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As is the case in most cities with professional franchises, the buildings that host Florida's professional sports teams have been built with the assistance of taxpayer contributions. It's played off as a symbiotic relationship (new stadium means new jobs, more revenue coming in, etc.) but most of the time feels parasitic. Well, destitute Floridians know a thing or two about that. More »
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Per Jerry Crasnick: More »
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The Tampa Bay Rays just traded for Mariners reliever Josh Lueke, a righty who's undervalued because he dodged a rape charge a few years back. Our resident Rays fan, Mobutu Sese Seko, is not pleased. TB brass is advised to read his debunking of the various pro-Lueke factions sooner rather than later. [Mr. Destructo] More »
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A cameraman wiped out while tracking Adrian Beltre on his trot home after a solo shot in the second inning. We'll have video shortly, of course. More »
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Your morning roundup for Oct. 1, the day the nanny state says you're no longer allowed to legally fornicate with animals in Florida. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors. More »
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Jack Moore acknowledges right from the start that it's impossible to quantify what took place in Baltimore and St. Pete. But he did calculate how the odds for both Boston and Tampa Bay fluctuated throughout the evening, and that snazzy image he created certainly puts it all in perspective. [FanGraphs] More »
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We've put together a split-screen video syncing up the conclusions of both Yankees-Rays and Red Sox-Orioles that we hope the IP crew at MLB is too hungover today to notice. Enjoy. More »
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What is ESPN prattling on about right now? We condense your morning SportsCenter to its essence. More »
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This was Dan Johnson's game-tying shot in the ninth against the Yankees, which was briefly the night's most "holy shit" moment and which seemed all the more legendary for having caromed off some guy's balls. Verdict: no nut shot. More »
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The Cardinals beat the Astros 8-0 behind Chris Carpenter's complete game two-hitter. Sounds simple. But the rest wasn't. They'd have to wait a while to get all all celebratory in the locker room. More »
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Folks fret a lot about the national sports media—we suppose this includes Deadspin—overcovering Boston sports. When it comes to John Lackey's personal calamities, we pay attention with good reason. But maybe the Red Sox's collapse, hanging over all of Lackey's baggage, is too big a deal. There's another 89-70 wild card leader chased by an 88-71 team, and this squad is much more likely to blow its once-seemingly-insurmountable lead. More »
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Your morning roundup for Sept. 25, the day Catwoman got real. Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors. (Video H/T Casey) More »
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Forcing rookies to dress in costume is an MLB tradition that's as childish as it is time-honored. A gloriously dumb reminder that most baseball players are manchildren, forever stuck in high school. We are too; it's a major reason baseball players are perhaps easier to connect with than athletes in any other sport. More »
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Former Red Sox/Dodgers/Indians left fielder/enigma Manny Ramirez was arrested in Weston, Florida earlier this evening on battery charges after a domestic dispute, the Miami Herald reported. More »
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Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Matt Moore was 12-3, with a 1.82 ERA and 210 strikeouts (but only 46 walks) in 155 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this year. He was the runner-up to the Angels' Mike Trout for Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year. Keith Law ranked him as the best pitching prospect in baseball. More »
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Lo, while you were watching some kind of football all weekend, this happened: Boston got swept by Tampa Bay. 7-2, 6-5, and 9-1 today. Four of those nine runs came on this BJ Upton atom bomb off Matt Albers. That moves the Rays 3.5 games behind the Sox—three in the loss column—for the AL Wild Card lead with 17 games (four against Boston) to play. The Angels, who lead the Yankees at press time, are 4.5 back. More »
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Via ESPN Stats & Info: "David Price: 12 K through 5 IP. That matches what Clemens had through 5 IP in each of his two 20-K 9-IP games and 1 more than Wood thru 5 IP." More »
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Darren Rovell, CNBC's sports business reporter and self-professed master of the Twitter, sang the Canadian and U.S. national anthems at the Blue Jays-Rays game today at Tropicana Field. He did a fine job. But he forgot rule number seven of his 100 Twitter rules to tweet by: More »
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Tipster Joe sends along this wire photo from the weekend, with an accurate-if-unnecessary caption: More »
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Tampa Bay's ownership group finds the extra two percent, as explained in Jonah Keri's recent book of the same title. They do the little things. They work on the margins. More »
