He has a .305 batting average, nine home runs, and 35 runs batted in. Most impressively, though, Youkilis has yet to commit an error this season.American LeagueC         A.J. Pierzynski, Chicago White Sox1B       Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox2B       3B       SS       OF      OF      OF      PNational LeagueC         Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves1B       Next Up (Tentatively scheduled for today)2B       3B       SS       OF      OF      OF      P         . Tuesday, June 3rdDavid Murphy went 4 for 4 with 3 Runs, a Double, a HR, and 2 RBI.  Kazuo Matsui went 4 for 4 with 2 Runs.  Dan Uggla hit a pair of HRs and drove in 3 Runs.  Milton Bradley hit a pair of solo shots.  Chipper Jones, Carlos Pena, David Eckstein, Shin-Soo Choo, Eric Chavez, Alfonso Soriano, Maicer Izturis, and Travis Denker also had 3 RBI each.  Johnny Damon, Jimmy Rollins (2 SBs), David DeJesus, A.J. Pierzynski, Alexei Ramirez, Yadier Molina, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Ryan Garko, Adrian Gonzalez, Robb Quinlan, and Damion Easley (3 RBI) each had 3 Hits.  Fred Lewis scored 3 Runs.Jeff Francis pitched 7 scoreless Innings allowing 4 Hits while striking out 5 to improve to 2-5.  Wandy Rodriguez gave up 5 Hits in 6 scoreless Innings to improve to 2-1 with a 2.38 ERA.  Adam Eaton gave up 1 Run on 3 Hits in 6-2/3 Innings with 5 Ks to improve to 2-.  Roy Halladay gave up 2 Runs in 6 Innings to improve to 7-5 with a 2.94 ERA.  Seth McClung gave up 1 Run in 6 Innings to improve to 3-2.  Randy Johnson struck out 8 to move into second place on the all-time strikeout list.  Gavin Floyd gave up 2 Earned Runs in 7 Innings to improve to 6-3 with a 3.15 ERA.  Joe Saunders gave up 1 Earned Run in 7 Innings with 5 Ks to improve to 9-2 with a 2.63 ERA.  R.A. Dickey pitched 5-2/3 Innings of scoreless relief allowing 3 Hits while striking out 6.  Brad Penny gave up 2 Run in 6 Innings with 5 Ks, but took a Loss.  Pedro Martinez gave up 3 Runs in 6 Innings for his first Win of the season..

There is a second tier of successful traits for the most successful players, players who are frequently in leadership and upperclassman positions. These players must show the greatest responsibility on the team, not the least. They must embark to the young ones supreme confidence through effective communication.These leaders must now share and start to give back to the program. They must represent the team with the highest integrity, or else this core of players becomes an impediment to success, not a vehicle.Here is a final trait, one that is somewhat of a secret. The upper tier players must be taught that even the best-prepared program will sometimes have athletes of stature arrive at a crossroad moment that can define their career. This group of players should be charged with using their experience and confidence to find a way to win.Coaches need to green light certain players to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

Some players just find a way to win and the upper tier needs to be ready when the opportunity arrives.Do you remember the Vince Young scramble against U of M? This went past athletic talent. Southern Cal received a dose of Vince Young finding a way to win the next year. The greatest example of finding a way to win I ever witnessed was the famous Dave Casper, forward, forward, accidental fumble.The final process of success is for coaches to understand impediments to success. While this is negative, and players need not be immersed in negative psychology daily, coaches must deal with impediments Organization difficulties can kill success.

Lowering expectations and difficulty for feel-good, temporary moments leads to regression of success.Laziness is a disease, and coupled with a bad attitude that is me-centered is perhaps terminal for success efforts. The disease can be explained, compromised, or eliminated, at the discretion of the coaching staff. Depending on others leads to a loss of control over the program?s destiny. Take care of business is a common phrase that explains this impediment. Or as Lombardi put it, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.One question remains?is quitting an impediment, or an unintended means to future success? This probably depends on the player and the set of circumstances.And so, you are invited to sit back and ponder how the ?new U of M? is attacking the process of success. While you are at it, look back over these points and think about how these points of success affected ?old U of M? over the past few years.So what would Yogi say about success? Maybe this: If I have success, I know I am more successful than if I do not have success.written by Doc4blu This article is also featured on Go Blue Michigan Wolverine. Something struck me this weekend while I watched Cincinnati sweep the Braves right out of Great American Ballpark.

Could it be true? Can this really be happening? For the first time in a LONG time, is it more exciting to be a Cincinnati Reds fan that it is to be a fan of the Atlanta Braves? Say it ain’t so!The Braves were, without a shadow of a doubt, the team of the ’90s. While the Reds had their bright spots (1990 World Series Champs; 1995Division champs) the Braves were the team to beat, year in and year out. Since then, the Reds have fallen to the bottom of the NL Central, and the Braves still find a way to compete for the top of the NL East since the beginning of 2000. That, however, may be coming to a halt in the very near future.After watching the series this weekend, I began to compare and contrast the two teams, and what the future may hold for both. After doing so, I was pretty excited about what may be in store over the next few years! Let’s take a look at a position-by-position breakdown from my eyes. CatcherOk, this one is really not close and actually probably shouldn’t be the first point of the discussion since it favors Atlanta so strongly! Brian McCann is, without a doubt, one of the most offensively gifted catchers in MLB. There really is no logical person that could possibly muster up an argument for that.On the other side of the coin, Cincinnati runs out its three-headed monster of mediocrity! When looking at the three catchers the Reds have on their roster (David Ross; Paul Bako; Javier Valentin), I personally do not see a potential everyday catcher among them.