A look at the A's, Rangers & Royals!

A quick mid-season look at three different teams the Oakland A's, Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. The Oakland A's are currently the hottest team in baseball winning 8 of the last 10 games they have played and positioned themselves in a wild card chase.

Texas has played to a 58-40 record on the season and are 31-18 at home at the Ball Park in Arlington. The best place to see them play get your texas rangers tickets today and catch an up and coming game. The Rangers have made 2 consecutive runs at the World Series and this could be the season behind Josh Hamilton.

Oakland A's are currently in position for the second wild card spot and would take on the Los Angeles Angels in a one game playoff. The A's are riding high while playing great ball at home and oakland athletics tickets are still available. Come watch Josh Reddick and Billy Beane's moneyball team make a run at the playoffs!

The Royals are a team on the rise with many young talents and a unique ball park. The team has a few big name young stars with Billy Butler, Mike Moustaskas & Eric Hosmer and with a little time could be a contender. The Royals also just hosted the 2012 All-Star game with all the big names in the game playing at Kaufmann Stadium. Come check out these young superstars on the rode to glory kansas city royals tickets still available. Let them know your still routing.

Texas has a test down the stretch as the Angels just added former Royals ace Zack Greinke to a rotation that has Weaver, Wilson, Haren & Santana. The A's another team that has to fight off teams for the wildcard such as the O's, Tigers and Tampa Bay. The push for the playoffs should be fun get out there and support your team!

Davis, Tillman keep O's from being swept!

Chris Davis had 2 hits and 4 runs batted in helping him to bust out of a slump and help the O's from being swept. Davis drove a bases clearing double to left center field and a solo home-run deep into the seats in center. Add in an Adam Jones 2 run single and thats all Chris Tillman would need.

Tillman would go 6 innings allowing 2 runs while striking out 5. Tillman won back to back games for the first time of his career. Moving his record to 3-1 on the season. The O's bullpen would get 3 scoreless innings and 3 strike-outs.

The O's will welcome the red hot Oakland A's to Camden Yards for the weekend series while the Rays head out to the West Coast to take on the Los Angeles Angels.

Thome crushes number 610, O's crush Indians!

The Baltimore Orioles coming off a 4 game trip to Minnesota earning them a split by winning the last 2 games before heading to Cleveland to take on the Indians. The O's jumped right on Derek Lowe and the tribe getting a run in the 1st on a wild pitch that the tribe would match in the bottom half. The flood gates would open in the top of the 3rd as the O's would put a 6 spot on the board. 2 coming across the plate on Mark Reynolds deep double and 3 more on Ryan Flaherty 3rd home-run of the season. This pushing the lead to 7-1.

The O's would getting 2 more in the 4th with one of those coming off Jim Thome's 610th career home-run in to the right field bleachers. The O's wouldn't look back and that is all the run support Miguel Gonzalez would need. Gonzalez would go 6.2 innings allowing 2 runs while striking out 5 and the O's bullpen would hold on for the win.

Thome with his home-run passes Sammy Sosa on the all-time home-run list and moved to #7 all-time by himself. Thome trails Ken Griffey Jr by 20 for 6th all-time. O's and Indians will square off in game #2 of 4 tonight at Progressive Field with the first pitch comingat 7:05 pm. The O's will have Chris Tillman going against Zach McAllister for the Indians. Tillman will look to perform better than his last start in which he lasted .2 innings while allowing 1 earned runs and 7 runs in total. Bad fielding led to 6 unearned runs for Chris and he couldn't get himself composed and out of the 1st. McAllister on the other hand is coming off 6 innings of 1 run ball while striking out 5 and walking 4 in a win against the Tampa Bay Rays!

Ray Rice lands new deal!

The day that all Baltimore Ravens fans have been waiting to hear about since the end of the 2011 season. Ray Rice received a new 5 year deal worth around 40 million dollars with 25 million coming in the first 2 seasons. The bulk of the money is upfront with 17 million in 2012 and 8 million in 2013. This is great news for a team that needs to get franchise quarterback Joe Flacco locked up long term.

The deal also gives the team around 2.7 million dollars in cap space for the upcoming season! As far as Ray Rice he can now show up to work happy and ready to run which he would have down under the franchise tag to! Now Flacco can give a sigh of relief that his favorite check down will be coming out of the back field this season!

The deal is good for both sides now its time for some football!

Michael Phelps just that good?

Baltimore swimmer Michael Phelps who recently got called out by fellow U.S. Swimmer Tyler Clary for not having a good work ethic made me start thinking about him just having the natural talent to win? With the 2012 Summer Olympics in London just a couple weeks away we will all find out if he was ready. Now if he does anything like the 2008 Summer Olympics then Clary may have justified my point as he didn't train hard enough but still won. That may just say that he is better then all the rest and he was born with the gifts to swim.

Personally I wouldn't have taken jabs at Phelps till the Olympics were over as if he wins multiple gold medals it will not only make Phelps look better then he all-ready is but may make Clary look a little jealous of the attention that Phelps gets? I will be waiting to see the match up of the two go back and forth in the 200 meter butterfly.

I know I ll be paying attention not that I am a big fan of swimming but I want to see if Phelps brings his A game and if he will bring home more gold to go along with his other 14 gold medals and 2 bronze medals from the Olympics!

Ravens need wideouts to step up games!

