There are times, like, it’s one of those cities … I might catch some flack for saying this, but, you know, they’re front-runners. When you’re doing good, they’re on your side. When you’re doing bad, they’re completely against you.

Jimmy Rollins on Philadelphia Phillies Fans on Best Damn Sports Show Period

Well, he ended up catching a lot of flack for saying that. And, in his first game since those comments he was booed immediately, starting from the announcing of the starting lineups. Every at bat by Rollins was seranaded with boos. Now, Jimmy Rollins was the Phillie Faithful’s favorite player last year, as his MVP season led them storming into the playoffs in the last month passing the stumbling Mets. So, they’re booing him now, doesn’t that mean he’s right, that they are in fact front-runners?

The answer is yes. Of course fans are front-runners in the sense that Rollins meant. Fans love you when you play well and hate you when you don’t, deal with it. And Jimmy Rollins isn’t playing well at all this year. After his .296, 30 HR, 94 RBI season last year, he’s hitting .263 with only 8 HR’s and 42 RBI’s. When you drop off that much after a season in which Phillie fans thought they were set for the next couple of years, of course they’re going to be mad.

I don’t think that Phillies fans should have booed him like they did but they do have a point. Rollins knew he was wrong when he was saying it, and even though he stuck his neck out for his teammates (statements were more about his teammates than himself), keep it in the clubhouse. If you don’t know how fans act by now you should seriously understand quickly because fans booing you every day can destroy one’s confidence and ruin a season.

Every athlete has their own routine on game day to get themselves both mentally and physically ready to play. Some guys are very superstitious and go through the exact same routine for every game. They may wear the same clothes, or put on the right shoe first every time, whatever it takes to make an athlete feel confident and that he is prepared.

Travis Blackley is one such athlete who has his own unique game day ritual. Travis is a pitcher in the Philadelphia Phillies organization and is currently pitching for their AAA affiliate the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Travis is from Australia and was originally drafted by the Mariners and had stints in the big leagues with both the mariners and the San Francisco Giants before making his way east to the Phillies organization. He has high hopes of returning to the big leagues one day and until that happens he is doing everything he can to have success at the minor league level. Listen to the following clip of an interview that we did with Travis about what he does on game day to get himself ready to hit the mound every night.

CLICK TO HEAR THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW

So we’ve hit the mid-season point and a lot has changed since the beginning, but the question is will this be how it ends. Both Chicago teams, Cubs and White Sox, stand alone in first place in their respective divisions. The Mets’ season has started just as disastrous as it ended last year and the Yankees, well they’re just hanging around waiting for a trade like always. But the big surprise of this season has to be the Twins and the Rays.

Big Surprises

For a team to lose the best pitcher in baseball and get nothing good in return to be 1.5 games back in their division is astounding. The Twins have played it very quietly this season and have made themselves into contenders in the American League. Their ten game win streak came to a close this past Saturday but they easily bounced back with a win over the Milwaukee Brewers. They have a solid, young team with one of the best closers in the game in Joe Nathan. Don’t be surprised if you see this Twin team in the running for the A.L. Wild Card or even the Central Division.

The biggest surprise of the season has the be the Tampa Bay Rays though. They have shocked the American League, putting up a 49-32 record at the mid-way point and have established themselves as a legitimate threat in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, the American League East. Throughout this season people have been calling it a fluke and that it’s just luck, but with half the season gone they are atop the A.L. East and have the players to catapult them into the franchise’s first post-season. They are also beginning to bring in bigger crowds and have been rumored to possibly bring in one of the game’s biggest stars in Ken Griffey. If the Rays can complete a trade for Griffey this team will have to be considered one of the best teams in baseball.

The Second City in First

Is this their year? The Chicago Cubs have finally fielded a team that may be able to get past the curse. But that’s what they think every year. This year is different though. The Cubs have one of baseball’s most potent all-around threat in Alfonso Soriano, and are led by a fiery coach who simply knows how to win in Lou Pinella. The Cubs have the best baseball team with a record of 49-33 and are playoff bound and possibly World Series bound. As for the other side of town, the White Sox have surprised some critics and stand atop a very difficult A.L. Central with a record of 46-35. Ozzie Guillen and his team have played great baseball in a division that was etched in stone by many writers that the Detroit Tigers would win. The White Sox have a powerful team that can score at any moment, and are possibly one trade away from having a team capable of making a significant impact down the stretch.

800 miles east of Chicago sits millions of disappointed New Yorkers. The Mets are crumbling again behind poor management, poor upper management, and poor play on the field. They’ve lost their manager in Willie Randolph in an absolute fiasco that ate up thousands of headlines, and the players such as Jose Reyes, and David Wright, have yet to prove they are as good as their paycheck. Speaking of overpaid, in the Bronx the Yankees are having yet again another unpredictable, chaotic season. New skipper, Joe Girardi hasn’t shown New York much with a 44-38 record sitting 5.5 games back of the Tampa Bay Rays. Injuries of Chien-Ming Wang, Jorge Posada, and M.V.P Alex Rodriguez have hampered the Bombers’ season and have yet to prove that they the best in the bigs as they should be. A trade is looming in New York that could make or break these Yanks but with the tumultuous season they’ve had so far, Bomber fans should consider themselves lucky to only be 5.5 games out.

So with that said I’ll give you the second half predictions with who I think will end up in the playoffs come the end of the regular season.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

EAST- Boston Red Sox

CENTRAL- Detroit Tigers

WEST- Anaheim Angels

WILD CARD- Tampa Bay Rays

NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST- Philadelphia Phillies

CENTRAL- Chicago Cubs

WEST- Los Angeles Dodgers

WILD CARD- St. Louis Cardinals