I have 4 favorite teams: Stl. Cardinals, San Fran. Giants, LA Angels, Chi. White Sox. The Cardinals are my all time favorite though!  Steve Kline is my all time favorite player.  There is NO player of now or the past that I love more than Steve Kline!  And, I've met Steve TWICE!

SPRING TRAINING GAMES:

Well, Spring Training games have officialy begun!  However, the Washington Nationals have already got a guy injured: Jose Guillen injured his wrist, and will be out for up to 3months.  Check out the Nationals website for more. 

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC:

Ok, the WBC as officialy started!!  Pool A- Japan, China, Chinese Taipea (Taiwan), and Korea.  In the first games, Japan beat China 18-2; Korea beat Taiwan 2-0.  In the 2nd batch of games, Korea beat China 10-1; Japan beat Taiwan 14-3!  The next games are 3/4/06, and into 3/5/06: times: 8pm-10/11pm central time and 3am central time.  The games will be: China vs. Taiwan and Japan vs. Korea!  Then, we will move into Pool B: Dominican Republic, US, Canda, and Mexico.  Those games will be aired around Tuesday, March 7.  So, thats where we are now!!  I'll keep yous guys updated!

LATEST BASEBALL UPDATES:

SUSPENSION: Matt Lawton, of the New York Yankees (now with the Seattle Mariners) was suspended for the first 10 games of the '06 season for steroid use.  This upset me quite a bit, as I'm a fan of Lawton's.  I liked what he had to say about it afterwards. It was very mature of him...i still love the guy...i'm not good at getting mad at players that i like!!

2005 Awards- 

Satchel Paige Award: Presented to the NL and AL pitchers of the year
2005 recipients: Dontrelle Willis, Marlins; Johan Santana, Twins

Josh Gibson Award: Presented to the NL and AL home run leaders
2005 recipients: Andruw Jones, Atlanta Braves; Rodriguez, Yankees

James "Cool Papa" Bell Award: Presented to the NL and AL stolen base leaders
2005 recipients: Jose Reyes, Mets; Chone Figgins, Angels

Walter "Buck" Leonard Award: Presented to the NL and AL batting champions
2005 recipients: Derrek Lee, Cubs; Michael Young, Rangers

Andrew "Rube" Foster Award: Presented to the NL and AL executives of the year
2005 recipients: John Schuerholz, Braves; Ken Williams, White Sox

Charles Isham "C.I." Taylor Award: Presented to the NL and AL managers of the year
2005 recipients: Bobby Cox, Braves; Ozzie Guillen, White Sox 

 Larry Doby Award: Presented to the NL and AL rookies of the year
2005 recipients: Ryan Howard, Phillies; Robinson Cano, Yankees 

 Hilton Smith Award: Presented to the NL and AL relievers of the year
2005 recipients: Chad Cordero, Nationals; Bob Wickman, Indians

John "Buck" O'Neil Award: Presented to a local or national corporate/private philanthropist for outstanding support of the NLBM
2005 recipients: Royals president Dan Glass; Hall of Famer and Padres vice president/senior advisor Dave Winfield

This Year in Baseball Awards (voted on by fans)-- i'm not sure that i'm going to be able to get this...sorry

MVP- AL: Alex Rodriguez(NYY) and NL: Albert Pujols (STL)

Manager of the Year- AL: Ozzie Guillen (CWS) and NL: Bobby Cox (ATL)

Cy Young Winners- AL: Bartolo Colon(LAA) and NL: Chris Carpenter(STL)

Rookies of the Year- AL: Huston Street(OAK) and NL: Ryan Howard(PHI)

PLAYERS CHOICE AWARD WINNERS: Andruw Jones (player of the year), Mike Sweeney (man of the year), David Ortiz (AL outstanding player), Andruw Jones (NL outstanding player), Bartolo Colon (AL outstanding pitcher), Chris Carpenter (NL outstanding pitcher), Huston Street (AL outstanding rookie), Willy Taveras (NL outstanding rookie), Jason Giambi (AL comeback player), and Ken Griffey Jr. (NL comeback player)                                                                 

