MLB Teams that Need Improvement

Since my last post, we've seen Dallas Braden pitch a perfect game, Celtics beat the Cavs, Bruins choke to the Flyers and now I've officially graduated from college!

I've been doing teams/players who have created a positive impact for baseball, but now I'll talk about 3 teams who were thought to do good, but need improvement this season, now that approx. 25% of the season is complete.

1) Boston- The team that focused on pitching and defense during the offseason has failed to impress this year. John Lackey has had 5 quality starts, but struggled Sunday against Detroit and his previous outing against Toronto weren't impressive at all. After signing a 4-year extension, Josh Beckett has been disappointing all season so far and left after last night's start against the Yankees with back spasms. Marco Scutaro has had trouble covering shortstop and with the injuries by Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron have made the outfield difficult with players like Jeremy Hermida and Jonathan Van Every. Also the Sox rely on home runs to score, which is not the answer to win every game since 40 percent of their runs come from homers. Although I've been impressed with Big Papi and Varitek with their roles, as well as Pedroia and Youkilis.

2) NY Mets- We all knew the Mets weren't gonna win the division, but a wild-card run has been in play...not lately though. Even Jeff Wilpon made the trip to Atlanta to talk to the team, telling them they need to play better, and are 2 games under .500. The starting pitching did not record a win for 16 straight games until Mike Pelfrey accomplished that Monday night. Johan Santana has also had trouble this season, with a 3.72 ERA and a no-decision against the Braves. The rest of the rotation is a disaster with Oliver Perez and John Maine who have failed to step up. Now the Mets are using R.A. Dickey to start tonight and Takahashi on Friday against the Yankees. The lineup has also failed to produce with Jose Reyes and David Wright struggling all season and Jason Bay with only 1 home run this year, but also has lack of run support. Pelfrey, catcher Rod Barajas and 1B Ike Davis have all done well so far for this club.

3) Chi Cubs- The Cubbies make the list because of they're records in recent years, and have gotten off to a slow start this season. Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez have 4 home runs a piece, while Alfonso Soriano remains to be hot for the team. The pitching continues to be a question mark, with Carlos Zambrano returning to the starting rotation after being in the bullpen, the other starters have also struggled. Carlos Silva is 5-0, while Ryan Dempster is 2-4, Ted Lilly 1-3 and Tom Gorzelanny 1-4 so far on the season. Yes the Cubs play in a tough division, and Lou Pinella knows they need to play better.

MORE MLB NEWS & NOTES
1) Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez was pulled from Monday's game for not hustling and was not in the lineup for Tuesday's game. He also ripped manager Fredi Gonzalez for never playing in a major league game and refused to apologize for his actions. Team leader Wes Helms is calling for an apology and that Hanley refuses, saying he tried to grab the ball during the game.

2) Dr. Anthony Galea was charged with unlawful possession of HGH by giving them to a former NFL player. This is gonna be interesting because of all the clients he had, including Tiger Woods, Carlos Beltran and Alex Rodriguez, because I will not be surprised if we have another steroid scandal and more unexpected names will be released as the summer goes.

OTHER SPORTS NEWS & NOTES
1) Celtics vs. Magic- It's definitely been an interesting series so far. I figured the Celtics would be 1-1 at this point, but winning 2 in Orlando for the East Finals gives them an advantage as the series heads back to Boston for Game 3 Saturday. They need to play better defensively and stop making ridiculous fouls just to keep the Magic in the game. We saw them barely win both games after blowing a 20-point lead in Game 1. Celtics are doing a good job but needs to step up.

2) Playoffs- Speaking of playoffs, I like how in the NHL playoffs, teams get a day off and resume playing the day after. It goes by faster and has a better interest with the ongoing series (Chicago/San Jose and Montreal/Philadelphia). Although the NBA really should consider restructuring the playoff format. Having 3 days off in between playoff games and 2 days off in between finals is ridiculous. I know teams need a day off to unwind, but the playoff series keeps getting longer and longer.

3) MLB Attendance- Once again, I have to criticize the attendance at ballgames. I've seen more people at a Chicago Blackhawks game than a Kansas City Royals or Florida Marlins game. I know the economy is tough right now, but the tickets to games are cheap at some places. Plus some of them are during the day and teams have promotions for these games. Ticket prices however at places like Citi Field need to be lowered to help crowds out to make it affordable to go to games. For example, The Sox recently were in Toronto and there must have been 12K fans at the Rogers Centre each night. I know Canada has some financial issues right now, but I'm surprised the place wasn't packed with Sox fans.