Ruben Tejada has been one of the position players to watch his batting average take a drastic drop over the first couple weeks in May. While he’s not the only person to blame for this collective slump, he needs to return to his 2012 form to help jump start this offense.

Terry Collins told his shortstop this week to quit it with the uppercut swing and fly balls. While he has been hitting more fly balls recently, his overall fly ball rate isn’t much different than what it was last season. What has been the source of his struggles? I take a stab at it today on Yahoo! Sports. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

Ruben Tejada Needs to Start Hitting

Thanks for reading! To Follow Matt’s posts at On The Way Home and Yahoo! Sports, you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8. If you’d like to join On The Way Home as a staff writer or write a guest post, you can contact Matt at matt.musico8@gmail.com.

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Once his seven-year/$45 million deal ends at the conclusion of the 2014 season, a six-year/$118 million pact will take effect until 2020. He followed up signing that extension with an All-Star season in 2011 (including a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove Award), but 2012 wasn’t as kind. Tulo went down early in the season with a groin injury that eventually limited him to 47 games and 181 at-bats.

In 36 games played through 2013, Tulo has been hitting at a .322/.404/.609 clip with 8 home runs and 32 RBIs. In 11 less games played and approximately 70 fewer at-bats, he’s already out-produced his 2012 power numbers. Colorado has cooled off after their hot start, but most of their 21-19 record can be attributed to the production from both Tulo and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.

Tulowitzki has been held out of a few ball games due to minor injuries, but he’s been fortunate to not spend a prolonged period of time off the field. His durability has come into question at times, playing 150+ games only twice since 2007. However, the potential he has at the plate outweighs his injury risks. That’s why the Rockies decided to invest a lot of time and money in their former first round pick.

For first-year manager Walt Weiss to keep his club surprising baseball in the National League West, Tulowitzki needs to stay healthy. The division was perceived to be a two-team race between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, but that hasn’t happened. The Dodgers have dealt with poor play and injuries, as Don Mattingly‘s club is currently occupying last place. The Giants are in first, but their starting pitching hasn’t met expectations over the first month and a half of the season.

With the top two teams not performing to expectations, this is the time for Colorado to take advantage. The division is up for grabs; if the Rockies want to be in the midst of a playoff push come August and September, they’ll need to play good baseball right now. To continue doing that, Tulo must stay healthy. He makes the lineup dynamic with his presence.

Having both Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez both in the lineup makes the Rockies’ order much more intimidating. Dexter Fowler, Wilin Rosario, and Michael Cuddyer pose an offensive threat, but none of them instill fear to opposing pitchers like Tulo and CarGo. We saw how Colorado struggled with just Gonzalez in the lineup last season; opposing pitchers simply pitched around him more often. They willingly allowed other hitters try to and beat them.

I’m happy to see Tulo enjoy a resurgence after being sidelined for most of last season. Shortstop is the most demanding position on the field; there aren’t many in the game today that can dominate the position like he can, when healthy. As he goes, the Rockies will go. The organization is hoping their shortstop stays healthy so they can make a run for October baseball.

Thanks for reading! To Follow Matt’s posts at On The Way Home and Yahoo! Sports, you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8. If you’d like to join On The Way Home as a staff writer or write a guest post, you can contact Matt at matt.musico8@gmail.com.

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One would imagine that something was wrong with the ace, but he was able to keep whatever ailment that was bothering him under wraps for quite some time. Last week, a press conference was held to announce Halladay’s immediate future, as he will be undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs in his throwing shoulder. The procedure will also include the repair of a frayed labrum and partially torn rotator cuff. At this point, there is no timetable for Doc’s return, but he didn’t rule out a return by the end of this season (however, that seems highly unlikely).

The next question that has been going around baseball since he made this announcement is if he would be able to come back from this. Halladay is celebrating his 36th birthday on May 14th, so logic says the best days of his career is behind him at this point. However, this hurler is the ultimate competitor and is always in pursuit of perfection. A day after making the announcement of his injury and impending surgery, Halladay sought out the media one more time to make a public apology to Phillies fans for his poor play. With everything he needs to prepare to go through, disappointing the fans could have been the last thing on his mind. All ballplayers want to give their fans something to cheer about, but who actually seeks out the media in order to publicize an apology? Not many.

It’s how he approaches the game that makes me think his playing career isn’t done just yet. Time is not on his side and this injury could be a little more serious than Doc has let on, but I find it hard to believe that someone with the mentality of Roy Halladay would allow his career to end on such a sour note. Will he be the type of pitcher the Phillies acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays prior to the 2010 season? Most likely not. He has a vesting option for the 2014 season with Philadelphia for $20 million, but it will not come into play because he won’t reach the innings pitched plateau, and is likely ending 2013 on the DL.

With that being said, it wouldn’t be outrageous to see the Phillies give him an incentive-laden, one-year deal this winter. It’s players like him and Johan Santana that you never want to count out. I can say with confidence that Halladay doesn’t want his last memory of being in the Major Leagues to be that of him compiling an ERA north of 8.00. He’s better than that, and wants to finish his career on his own terms. If the surgery is successful and his rehab goes well, he will be able to do just that.

