Once upon a time, Cleveland Indians Travis Hafner was one of the most outstanding and promising sluggers to have grazed baseball history. In the 2004 to 2006 seasons, he performed excellently with an average of 34 home runs, a record of .300 as well as 111 RBIs. In comparison, last season saw him batting .267 with only 24 home runs and a mere 100 RBIs.

Now he found himself benched after a series of fruitless hits especially since he was suffering from a 7-for-51 slump. He will be excluded in the starting lineup from the game against Seattle come Wednesday night. Eric Wedge, the Indians’ manager has declined to say how long will Hafner take to recover but he is certain that he will be supporting him and hopes he gets adequate rest. He will also not comment nor reveal if Hafner will still remain at the number three spot in terms of batting order once he returns to the lineup.

What seemed to be a mammoth task for the Blue Jays baseball team think-tank, turned out to be an easy amicable settlement as the veteran hitter Frank Thomas and Jays found a way to sign an agreement to mutually part ways. Thomas was informed that he would no longer be in the starting hitter line up for the Jays and the slugger did not take this matter in his stride. He lashed out publicly against the Jays on Saturday.

The super hitter but aging Thomas had a one on one discussion with the general manager of the Jays Ricciardi on Sunday who explained the grief situation the Jays were facing to make him a part time player. So, the Jays thought that the best way is to have an amicable talk with Thomas and reach a mutual agreement on parting of ways. Jays’s fans will not be able to see the veteran perform for their team anymore.

Alex Rodriguez, or more fondly known as A-Rod, lead the New York Yankees on the victory path and triumphed over the Baltimore Orioles with a final score of 7-1 in last Sunday’s highly electrifying game. In doing so, he has unfortunately sustained an injury in his right quadriceps much to the dismay of his head coach and team mates.

The third baseman strained his muscle as he was running out a grounder. To date, the only players to have the honor of starting every game this season are him and Josh Hamilton from Texas. A-Rod is most thankful that the Yankees are not playing any games this coming Monday, because then he will gain an extra rest day. He could hardly remember the last time he suffered from an injury, and not since high school did he feel such pain. Interestingly before retiring early due to said injury, A-Rod successfully hit an RBI double and scored.

Seattle Mariners ace player Erik Bedard is the latest casualty for the Mariners as he is suffering from left hip inflammation and has been placed in the 15 day disabled Mariners list. The Seattle think tank believes that Bedard will only miss out on the season opener game and will be ready for action after the first game of the Mariners. Seattle acquired Bedard in February hoping to cash in on his game prowess and hoping that he would lead the mariners to a play off berth.

Bedard who is not sure when he would be ready to pitch again said that he was feeling a lot better with his left hip than earlier. The Mariners manager John McLaren said that they did not want to risk playing Bedard so early in the season and thought it would be wise to send him to the disabled list so that he can recoup from his injury very soon.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are banking on Micah Owings’ skill and expertise on the field to help them break the jinx of their three game losing streak in the current 2008 season when they play against the San Francisco Giants.

The Diamondbacks previously had an eight game winning streak but then suffered a 13-5 loss to Colorado last Sunday and afterwards, their fall from grace continued with a losing 5-4 score in the series opener.

Owings, who is a right handed pitcher, had one run and two hits with nine strikeouts 6 2-3 innings of an 8-1 win at Colorado last week. This particular victory was the catalyst for the Diamondbacks’ eight-game run, which included another strong outing by Owings.

In contrast, The Giants (6-8), will turn to Kevin Correia and are looking forward to obtain their second three-game win streak of 2008. Correia is expected to give a top notch performance after overcoming the effects of a stomach bug.

Brandon Webb triumphs over the Colorado Rockies, and more specifically Jeff Francis for the second time this season.

His performance on the mound prove to be too much for the Rockies when the Diamondbacks beat Colorado with a 8-2 score on Friday night to continue their seven game winning streak.

Most irritated was the Rockies’ manager, Clint Hurdle who was very puzzled by Webb’s variety of fast sinkers, curves and change-ups. He admitted that even his team could not place a finger on Webb’s moves and failed to predict his movement, much to their disdain.

The Diamondbacks are obviously enjoying their winning streak in which four victories were gained against the disheartened Rockies and three against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Webb on the other hand, is riding high on his victory against the Rockies. “That’s the best I’ve felt in a long time. I had almost all my pitches going. When I needed them, they were there,” the grinning Webb was quick to reply in a recent interview.

Two coaches belonging to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association bagged their respective 500th career wins. Bob Fornelli, the baseball coach of Emporia state got his 500th win as the Hornets bagged their 21st win against the Pittsburg State. His record now stands at 500-195. This is his 12th season as the head coach of the team. He has led the team to the conference regular season championships, NCAA central regional championships as well as a conference tournament title as recently as 2007. In 2006 he was awarded the MIAA coach of the year. Before rejoining the team, Fornelli coached Fort Hays State for a total of seven seasons.

 Brad Horky, head coach of Pittsburg State bagged his 500th win when the team defeated Missourie Southern 7-4. His record after the game was at 500-315-1. This is his 16th season as the coach of the team. Before joining the team Horky also coached Nebraska-Kearney.

The 42,000 odd fans who came to the inaugural game in the newly constructed super Nationals Park stadium went home with utmost satisfaction and joy as the home team, Washington Nationals got the better of the visiting team Atlanta Braves in a major league baseball match with a score line of 3-2 last Sunday night. The match was an absolute thriller as both the teams were dead locked on 2-2 at the end of the 9th inning. It was Ryan Zimmerman, the third baseman of the Washington team, with a home run winning the game for his team.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by President Bush to open the game. Manager Manny Acta said that the visit by Bush has made it a very special day for the Washington nationals. The U.S president was at ease at the clubhouse and interacted with everybody. The clubhouse had an oval shaped dressing facility very similar to the President’s office at the White House.