Baseball Page 1228 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Brien Taylor, Former Yankees Superstar-To-Be, Arrested On Cocaine Trafficking Charges
Brien Taylor, the can't-miss prospect who missed, was arrested yesterday on a whole mess of drug charges. This comes after an undercover operation by the Carteret County (NC) Sheriff's Office, in which cops allegedly purchased large quantities of crack and cocaine from him....

A.J. Burnett Will Miss 2 To 3 Months Because He Broke His Face Trying To Bunt
Burnett fractured his orbital bone when this happened on Wednesday, and he had to have surgery this morning. Best-case scenario has him out of the rotation until early May, which means Erik Bedard will likely be the Bucs' Opening Day starter. It's only been a few weeks since the trade, but it's alre...

Watch Tim Kurkjian Watch J.P. Arencibia Do His Tim Kurkjian Impression
The voice is dead on. Either the Blue Jays catcher is a master of impersonation, or he's squeezing his testicles between his knees....

Minor Leaguer Suspended For Refusing Drug Test Says Testers Went To The Wrong Address: "I'm 28 Years Old. I Don't Live With My Mom!"
Yesterday, MLB announced that minor leaguer Justin Dowdy is suspended for 50 games for refusing to take a drug test. Dowdy, a former White Sox pick who spent most of last season with the Giants' AAA Fresno Grizzlies, signed last month with the independent Grand Prairie (Texas) AirHogs and so will ha...

Now A.J. Burnett Is Officially A Pirate: He Hurt Himself Bunting A Ball Off His Face
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle's affection for the bunt is such that he once had his cleanup hitter do it last season with the go-ahead run on first—and in a game in which that cleanup hitter already had two hits. Hurdle holds an annual bunting tournament in spring training, and yesterday, this is w...

David Wright Still Thinks Those "Underdog" Mets Shirts Are A Dumb Idea
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Wright remembers that you can't be an underdog without having zero expectations....

Here's How You Get A 50-Game Suspension Without Failing A Drug Test
Refuse to take one! Deceptively simple. Via Hardball Talk:...

Exclusive: Former Reliever Mike Stanton Weighs In On Current Outfielder Mike Stanton Now Going By Giancarlo Stanton
The news came across the wires this morning that thumping Marlins outfielder Mike Stanton, who finished 5th in the NL with 34 home runs last year, will now go by Giancarlo Stanton, his birth name. (His full name is Giancarlo Cruz Michael Stanton, and he says he prefers Giancarlo.)...

Jeff Samardzija Would Like To Eye-Hump You For A Moment
Spring training photo day is a second (or fifth) chance to make a first impression. No matter that Jeff Samardzija had had four largely irrelevant seasons in Chicago. This is 2012, and it's a new start, and a hairy intense Samardzija wants you out of those pants and in his bed before he's done smell...

Miguel Tejada Wants To Return To Oakland: "Tell Billy To Give Me A Call"
Oh boy, the strangest team offseason in recent memory might be getting even weirder. Miguel Tejada—the 5-9, 220 lb. shortstop who hit 156 home runs in his seven years in Oakland—wants to come back to play for the A's....

Ty Cobb Went To Mussolini's Italy And Did A Fascist Salute, And Other Warm Moments From The Cobb Family's Home Movies
Ty Cobb's reputation as baseball's biggest scoundrel is secure, but portions of it are undergoing something of a revision, with new research either casting doubt on or completely disproving some (though certainly not all) of the more notorious anecdotes about him. And now there's this, according to ...

Sadly, Albert Belle Could Not Drop Father Time With A Forearm On The Basepaths
Quick, guess how old Albert Belle is, without looking it up. He's 45. This is what happens when you chug coffee like water and are angry all the time....

Ryan Braun's Urine Collector Gives His Side Of The Story
Everyone has a lawyer, and everyone has a statement. Today's comes from Dino Laurenzi, Jr., the employee of Comprehensive Drug Testing responsible for collecting Ryan Braun's sample, and he'd like to clear up just what happened on that fateful October evening....

The Mets Have Created Their Own LOLMets T-Shirts
Now even the Mets' ownership is laughing at the Mets. These T-shirts were placed in the lockers of each Mets player yesterday at the direction of Jeff Wilpon, the team's chief operation officer. The "U" logo is supposed to represent Underdog, the animated superhero from the 1960s, and the shirts are...

"Nobody Likes The Game That They've Won Over And Over Again To Change": Lady Gaga Reviews <em>Moneyball</em>
Republished from V Magazine....

Mark McGwire Thinks He Has The Numbers For The Hall Of Fame, But "Obviously Something Happened"
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: McGwire says it's all out of his hands now....

Boston's Clubhouse Beer Ban Is A Victory For Stupid People Everywhere
Jon Lester said he's not proud of what happened. Josh Beckett called it a "lapse in judgment." Clay Buchholz said he'll learn from "bad decisions." David Ortiz says it won't happen again. We will merely point out that a Major League Baseball team drank beer, and it's been a story for four-and-a-half...

How The Doping Case Against Ryan Braun Fell Apart: One Theory
The conventional wisdom on Ryan Braun's overturned doping suspension is that it was a triumph of cautious proceduralism over substantive justice—a victory for protocol and a rare (and for my money not entirely unwelcome) defeat for the drug cops. Baseball's testing program caught a juicer, the think...

After Latest Injury, Joel Zumaya Might Become A Professional Fisherman
The former Tigers flamethrower, whose Twins career ended with a UCL tear before really starting, told the AP, "I'm a pretty dang good fisherman, so I might pursue professional fishing." Watch for tendinitis when you reel 'em in, buddy....

A.J. Burnett's Single Greatest Contribution To The Yankees Will Live On
There's still a month before the season begins, and already the Yankees have been able to replace A.J. Burnett's value to the team. No, it's not a WAR-level replacement player. Ha! That's a good joke. I wish I'd thought of it....