A lot of the same things were said about Johan Santana and his recent string of injuries. He did finish the 2012 season with his tail between his legs because of his poor performance, but he came back and threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals. Although he had to go through the surgery and impending rehab a second time, he wants to mount one more comeback and finish his career on his own terms.

It’s very rare that players are able to ride off into the sunset the way they want to, yet we see so many try. There are players that tried their best to make a comeback, but fell short, like Brandon Webb. Then, there are players that have made a full recovery for one more year in the summer sun, like Mariano Rivera.

I hope that Santana and Halladay both get the opportunity to climb onto a Major League mound one more time. They’ve given so much to this game; they deserve to get that feeling one more time. If I had to put money down as to whether or not they will get that opportunity, I would certainly not bet against them. We’re talking about two of the fiercest competitors to take the mound in the last 20 years.

With regard to severity of their injuries, Halladay has a much better chance at making a comeback. If I were him, I wouldn’t try to rush back to the mound for the end of 2013; take the rehab slow, allowing him to be as strong as possible by the time the comeback is complete and he toes the slab again.

Thanks for reading! To Follow Matt’s posts at On The Way Home and Yahoo! Sports, you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8. If you’d like to join On The Way Home as a staff writer or write a guest post, you can contact Matt at matt.musico8@gmail.com.

The post Have the Philadelphia Phillies Seen the Last of Roy Halladay? appeared first on On The Way Home.

During spring training, the Mets skipper said that if Parnell continued to perform, he would not lose the closer role on the club, but it sounds like he’s second-guessing himself. Today on Yahoo! Sports, I made my case for Collins to leave Parnell as the closer for the remainder of the year. This way, we’ll be able to see if he can be the man to hold down the ninth inning for the foreseeable future. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

Bobby Parnell Should Remain as Closer for the New York Mets

Thanks for reading! To Follow Matt’s posts at On The Way Home and Yahoo! Sports, you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8. If you’d like to join On The Way Home as a staff writer or write a guest post, you can contact Matt at matt.musico8@gmail.com.

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While most people called this deal a complete salary dump, the Marlins front office points to the top prospects they received. Outside of Yunel Escobar and Jeff Mathis, Miami acquired Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Alvarez, Anthony DeSclafani, Justin Nicolino, and Jake Marisnick.

After this deal was made official by the league, plenty of analysts jumped on the Blue Jays’ bandwagon. Toronto instantly became the overwhelming favorite to win the American League East, a division which looked to be weaker than it has been in years. I also picked the Blue Jays to win the division at the start of the year, but part of me asked the question: all of the guys they acquired were on a team that played horrible, what makes us think moving them all to another team will be any different?

That’s a huge generalization, but so far, the deal hasn’t been reaping the dividends they were hoping. A little over a month into the 2013 regular season, Jose Reyes is on the disabled list until the All-Star break, and they’re currently occupying the basement of the AL East with an 12-21 record (9.5 games back). What’s attributing to this poor start for John Gibbons and his club? They’re currently sixth in Major League Baseball with 38 home runs and their slugging percentage comes in at 17th in the league at .394, but no one is getting on base.

Their .232 team batting average is only better than three other teams in baseball (Washington Nationals, Chicago White Sox, and Marlins), while their abysmal .297 on-base percentage ranks 25th. To put it in perspective, the Houston Astros have a higher OBP (.305) than the Jays.

With their struggles at the plate, one would hope the pitching staff would pick up the slack while they try to right the ship. Unfortunately for the organization, that hasn’t been happening either. Toronto has compiled a 4.66 ERA and 1.43 WHIP as a team, both of which rank third worst in the league.

Jose Reyes leads the team with a .395/.465/.526 line, even though he’s been on the DL for quick some time already. He’s also the only offensive player with an average higher than .271. Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista are both struggling, while Bonifacio and Brett Lawrie are each hitting on the interstate.

As for the starting rotation, JA Happ currently owns the lowest ERA on the staff, coming in at 3.98. That’s surprising considering the rest of the rotation is comprised of talented pitchers like R.A. Dickey (5.36), Brandon Morrow (4.69), Josh Johnson (6.86), and Mark Buehrle (6.43).

Nothing is going right for the Jays right now, and it doesn’t get any easier with Reyes and Johnson (more recently) on the disabled list. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees have been exceeding expectations, which has created quite the mountain John Gibbons will have to watch his club climb. I’m rooting for them to turn it around and make things interesting, but time will tell if they’ll be able to do so.

There is a lot of season left to play; while the April schedule is important, the hole they’ve dug themselves isn’t too big to get out of, yet. The implementation of the second Wild Card team in each league also makes it a lot easier for teams off to slower starts to gain steam later in the year and make a successful playoff push. As they say, that’s why they play the game, and why we love to watch it.

Thanks for reading! To Follow Matt’s posts at On The Way Home and Yahoo! Sports, you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8. If you’d like to join On The Way Home as a staff writer or write a guest post, you can contact Matt at matt.musico8@gmail.com.

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