Baseball Page 1206 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Now Batting, Travis Wood Of The Chicago Ubs
Cubs pitcher Travis Wood shut down the Mets in his seven innings of action last night, though the real impact he made was on viewers stupefied by his batting helmet's misplaced logo. The cap appears to have been through some severe trauma, made all the weirder because Wood, being a pitcher, has bat...

Marlon Byrd, Victor Conte's Most Famous Client, Suspended For PEDs
Marlon Byrd was supposed to be Victor Conte's character witness. For the past three-plus seasons, the journeyman outfield has been the only high-profile client of Conte's supplement business, a product line that's a tough sell since the whole BALCO mess. The BALCO name's gone (it's SNAC now), but Co...

Dustin Pedroia Did Not React Well To Rumors Of Kevin Youkilis Being Traded
The Red Sox sent Kevin Youkilis packing yesterday, shipping the popular third baseman (and more than $5 million) to the White Sox for Brent Lillibridge and pitcher Zach Stewart. The news came as a shock to Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who spent several innings with his face stuck in a stat...

Reports: Kevin Youkilis Traded To Chicago White Sox
The Boston Red Sox desire to trade Kevin Youkilis has been no secret and it appears both Red and White Sox have finally pulled the trigger. Reports out of the clubhouse are that Youkilis's nameplate has been removed from his locker and Bobby Valentine said there is a "situation pending."...

The Mets Bought A Chicken For Frank Francisco, Not Ritually Killing It
Before the beginning of this year's second edition of the "Subway Series" between the New York Yankees and New York Mets, Mets closer Frank Francisco called the Yankees chickens. Because the Yankees complain about everything. Anyway, it was much ado about nothing and everyone downplayed the quote. ...

Jamie Moyer Is Becoming Baseball's Very Own Willy Loman
Moyer, if you'll recall, started the season with the Colorado Rockies and was soon designated for assignment after going 2-5. He then signed a minor league deal with the Baltimore Orioles. A clause in that contract required the Orioles to either promote Moyer to the big league club or release him a...

After Blown Save Jonathan Papelbon Promises $5K For A Walk-Off Homerun, Jim Thome Cashes In
Jim Thome hit his 13th game-winning home run yesterday, good enough for a weird Major League record only the folks at Elias think about. It was also good enough for $5,000, according to Jonathan Papelbon. Paps came in to a 6-4 Phillies lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the ninth inning and promptly g...

Torii Hunter Interviews An Astronaut In Space, Asks How He Poops
Yesterday Torii Hunter spent about 15 minutes interviewing astronaut Joe Acaba while he was in the middle of a four-month-long mission in the International Space Station. It was actually a funny, goofy little segment between the two. Hunter asked if he could see Mark Trumbo's home runs from space, ...

Chipper Jones, Your Ass Makes Women Go Crazy
A little moment of levity to break up all the dark vibes floating around would be nice, yes? Well, you can thank this woman sitting in the front row at Shithole Fenway Park watching Chipper take some hacks in the on-deck circle. Chipper is in the middle of his goodbye tour and it appears one fan w...

Better Know An Umpire: Chris Guccione
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...

Lisa The Ball Girl Reduced The Padres' Announcers To Puddles Of Goo
Dick Enberg is no rookie. He's one of the most experienced (and generally respected) sportscasters we have, but when Lisa the Padres Ball Girl impressively gloved a streaking line drive last night, it sent him and broadcast partner Mark Grant into high school hysterics. Suddenly, Enberg can't form m...

David Ortiz: Boston Is "Becoming The Shithole It Used To Be"
On Sunday, Buster Olney called the Red Sox clubhouse "toxic." Just dropped it in a notes column like it was no big thing. He followed up the next day with a little more detail:...

Better Know An Umpire: Marvin Hudson
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...

Things Get Testy At Mets' All-Time Team Presentation As Tom Seaver Asks Darryl Strawberry If He's Wearing Handcuffs
Sunday night's Mets All-Time Team gala turned awkward when Tom Seaver made reference to Darryl Strawberry's criminal past by asking, "You don't have any handcuffs on your wrists, do you?"...

Aroldis Chapman's Stripper Friend Charged With Lying To Cops About That Bizarre Hotel Room Robbery
That weird story about a robbery in Aroldis Chapman's Pittsburgh hotel room three weeks ago only got weirder when the woman found tied up in the room couldn't get her story straight. Claudia Manrique is a 26-year-old stripper Chapman began dating in April who "would meet him in other cities where th...

Is Former Giants Second Baseman Jeff Kent Going To Be On <em>Survivor</em>?
If you've been walking around all day thinking that nobody in America cares about Survivor (now in its 24th season!) anymore, and that there couldn't possibly exist a frighteningly thorough fan site dedicated to the show, you'd be dead wrong....

Won't Somebody Remind A.J. Pierzynski There Are Only Two Outs?
Top of the eighth, none on, one out, and Matt Thornton catches David DeJesus looking for strike three. The White Sox are well on their way to avoiding a sweep. OK. Looks like Starlin Castro is up next, and—hang on. A.J.? Yo, A.J.? What the—where's he going? Hey! Wait. Did everyone forget? Don't they...

Carlos Santana Was Out By Six Feet, Except That Umpire Jim Wolf Is Legally Blind
Most of the time, umpiring is really easy, like this play from last night's Reds-Indians game. Joey Votto scoops up the grounder on the first base side and throws it to shortstop Zach Cozart, who's covering second. Carlos Santana basically gives up on sliding into the base, because he recognizes, b...

There Was An Inferior Substitute To Front-Row Amy At Yesterday's Brewers Game
A few weeks ago, the ever-present Brewers fan Front-Row Amy missed a game. Mavens worried for her health, as a framed photograph of the Milwaukee superfan was in her usual seat. Not to worry, though, as she was back for the next game and looking her usual best....

Todd Helton's Heartbreaking Moment Of Staggering Forgetfulness Leads To Walk-Off Loss
It was a bad night for Todd Helton, the cornerstone of the Rockies for 16 seasons, he of the .321 lifetime batting average and 58.7 WAR (good for 11th among active players and higher than Vlad Guerrero, Ichiro, and a slew of others you'd expect to be above Helton). But tonight in Philadelphia, when ...