Baseball Page 1296 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Last Days Of Sal Fasano
SI Writer Jeff Pearlman goes back to the Fasano well for the most depressing piece yet. Sal's now 38, and struggling: "You can't help but question your sanity. You're driven by one thing — hope."[SI]...

Tigers And Twins Desperately Trying To Make You Care About Baseball
The 2009 baseball season has been a bit of a dud, drama-wise. So how about a final week double-header that will MEAN EVERYTHING! Or change everything. Or solve nothing? I forget how these dramatic finishes are supposed to work....

Angels Get Nick Adenhart's Jersey Drunk
Got an image you'd like to see in here first thing in the morning? Send it to [email protected]. Subject: Morning crap....

And Speaking Of Winning Organizations...
The Washington Nationals held a everything-must-go! charity auction over the weekend which included autographed baseballs from the likes of Wily Mo Pena and Ray King. [NationalsEnquirer]...

Meet The Mets' Sad Fan
Type "mets fan" into Google Images and you get a good cross-section of Mets Nation, everything from the disappointed to the dejected. A prime example: that downtrodden, scruffy-looking twentysomething with his hands held hopelessly atop his rally cap....

Baseball And Steroids: Corporate Synergy!
The company that owns the Braves is selling steroids over the Internet. That's what we in the business call "centralized distribution." [AJC]...

Is Our Children Learning (To Hate The Red Sox)?
All this talk about Obama's school speech and the indoctrination of students is ignoring the real dark power behind our educational system: Boston fans. Could one be in your child's school?...

Ichiro Finally Cracks
The normally robotic Ichiro was ejected for the first time in his career after arguing a called third strike in today's game against Toronto. Apparently, it was the old "bat in the sand" demonstration that did it.[ESPN]...

Rookie's First Big League Memory Held For Ransom
You've heard stories about ballhawks, those unwieldy characters who scoop up milestone home run balls only to hold them for ransom from the players who hit them. This is one of those tales....

Lidge Meltdown Brings On Fan Meltdown
Though this video contains a dejected Phillies fan, it could be any one of us. In just three minutes, he articulates, very inarticulately, the pain we've all felt. I present to you the Überfansch, whose transcendence will justify our existence....

Why Your Empty Stadium Sucks
This is what professional baseball in Pittsburgh looks like in late September when the Pirates are some 30 games back and 3-22 over their last 25, and the Cincinnati Reds and a bunch of world leaders are in town....

Baseball Statgeeks, iPhone Dorks Finally Join Forces
FanGraphs has an iPhone app now. "Live win probability and win probability graphs"! "Basic/Advanced/Value stats for any baseball player"! I do believe FanGraphs commenter Kevin S. speaks for all of us: "I just splooged in my pants." [FanGraphs]...

Mark McGwire's Insurance Policy Required Him To Take The Stuff That Inspired Our National 'Roids Hysteria
We all know about Mark McGwire and his (completely legal) use of Androstenedione, thanks to the hall monitors in our sporting press. What we didn't know: The Lloyd's underwriters who had insured McGwire's ankle required that he continue taking Andro....

"The Stadium Died At 9:24"
See also: Tiger Stadium Leveled to Final Shovel of Dust [Sports Climax]...

Sports Will Make Detroit Happy Again, Sportswriters Continue To Claim
Oh, look. A sportswriter has parachuted into Detroit and found a hard-luck city with a shrinking tax base in the maw of a recession whose spirits nonetheless brighten because Brandon Inge just ran out a grounder to short. Yay!...

We're Running Out Of American History
A painting of Tommy Lasorda now hangs at the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. Expect Vlad Guerrero shortly to lay out the painting with a broken bat. [LA Times]...

Yankees Not Clear On The Concept Of "Hazing"
Got an image you'd like to see in here first thing in the morning? Send it to [email protected]. Subject: Morning crap....

Houston Astros Fire Their "Manager"
With 13 games to go in their dismal season, the Astros—an alleged "base ball" team from Houston—have fired manager Cecil Cooper. In other news, Cecil Cooper was apparently managing the Astros this season! [Houston Chronicle]...

Giants' Teenage Prospect Now A Murder Suspect
Angel Villalona, a Giants top prospect, was scouted at 13 and signed by San Francisco at 16, and now, at 19, he's the prime suspect in a murder in the Dominican Republic, a top prospect of an entirely different sort....

The Cubs Cannot Be Sold Until Shawon Dunston Takes Freshman Lit
"Looks like everything is running smoothly with the sale of the Cubs. Let's just finalize everything with your signature here, and...hold on, what's this? A retired journeyman shortstop never went to college?"...