Baseball Page 1280 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

New Yorkers Taunted By Ironical TBS Signage
Anyone notice anything wrong with this gi-normous sign promoting the MLB playoffs on TBS? The banner is hanging on 7th Avenue in downtown New York, and features Josh Beckett of the Red Sox and, hmm, who is that other player exactly? Oh TBS, why do you mock them so? From the New York Post: ...

When It's Preferable To Lead With Your Face
In my adult softball league, head-first slides are reserved for those goofy yahoos who take things way too seriously; the ones who wear full baseball uniforms and keep stats on a clipboard. If you're a head-first slider, you probably also drive a Prius and have a girlfriend named Bunny. But now we c...

Watch Your Balls Around This Kid
Young Zack Hample, who scrounges for major league baseballs with the determination of a bear in a restaurant dumpster, has recorded rather a noteworthy feat; having caught the final Mets home run ball at Shea Stadium. This came on Sunday (Carlos Beltran), about a week after Hample had caught home ru...

Black To The Future
This is the year of the coin flip. Just as Two-Face decided if you'd live or die by the flip of his lucky dollar in The Dark Knight, so did Major League Baseball in deciding where the AL Central play-in game would be held. U.S. Celluar, where the Twins were 2-7 this season? Or the Metrodome, where t...

Attention Tampa Bay Rays: Kevin Costner is Here To Tepidly Rock You into the World Series
Already troubled by their lack of "worthy" individuals associated with the organization to throw out their first playoff pitch, the Rays obviously faced another quandary when searching for a rallying fight song to commemorate the occasion. Unlike the Cubs, who got Eddie Vedder's "Go All The Way", th...

Twins Fans Somewhat More Rabid Than Previously Thought
Earlier today I wondered aloud if there were any Twins fans out there in the Deadspinosphere, because let's face it, they've been kind of quiet lately. I was beginning to wonder if everyone in the Land 'o Lakes was busy with their stamp collections. But yeah, turns out Twins Nation is well represent...

White Sox. Twins. Tonight. For The Playoffs. Be There.
Introducing the only player in the majors whom we're sure isn't on steroids. Powered by Alexei Ramirez's sixth-inning grand slam and the encouraging signage of a large hunk of 1970s shag carpeting, the White Sox extended the American League regular season one more day with a 8-2 win over the Tigers....

Mets Fans Go Out With Quiet Grace And Dignity
I prefer not to think of this as an obscene gesture, but as a salute to 45 great years at Shea Stadium. The Marlins' 4-2 win on Sunday ended the Mets' season, but please, let there be no tears. Did you really want Shea to go out in some bland early-round playoff game? This is a much more appropriate...

Ozzie Guillen Lives to Curse Another Day
The White Sox picked a pretty good time to end their five game losing streak as they beat the Indians with a solid effort from starter Mark Buehrle. The win leaves the White Sox a half game behind the Twins who won themselves a ballgame in K.C. This gives the Sox a game tomorrow with the Detroit Tig...

Mets Close Out Shea as Losers; Brewers Go Wild
CC Sabathia, Milwaukee's big time mid-season acquisition, stepped up on the final day of the season to help the Brewers clinch the National League Wild Card spot with a win over the Cubs. Ryan Braun was once again the hero as his 2 run homer in the 8th put them ahead for good. The Brew Crew clinched...

Dustin Pedroia: Enemy of the Geese
Dustin Pedroia's stat lines this season have no doubt caught the eyes of fantasy baseball geeks, but his road to approach teammates like Big Papi in superstar status has been a bit tougher. Of course, everything's tougher when you're only five foot nothing. A profile in today's Boston Globe tells ta...

Game 162: Win or Go Home (or Play Again Tomorrow)
• Mets 2, Marlins 0 Johan Santana pitched the gem that the New York faithful needed from him. It was an absolutely impressive complete game, three hit shutout. But man, was it bizarre to hear Mets Manager Jerry Manuel talk about the game afterward, "Wow, wow, wow, wow. I think if I had to describe t...

HOLY CRAP! Phillies Win NL East On An Incredible Double Play
Jesus. Brad Lidge tried to give the entire city of Philadelphia a heart attack. In the top of the 9th with a two run lead, Lidge allowed a run to score and proceeded to load the bases. Jimmy Fucking Rollins made a ridiculous double play to clinch the National League East for the second straight year...

Tampa Bay Rays Win AL East in Fitting Fashion
• Tigers 6, Rays 4 The Rays lost to the Tigers last night but that didn't prevent fans on Main Street in Tampa from celebrating. With the Yankees putting up 19 runs to beat the Red Sox at Fenway, Tampa Bay clinched their first ever American League East crown. One more time: The Tampa Bay Rays are th...

Time To Unleash Your Shea Stadium Memories
"June 14, 1987. Mets, Phillies. We're enjoying a beautiful afternoon in the right field stands ..." One of the most famous Shea Stadium stories is fictional, of course. What can top Jerry Seinfeld explaining the physics of The Magic Loogie to Kramer and Newman? But you have real Shea memories, no do...

Strange Brew: Ryan Braun, Of All People, Keeps Milwaukee In The Chase
• Brewers 5, Pirates 1 (10 innings). Brew Crew Ball called it: This morning is the appropriate time for the untucking of shirts. Come on, untuck 'em! Wait ... is that, Brewers underwear? Oh Jesus. Well, tuck it back in, I guess. Ryan Braun was hitting .198 in September, with one home run and five RB...

Fukudome You, Oklahoma
Disturbing news from Oklahoma this morning, where once again our fundamental constitutional right to wear Kosuke Fukudome attire is being threatened by "the man." Rumors and Rants has the story, as apparently one of their readers was sent home from work on Casual Friday for wearing a Fukudome T-shir...

AL Roundup: Let's Play "Pounce on the Punto"
• Twins 7, White Sox, 6. : Coming into this series, the Minnesota Twins were 2.5 games back of the Chicago White Sox, but now sit atop the AL Central with a half game lead after storming back from a 6-1 deficit to defeat the spiraling White Sox 7-6 in a dramatic 10th inning. The Twins sturdy closer ...

Detroit Tigers' Season Cruelly Refuses To End
Despite what the calendar says, the Detroit Tigers called off their season weeks ago. They've won 5 games this month. They've lost 12 of their last 13, given six in a row to the Indians and Royals, their closer has already retired, Gary Sheffield is sharpening knives in his basement, and despite leg...

Were The Mariners About To Issue A Code Red On Ichiro?
This comes as news to me, but then I haven't followed the Mariners very closely since, well, ever; and that includes the years I lived in Seattle. Apparently Ichiro Suzuki is so unpopular with his teammates that several of them got together earlier in the season and planned how they were going to "g...