break.
Ah, the All-Star break. A time for fantasy owners to take three days off from the grind of a six-month baseball season. To most, it's a welcome reprieve. To myself and other baseball-obsessed individuals, it's the three most excruciating days of a season. By the time Thursday rolls around, I'd even be willing to watch the Mets play.
Since we have to find some way of passing the time till then, let's name some illustrious fantasy squads -- one comprised of the best players at each position, another comprised of players that scarred their teams' chances of postseason glory, the third comprised of the draft picks that brought us the most bang for our buck, and the last comprised of the best young talent around. The voting for these three teams opened on July 4th at 8:00 PM and closed promptly on July 4th at 8:01. Since I was the only one to submit a vote, these teams might be a little skewed to my point of view.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
There's bad blood in the 
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Ah, the All-Star break. A time for fantasy owners to take three days off from the grind of a six-month baseball season. To most, it's a welcome reprieve. To myself and other baseball-obsessed individuals, it's the three most excruciating days of a season. By the time Thursday rolls around, I'd even be willing to watch the Mets play.