Baltimore Ravens are only a couple of weeks from training camp and a big question is will Ed Reed but thats not my biggest question. I am worried about what the wide receivers will bring to the team this year. Who will be the number 3 and who will step up to shine.

My thoughts are Torrey will continue to grow and only get better on his route running. His speed and deep threat allows Anquan Boldin to get back to what made him so good. The third receiver position will be up for grabs with newly acquired Jacoby Jones the leading candidate. Jones has big play ability the downsize is his inconsistencies have hurt him. The team also drafted 6'5'' Tommy Streeter out of University of Miami and have Tandon Doss. I love the physical attributes that Streeter brings but he is unpolished and may take a awhile to develop route running.

This is the year in my opinion that Joe Flacco has a big season. The tight ends are a year older and the receiving corps are maturing. We still lack the true number one such as Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald but other those 3 teams many teams don't have that pure number 1 and still have great passing attacks. Look for Flacco to spread the ball around more this year and the team lets him pass on first down more.

Baltimores trio of allstars looking to shine!

The first half of the 2012 season has come and gone now the mid season classic is upon us. The Baltimore Orioles for the first time since 2005 have multiple all-star selections heading to the game. Matt Wieters, Adam Jones & Jim Johnson. For Wieters and Jones this will be there second appearance with it being Jim Johnson's first.

Jones has batted .289 with 20 home-runs in the first half and will look to continue those numbers over the next couple months to put up career highs. Wieters who has been praised with the work he does with pitchers and his defense is also looking to put up career highs offensively this year. The last player Johnson has pitched to a 1.21 e.r.a with a league leading 26 saves.

These 3 players are a big part of the O's first half success that has them in second place in the American League East at the break. Look for all 3 to help the American League win against the National League squad tonight on Fox.

My prediction is Jones will go 1-2 with a 2-run homer and Johnson will pick up the save!

Chipper and Cal a lot alike!

Growing up a Baltimore Orioles fan and watching Cal Ripken Jr play the game you learn to respect the game of baseball. Cal played his entire career for 1 team not choosing to leave for more money. He played it day in and day out while giving it all he had. He didn't want to take days off either from being tired or injured. He played as if he had to go to work the same as you and me. Now Cal & Chipper have different careers but they are a lot alike. They both played in the steroid era while never being brought up in those conversations or being linked. They both also played for 1 team and 1 team only. They both also have a World Series ring and an MVP award with Cal having 2.

Cal and fellow hall of famer Tony Gwynn both made the All-Star team in there final season and now Chipper has the chance to do that as well. Chipper got word today that he will replace Matt Kemp on the National League all-star team for this 8th time. Chipper will go out an all-star as the likes of Cal in his final season. Now many people will argue this and they did with Cal & Tony but its well deserving honor based on the career Chipper has put up. Fans vote players in every year that is not well deserving just based on who they play for, what team they play for and how they get attention. As an Orioles fan I tip my hat to Chipper Jones and wish him the best of luck the rest of the way and a great time in Kansas City at the all-star game. Now if he homers in the game he can add another thing he has with Ripken. Chipper now gets to end his career an all-star the same way Cal did!

In years down the road he will join Ripken in the Baseball Hall of Fame! Both great ball players who played the game of baseball with the same love you play it as a kid!

O's bats can't wake up!

The Baltimore Orioles headed out west to play a series against the Seattle Mariners followed by a series against the Los Angeles Angels before the All-Star Break. A break that can't get here fast enough for the boys in orange & black. The problem over the course of the last couple weeks has been the teams lack of hitting in the clutch and now all of a sudden its just hits in general.

The O's managed to get 3 hits off the Mariners including 1 of those being a 3 run home-run off the bat of Chris Davis. Davis also had a second hit gaining 2 of 3 hits with the third hit coming of the newly acquired bat of Jim Thome. Jason Hammel started for the O's and had a solid outing going in the 7th after a strike-out Matt Wieters attempted a strike them out throw them out double play but Robert Andino dropped the ball. The catch would have cleared the bases with 2 outs. Instead it was 1 out and a runner at second. The Mariners were able to load the bases before Casper Wells cleared them on a bases clearing double.

The O's would fall to the Mariners 6-3 as the slide continues. Over the the course of the last 7 games the O's have 47 hits in 218 at bats with a team batting average of .215. The one bright spot Wilson Betemit who is 11 for 27 over that stretch. Other then him the rest of the team is not hitting including Mark Reynolds who is 0 for 15, Brian Roberts 1 for 22, Robert Andino 1 for 13 and JJ Hardy who is 4 for 30.

The O's are in need of the All-Star break and it can't get here fast enough! The question entering the break will the O's still be over .500?

Mikes Trout's catch just that good on replay!

The Baltimore Orioles on a trip to the west coast to play the Seattle Mariners followed by the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels just left Baltimore after sweeping the O's last week. In one of those games Mike Trout robs JJ Hardy of a home-run. The catch made a lot of noise as he went well above the wall in right center to rob the O's shortstop. If you haven't seen the catch you can see it here! As far as the catch goes after watching it you can tell me what you think but my thoughts are that it was amazing and one of the best catches at Camden Yards!

His catch made me actually look into acquiring some of his autographed memorabilia and rookie cards. Here is a good read about Mike Trout and being a player to collect!. Maybe I'll put together a list of the top 5/10 greatest catches at Oriole Park At Camden Yards. Let me know what you think is the best catch in the stadiums history!