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The Angels released Scott Kazmir on Wednesday, and we had seen it coming for years. Hitters clobbered Kazmir in 2009, 2010, and, in his one 2011 start. He lost his control and velocity simultaneously, and stopped striking hitters out. More »
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The amateur draft is today. If you didn't hear about it, don't blame MLB: they're trying their best to promote it, even leaking the announcement of the first overall selection to their own site. The overall lack of publicity means that Tampa Bay's surreal achievement is going unnoticed by the average fan. Take a look at their picks in the first couple rounds: More »
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This is a story about Melvin H. Little, a Tampa Bay Rays $20,000-a-year season-ticket holder from way back when they still had Devil in their names, taking his two sons to a ballgame the other night. They had good seats, about 10 rows behind the plate. He sported a "Yankees Suck" T-shirt because, well, duh. More »
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Rays pitcher David Price knocked one into the right field seats during batting practice yesterday, and because pitchers in the American League don't get out much, he took advantage of the moment. We appreciate his cartwheels, his somersaults, and that gleeful flip of the bat, because even Little Leaguers think they have to play it cool these days. More »
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Perhaps you thought Manny Ramirez had faded away into that flickering twilight, where we'd reminisce about what a truly spectacular athlete he was. Some folks, Joe Posnanski foremost among them, would argue for Manny's Hall of Fame credentials, while others would want him nowhere near Cooperstown. More »
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Your morning roundup for April 17, the day burglars everywhere accept the fact that trying to rob 81-year-old stroke victim/Korean vet Bobby Smith means they'll get a piping-hot frying pan filled with potatoes across the head. More »
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Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports that after the MLB alerted Tampa Bay's Manny Ramirez to "an issue" under its drug program, the two-time world champion chose to retire "rather than continue with the process." [@BillShaikin, ESPN] More »
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On Saturday, someone broke into the house that Longoria, David Price and Reid Brignac were renting for Spring Training. (Yes, it's precious that they're living together.) While they were at a game, someone entered through an unlocked window and removed $56,000 worth of " jewelry, cash, computer equipment, electronics, and a weapon." But not just any weapon, no no. More »
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Roy Oswalt was struck "in the upper body" with a line drive hit off of Manny Ramirez's bat today in Port Charlotte, Fla. Crossing Broad captured the video, and while at first glance it appears to hit him in the back of the head, initial reports state that he was struck above the right shoulder and has a "bruised neck." He made it off the field his own and will now attempt to prepare for a life without neck modeling. More »
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In his updated account of today's big Spring Training matchup between Tampa and Baltimore, Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times noted that Rays Manager Joe Maddon "had a fan - who was in in Orioles jersey - removed from the stadium after he was making racist comments about B.J. Upton." More »
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In his new book, author Jonah Keri covers the rise of the Tampa Bay Rays under the stewardship of two Goldman Sachs alums and a private equity banker, who in 2008 managed to do to the rest of the American League what some of their former colleagues were doing to the U.S. economy. Before their arrival, however, there was Vince Naimoli, the Rays' founding owner, a man too cheap for email. More »
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So the Chicago Sun-Times wasn't the only paper to mix up Matt Garza and Joaquín Benoit. The Daily Herald made the same mistake. But don't blame the papers. The error originated with a bad cutline from a wire photographer. Asshole. More »
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The Cubs on Friday traded for Tampa Bay pitcher Matt Garza. Apparently, this confused the Chicago Sun-Times, which slapped a full-page photo on its back cover of...Joaquín Benoit. Both pitchers are right-handed. Both have facial hair. Let's stop there. More »
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This one's for all the marbles. Well, not the ALCS and WS marbles, those come later. But this is the first division series since 2005 to go the distance, so enjoy. More »
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Down 6-0 to the Rangers in the 8th, Carl Crawford swung at the first pitch and grounded out to second. The fans chanted his name anyway since it was probably his last game as a Ray at Tropicana Field. More »
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Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and internets to bring you everything you need to know to start your day. More »
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C.J. Wilson? In game two. You sure? Okay, whatever you need to do. Discuss the revenge of DJ Kitty in the comments below. More »
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This week's SI cover boy, David Price, is currently getting shelled while Cliff Lee continues his absurd streak of playoff dominance. Chat about the rest of the action here. More »
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