SILVER SLUGGERS: American League- 1B Mark Teixeira, 2B Alfonso Soriano, 3B Alex Rodriguez, SS Miguel Tejada, OF Vladimir Guerrero, OF Garry Sheffield, OF Manny Ramirez, C Jason Varitek, and DH David Ortiz............National League- 1B Derek Lee, 2B Jeff Kent, 3B Morgan Ensberg, SS Felipe Lopez, OF Andruw Jones, OF Miguel Cabrera, OF Carlos Lee, C Michael Barret, and P Jason Marquis

GOLD GLOVERS:  American League- P Kenny Rogers, C Jason Varitek, 1B Mark Teixeira, 2B Orlando Hudson, SS Derek Jeter, 3B Eric Chavez, OF Tori Hunter, OF Vernon Wells, and OF Ichiro Suzuki....................National League- P Greg Maddux, C Mike Matheny, 1B Derek Lee, 2B Luis Castillo, SS Omar Vizquel, 3B Mike Lowell, OF Andruw Jones, OF Jim Edmonds, and OF Bobby Abreu

HANK AARON- AL: David Ortiz.......NL:Andruw Jones

CLEMENTE AWARD- John Smoltz

DHL DILIVERY MAN OF YEAR- Juan Rivera

SUSPENSION!!!! Matt Lawton (free agent outfielder) has been suspeneded for the first 10 games of the '06 season for steroid use.  This sucks, because I really liked this guy...

WORLD CHAMPIONS: Chicago White Sox

ALCS winner: Chicago White Sox! YIPPY!

NLCS winner: Houston Astros

• Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez, Puerto Rico (currently with the Detroit Tigers) 
• 1st base: Albert Pujols, Dominican Republic (currently with the St. Louis Cardinals)
• 2nd Base: Rod Carew, Panama (1967-1985)
• Short Stop: Alex Rodriguez, Dominican Republic (currently with the New York Yankees)
• 3rd Base: Edgar Martinez, Puerto Rico (1987-2004)
• Outfield: Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rico (1955-197)
• Outfield: Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican Republic (cu-rently with the Los Angeles Angels)
• Outfield: Manny Ramirez, Dominican Republic (currently witht the Boston Red Sox)
• Starting Pitcher: Pedro Martinez, Dominican Republic (currently with the New York Mets)
• Start. Pitcher: Juan Marichal, Dominican Republic (1960-1975)
• Start. Pitcher: Vernando Valenzuela, Mexico (1980-1997)
• Relief Pitcher: Mariano Rivera, Panama (currently with the New York Yankees)

These are some of the greatest Latino players there are.  There were many great nominees, but these are the guys the fans voted in.  Roberto Clemente was represented by his two sons, Luis and Roberto Jr. Clemente.  Roberto Clemente was killed flying a plane with food to Puerto Rcio, after a terrible earthquake.  Clemente was an amazing player.  Seeing these players, and hearing about thier struggles, and thier accomplishments, and the struggles and accoplishments of the Latino players now; I have a huge respect for ALL Latinos!

Some of my favorite players: Steve Kline, Yadier Molina, So Taguchi, John Mabry, Alex Rodriguezx, Bengie Molina, Jose Molina, Miguel Cabera, Tadahito Iguchi, Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, Matt Lawton, Mark Prior, Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Abraham Nunez, ok, well the list goes on FOREVER!

My two favorite managers: Ozzie Guillen and Tony LaRussa...Mike Sciosia(sp?) is OK.

At the moment, Tony has slipped on this list.  I have lost a lot of respect for him latley, and not because we lost the NLCS.  There are some things that I think he handeled very poorly.  Theses include the Ray King issue, the Jason Marquis issue, and not making Larry Walker sit, and letting him play even though he wasn't hitting and we had guys who were hitting and were ready to go.