Baseball Page 1220 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
MLB Pitcher Suspensions: Embarrassing, Or Just Useless?
Benches cleared twice in Kansas City on Saturday, with Jonathan Sanchez hitting Shin-Soo Choo, and Indians starter Jeanmar Gomez leading off the next half-inning by drilling Mike Moustakas in the lower back. There was the requisite pushing and shoving and tough talking, and the Indians won in extr...
Lucha Libre Cubs Fan Hasn't Won <em>Campeonato Consejo Mundial</em> Since 1908
The Marlins crushed the Cubs 9-1 last night in front of an announced 25,000 spectators, one of which was this Cubs fan in headgear we can't imagine is particularly comfortable in the Miami heat. But hey, at least he got to see this a few times....
Reports: Ivan Rodriguez To Retire
According to reports, Ivan Rodriguez will retire as a member of the Texas Rangers before Texas plays the Yankees on Monday....
Illinois Man Arrested After He Accuses Blackhawks And Cubs Executives Of Stealing His Ideas To Win Championships
56-year-old Emanuel Kuvakos of Burr Ridge, Ill. was arrested on Tuesday night and charged with three counts of misdemeanor harassment by electronic means. At first, we imagine, Kuvakos just wanted to protect his intellectual property:...
Chris Young's Hustle Earns Him A DL Trip
Diamondbacks outfielder Chris Young flung himself into the Chase Field wall to corral Pedro Alvarez's long fly. X-rays were negative, but an MRI today showed...something. Young is on the DL with what's only being called a "shoulder contusion," and the D-Backs didn't even win the game. The lesson her...
Better Know An Umpire: Larry Vanover
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.)...
There Are Already Lots Of Empty Seats At Marlins Games
All right, so, there's nothing worse and more useless than attendance stories in April. Still: here's one anyway. The Marlins, despite that fancy new ballpark, haven't even been close to filling the place....
Davey Johnson Is Perplexed And Unmoved By Press Conference Fire Alarm
Okay, let's get this out of the way first. Yes, it's hilarious to hear Nats manager Davey Johnson say, completely out of context, "It was shockingly beautiful, and big. I'm looking at it and I'm thinking, jeez. My first one was in 1966." He's talking about Edwin Jackson's World Series ring. Not a pe...
Jamie Moyer Becomes Oldest Pitcher In Baseball History To Win A Game
Good for Jamie Moyer, who pitched seven effective innings against the Padres Tuesday night to earn the 268th win of his never-ending and perpetual baseball career. At the age of 49 years, 150 days, he also became the oldest geezer to win a MLB game....
Clemens Lawyers, Prosecutors Caught Discussing Trial Strategy Over Hot Mic
Jury selection began this week in the second perjury trial of Roger Clemens, and journalists were given an unexpected glimpse into what they might expect once jury selection is over....
Better Know An Umpire: Jerry Layne
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 stats are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...
How A Career Ends: Mike Marshall, Ph.D., The Outcast Screwballer Turned Outcast Pitching Coach
Tell Me When It's Over is an interview series in which we ask former athletes about the moment they knew their playing days were over. Today: Mike Marshall, the rubber-armed screwballer who won the 1974 National League Cy Young Award and who now believes his unconventional methods could eradicate pi...
Rick Ankiel Threw A Strike From Center Field
Houston's Jordan Schafer had 22 stolen bases last year, so he's not slow. But even he wasn't about to tag up and test the arm of Rick Ankiel, who showed the Astros' prudence to be warranted by hitting the catcher on the fly. Perhaps it wasn't strictly a strike (unless Larry Vanover was working the p...
Boston Paper Already Declares Red Sox Clubhouse Mutiny
The Red Sox lost a frustrating game yesterday, highlighted by a questionable strike zone, a mid-conversion Daniel Bard looking great but clearly tiring, and the manager crossing swords with the team's two most beloved players. So today the Herald leads not with a game report, but a rush to be the fi...
Here's The Only Woman In New York Unimpressed By Derek Jeter
The Yankees fell to .500 on the season with a 7-3 home loss to Minnesota last night, though Derek Jeter continued his hot hitting with two knocks—including a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first. All that, though, wasn't enough to impress this lass in the Legend Seats....
Hey, It's Jake Peavy Partying At A Bar In Wrigleyville
White Sox right-hander Jake Peavy was known for doing plenty of partying (see here and here) back when he was with the Padres. From the looks of these photos, taken last night at the Houndstooth Saloon near Wrigley Field and sent to us by a reader named Erick, not much has changed. As of March 2011,...
Is There A Young Lefty Starter In MLB Who <em>Hasn't</em> Gotten An Extension?
The San Francisco Giants just signed lefty starter Madison Bumgarner to a five-year, $35-million extension. 2011 was Bumgarner's first full season in the big leagues. He struck out 8.4 batters per nine innings and walked only two per nine. That's quite good. It is, as you might expect, far too early...
The Mets' Regrets: Will You Start Loving Citi Field If It Gets Uglier?
So now the ballpark of the moment is glassy and modern and full of moving fish, leaving the retro-style ballparks of the previous moment kaput. What happens to all those teams that are stuck with suddenly unfashionable nostalgia-parks? (And are stuck with them for a very long time.)...
The Red Sox Game Ended With A Magical Elastic Strike Zone
With runners on first and second with two outs, and the Rays up one in today's Patriots' Day morning start at Fenway, it came down to Fernando Rodney and Cody Ross. Rodney threw five straight balls outside, except three of them weren't strictly balls, since home plate ump Larry Vanover called them s...
Bobby Valentine Is Now Openly Antagonizing Kevin Youkilis
Kevin Youkilis has had a rough start to his 2012 season. He's hitting .200/.265/.223, and the Red Sox are 3-5. (CLARIFICATION: They were 3-5 when Valentine gave this quote. They're 4-5 now.) But it's the smallest of sample sizes, and the Red Sox got off to a bad start last year and everything work...