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Don't look now, but Braves right-hander John Smoltz, one of fantasy baseball's best closers the past three seasons, has quietly returned to form as one of the game's best starting pitchers. With his nine-inning, one-run outing Sunday, he's now among ...

You can bet the Yankees weren't prepared for this: Jorge Cantu belting two home runs and adding a double in five at-bats, helping his Devil Rays take three out of four games at Yankee Stadium. The question is, was Tampa Bay prepared for it? Better ye...

When talking about the best closers in the game, few people ever mention Indians right-hander Bob Wickman. Statistically speaking, however, he's well worth the attention this season, with an American League-leading 20 saves and a 2.67 ERA after shutt...

In his first start back from the disabled list, Indians right-hander Kevin Millwood finally achieved a milestone he wasn't able to reach in his last three tries. By shutting out the Rockies for five innings on Thursday, he notched career victory No. ...

It was only a matter of time before Athletics third baseman Eric Chavez finally regained his hitting stroke. On Sunday, he had his best game so far this season, notching a career-high five hits in as many at-bats, including two home runs in the Athle...

In this age of strict pitch counts for starting pitchers, Nationals right-hander Livan Hernandez continues to defy the odds, with his high innings totals and 120-plus-pitch games. In effect, he's the Plasticman of pitchers. On Thursday, his first st...

These are the kinds of nights that justify our decisions to invest high first-round picks or $40-plus bids on players like the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez and the Twins' Johan Santana. Rodriguez had another stellar – and this time historical –...

Milwaukee's Ben Sheets finally looks close to the form that saw him register a 2.70 ERA, 0.983 WHIP and 264 strikeouts in his breakout 2004 campaign. OK, so seven shutout innings against the Yankees is hardly an impressive feat right now, consideri...

Yankees left-hander Randy Johnson is now more than a third of the way to his 2004 total of 35 starts, and in his 12 turns, he sure has looked ordinary. By allowing four runs on seven hits in six innings in Milwaukee on Monday, he let his ERA climb ba...

This NL East race, once considered a two-team battle between the Braves and Marlins, is suddenly more interesting. How many people thought the Nationals would find themselves in first place and the Marlins in last in the second week of June, or that ...

The D-Train has reached its stop at victory No. 9, as Marlins left-hander Dontrelle Willis became the first pitcher to reach that number by limiting the Pirates to three runs on nine hits in eight innings on Thursday. In picking up the win, Willis sn...

Considering the hype that surrounded him during the preseason, Angels third baseman Dallas McPherson could be considered a bit of a disappointment so far. After all, isn't this the same guy who, between the majors and minors, batted .310 with 43 home...

In the box score, it looked completely harmless: Helton 1B, 1 AB, 0 H. In the grand scheme of things, however, it extended Todd Helton's cold streak to 3-for-50 (.060 average) in his last 15 games. That includes, incidentally, a 1-for-17 performance ...

Two months of the baseball season are now in the books, and the Orioles' Brian Roberts still hasn't shown any signs of cooling off. Sure, he's no longer the leading man on our Player Rater – that honor now goes to the Cubs' Derrek Lee– but ...

For Rangers left-hander Kenny Rogers, life begins at 40. Maybe that's not exactly true, as he did win 17 games with a 3.38 ERA in his contract year of 1997, but the way The Gambler has been pitching so far, it sure seems like he's enjoying the big 4-...

Consider Brewers left fielder Carlos Lee's adjustment period to the National League is officially complete. On Wednesday, he went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. That gives him 29 RBI in May, setting a new franchise record for the month. Many o...