Baseball Page 1308 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Tiger Stadium To Be Demolished, And 80 People Care
It's already surrounded by empty vodka bottles, tattered blankets and, uh, hubcaps, and that was before an economic development board voted on Tuesday to tear down Tiger Stadium's last remnants....

Is This The End Of Tom Glavine?
Tommy Glavine was all set to make his major league debut this season, after fully rehabbing from offseason surgery and throwing 11 straight shutout innings in the minors—right before the Braves said, "Thanks, but no thanks."...

Austin Wood And The Pitch-Count Question
By now, you've surely heard of Austin Wood, the University of Texas reliever and modern folk hero who, cramping and vomiting, threw 169 pitches in a seven-hour NCAA regional Saturday. Most amazing of all? That throwing 169 pitches in a college baseball game isn't, in itself, all that amazing....

Mets Get Swine Flu Scare, Creating Conditions For Tabloid Perfect Storm
A producer for the Mets television network may have swine flu, and Carlos Beltran and John Maine both have unspecified stomach ailments. Rest assured this story will be handled with measured calm and forbearance by the New York media. Wait, what's that? "Pig Panic"? Never mind. [New York Post]...

Vicente Padilla Is Good At Making People, Androids Angry
Mark Teixeira after his double-plunk from Padilla: "Unfortunately, that guy has been doing it his whole career. Every time I've faced him since there seems to be balls near my head, near my body, and today I got hit twice. There's really no reason for it." [DMN]...

Brady Anderson Defends Angelos From Cruelties Of SI Article
"Meddling" Orioles owner Peter Angelos was named "The Worst Owner In Baseball" by SI. This has chafed former 50-home run fluke Brady Anderson, who penned a column for the Baltimore Sun to defend him. Some reasons why Angelos is great: he's compassionate, caring, a son of Greek immigrants. [Steady Bu...

David Ortiz Is Still Worth More Than General Motors
David Ortiz's putrid 2009 numbers — .185, 1 HR, 18 RBI, 48 strikeouts — don't qualify for a government bailout, as his statistics translate to an approximate worth on the free agent market of negative $5.2 million. At least he's more valuable than Delmon Young. [Fangraphs, via Simon on Sports]...

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Gatorade
The fancy schmancy Gatorade dispenser that has adorned the home dugout at Wrigley Field this summer is being removed and replaced with a boring old water cooler. Why? Because people can't be trusted to have nice things....

What Is Wrong With Our Fragile Baseball Players?
Khalil Greene has been placed on the disabled list with an unspecified "social anxiety disorder" making him at least the third major leaguer to miss significant time with a similar complaint. That, my friends, is a TREND ALERT! So what the heck is going on here?...

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
Ohio State faces a team from the South in the postseason, loses 37-6. Wait ... this story isn't a repeat? And it was actually a baseball game? Oh, that's unfortunate. [Rumors and Rants]...

Francesa Takes Another Look At The Joba Rules
Confession: I'm a Yankees fan, which gives me, like any other Yankees fan, the right to opine about the best interest of Joba Chamberlain's arm. Mike Francesa's also a Yankees fan, and he hosts a radio show, which, apparently, makes him doubly passionate about the precocious righty....

The End Of The Rocky Road For Clint Hurdle
Sources say! Clint Hurdle will be fired after seven years (really?) as Colorado's manager and just a little over one season removed from the team's World Series appearance. Does anyone have a John Denver CD I can borrow? [Denver Post]...

Excuse Me, Ma'am, The Yankees Do Not Suck
With the Yankees in town, a Texas woman proudly sported her anniversary present: a "Yankees Suck" T-shirt. That's against the law in Rangersland. It's considered profane. So she had to turn her shirt inside-out. But in her defense, the Rangers did let A-Rod in the stadium. [Dallas Morning News, NBC]...

Why Rick Porcello Matters
Rick Porcello won his fifth straight start yesterday, which ensured the 20-year-old a long season of being inaptly compared to Doc Gooden. He'll probably finish the year reminding everyone of Zach Duke instead, but there's a reason to hope he doesn't, and it has to do with the amateur draft....

Voting For Manny Probably Won't Matter
Who said social activism was dead? We're living in the Age of Obama, which means everyone is all jazzed about public service, and there's no better way to voice your displeasure with the bureaucracy of Major League Baseball than to... vote Manny Ramirez into the All-Star game!...

Accused Killer Indicted In Adenhart Case
"A grand jury has indicted the man accused of killing Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others when a minivan smashed into their car last month. Orange County prosecutors say Andrew Gallo was indicted on three counts of murder and three other felonies for the April crash." [AP]...

No Gatorade Machine Is Safe From Zambrano's Wrath
Carlos Zambrano did not make it through his start against the Pirates today and neither did the Gatorade dispenser in the Cubs dugout. Carlos gets ejected, but it's always the electrolytes that have to pay the price....

Savior Of Baltimore, Fantasy Teams Everywhere To Debut Friday
Matt Wieters, who is evidently a real player and not just some sad phantom haunting Yahoo fantasy rosters, will make his major league debut for Baltimore on Friday against the Tigers. "It's time," said Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail. Adjust your rosters accordingly. [Baltimor...

The Evil Umpire: Who Once Called Pitches For Randy Johnson?
Tom Verducci wrote up Randy Johnson in last week's Sports Illustrated and included this odd — and oddly unnoticed — anecdote:...

Carlos Marmol Leaves Team To Be With Wife (Not Pictured: His Wife)
Cub reliever Carlos Marmol is taking a leave of absence from his day job to fly to New York, as his wife is scheduled to give birth there this week. So then who was the very non-pregnant "female companion" he was snuggling with two weeks ago?...