Thursday Liftoff Links

While Brandon Lyon was blowing his fourth save of the season, I was putting together these links to save your Thursday.

Link of The Week

Red Sox Fan Runs onto the Field, Gets Tackled Hard by Diving Security Guard | The Big Lead
You think this security guard is ready for football season to start?

The Draft

2010 Baseball Draft: First Round Review - Minor League Ball
John Sickels begins his review of last years draft in a "Where are they now?" series of articles. Up first is round one where one Astros prospect gets some love, and the other some concerns.

2010 Baseball Draft: Supplemental First Round in Review - Minor League Ball
John Sickels continues his look at the 2010 draft, with the first draftee taken being an Astros prospect.

Rain, Rain Go Away Come Again Another Day

LWIB: April MLB Attendance: Does it Matter? plus Tidbits
A look at rainouts, the economy and other variables affecting attendance at Major League ballparks.

Bud Selig on good and bad news about MLB's attendance figures - Tom Verducci - SI.com
Verducci takes a different approach to the supposed attendance issue plaguing baseball. Some interesting tidbits about The Steroid Era, big-market teams, and yes the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Lance Berkman Has Stolen The Hearts of FanGraphs

Cardinals Offense Picking Up For Pujols | FanGraphs Baseball
FanGraphs points out that if the Astros had in fact kept/resigned Lance Berkman the Cardinals may very well be looking up at the Astros....Well at least that's how I read the article.

Lance Berkman, Edgar Martinez, and Cooperstown | FanGraphs Baseball
Now that Lance Berkman is racking and out of Houston, everyone can begin to speculate whether or not he is Cooperstown bound. In this article Dave Cameron compares Berkman to Edgar Martinez who recently received nearly 33% of the Hall of Fame vote.

Rookies and Awards

THT Awards
Current Astro Wandy Rodriguez receives an award thanks to Brandon Lyon, and former Astros products Lance Berkman and Ben Zobrist collect their own awards. Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.

Rookies, Classes and Classification: 2010 | FanGraphs Baseball
Last year we saw a lot of rookies come up and produce, but is it worthy enough to claim the title "The Year of the Rookie", Eno Sarris takes a look.