Baseball Page 989 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Mets Bullpen Is A Confusing Wasteland
As the Mets rotation has increasingly become a desperate bunch of relatively interchangeable substitute scraps, their bullpen hasn’t fared any better. Over the past month, the team’s relief corps has been the worst in baseball—below replacement level as a unit, actively costing wins rather than doin...
Masahiro Tanaka Got Back On Track Last Night
Very little has been going right for Masahiro Tanaka over the past month. Since his gem of a complete game shutout against the Red Sox four weeks ago, he’s been giving up more home runs than almost any other starting pitcher in baseball—in his last two starts, he allowed a combined 14 runs on seven ...
Braves Security Guard Snatches Ball From Child
Wednesday night’s broadcast of the Pirates-Braves game featured a cameo by a security guard who takes his job way, way too seriously....
Red Sox Strike Out 20 After Four-K Ninth Inning, Tie Major-League Record
Behind perhaps the least marquee starter in their rotation in Drew Pomeranz, the Red Sox struck out 20 batters tonight to tie a major-league record....
Maryland Baseball Coach Gets Ejected With Explosive Rant
Maryland baseball coach John Szefc got ejected during a tie game in the eighth inning today after getting pretty heated when one of his players, outfielder Marty Costes, was struck by a pitch. As Costes turned to jog to first, however, the ump called him back—saying that he hadn’t made enough effort...
The Yankees Are Struggling To Put Butts In Seats
The New York Yankees have been surprisingly excellent this season, with a 27-17 record and a unique, likable young star in hulking, homer-bashing rookie Aaron Judge. Their rich history and success on the field should make them the hottest ticket in town. And yet, they aren’t....
Bruce Bochy Was Steamed About A Game-Ending Strike Call
The Giants-Cubs series in Chicago ended last night when Joe Panik struck out looking on a breaking ball on the outside corner. The Cubs were up 5-4 and the Giants were threatening with a man on second and two outs. Panik held on for a 3-2 count through six pitches, but Wade Davis finally got him wit...
Josh Collmenter Has Been Having A Rough Time
The Atlanta Braves are a pretty bad baseball team, but they have gotten some decent production out of the bullpen, which recently went on a nice scoreless innings streak. And then there’s Josh Collmenter....
Billy Hamilton Ran The Reds To A Comeback
On consecutive basepath sprints, Billy Hamilton kept the Reds alive and then scored the winning run in a Reds 4-3 victory over Cleveland, and they were both dashes that no other major leaguer besides Hamilton could’ve accomplished. Speed is indeed a weapon, and it’s pretty fun to watch....
Chris Sale's Double-Digit Strikeout Streak Is Over
Tonight, for the first time in six weeks, Chris Sale did not appear to be a hyper-effective strikeout-generating android. Instead, he simply seemed like your ordinarily effective strikeout-generating cyborg. That’s all to say that after eight straight games of 10 strikeouts or more, he finally falte...
The Mariners Are A Big Sad Mess
The Seattle Mariners lost 5-1 today and somehow, that counts as an improvement. The Mariners have now lost five straight games and they have scored precisely one run in each game. Before tonight’s loss to the Nationals, they had lost the previous three games by a net score of 34-3 thanks in large pa...
Gather 'Round And Enjoy The Beauty Of The Jose Berrios Curveball
Jose Berrios’s first year in the majors was something of an unmitigated disaster—an ERA of 8.02 that only looked ever so slightly better in the light of his 6.20 FIP, a walk rate of more than five batters per nine innings, a general sense of misplaced hope in nearly every start. Things have gone ver...
Here's A Shitty Way To Lose A Shutout
Clayton Kershaw, who is 7-2 with a 2.04 ERA and remains the best pitcher in the league, had his best start of the season last night. He pitched nine innings against the Cardinals, allowed three hits and just one run, and struck out 10 batters in just 104 pitches. It was a marvelous outing, and it en...
Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson Destroy Each Other In Nasty Collision
Yasiel Puig caught a dangerous fly ball from Yadier Molina to end the 10th inning tonight, but he paid for it dearly. A few innings after Pederson and Cody Bellinger ran into each other, Puig took out Pederson with a nasty elbow to the face while also taking a shot himself. Both men lay on the grass...
Joey Votto Heckles Heckler
Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who every now and then participates in the clowning of a lunkhead, engaged in repartee with an Indians fan at Monday’s game in Cincinnati....
Rogue Drone Attacks Crowd At San Diego Padres Game
A drone—or, if you wish, a fancy RC helicopter with a camera—flew into the San Diego Padres’ park on Sunday afternoon. It got the attention of the announcers. It also got the attention of the fans....
Zack Greinke Is Back To Humiliating Men At The Plate<em></em>
There’s no player in baseball—and maybe all of sports—quite like Zack Greinke. The man is a machine: efficient on the field, serious and direct off it, and constantly experimenting. He’s lost around five miles per hour off his fastball over the years, but Greinke on a night when he’s going well is s...
Phillies Fan Makes Diving Catch, Gives Charming Interview
In the sixth inning of last night’s game between the Phillies and Rockies, Freddy Galvis fouled a Jeff Hoffman fastball into the second deck behind home plate. That’s where Josh Persing, owner of a Brad Lidge jersey and a thick Philly accent, was waiting to pounce....
The Rays Take Their Sweet-Ass Time Between Pitches
What is hell? No one can truly say, but it may involve watching the 2017 Tampa Bay Rays, whose pitchers waste more time than any other team’s. How bad is it? Matt Andriese, Chris Archer, and Alex Cobb, who rank as the three slowest starters in the majors, are averaging 28.2, 26.7, and 26.6 seconds,...