MLB Page 1051 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

What The Heck Was Joe Maddon Doing Last Night?
If he were anyone else (and the box score looks like a Tony La Russa special), the Rays manager would be getting flayed this morning. But everybody loves Joe Maddon, and his magnum opus of overmanaging in the Rays' 5-4 win over Boston somehow came back around to directly stave off elimination. That ...

Rays Keep Season Alive With Walkoff Homer Into Rays Tank
Facing elimination for the fourth time in eight days, the Rays overcame a blown Fernando Rodney save to extend their season and beat the Red Sox thanks to a ninth-inning Jose Lobaton homer that ended up in the center field fish tank....

Dodgers To Start Clayton Kershaw Tonight On Short Rest
Had they lost last night, the Dodgers let it be known, they would have considered starting Clayton Kershaw tonight in what would have been an elimination game. Sensible enough—Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball, after all! No reason not to start him in an elimination game. But then they went ou...

A's, Tigers Trade "Fuck You"s Then Shoves As Fight Breaks Out In Ninth
Grant Balfour's no stranger to brawls in the ALDS sparked by profanity, and he was at the center of one again today in the ninth as he attempted to close out a win for the A's against the Tigers. Alas, Victor Martinez was going to make sure today's bottom of the ninth would be punctuated with pugil...

You Can't Neutralize Stupid: Why Dusty Baker Might Not Get Another Job
Originally published on Baseball Prospectus....

Middle-Aged A's Fan Fights All The Cops Before Getting Tasered
We've seen our share of rowdy and violent sports fans, but this guy right here is something else. ...
![Everybody Is A Nerd, According To David Price [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/192dmlgcuu71xjpg.jpg)
Everybody Is A Nerd, According To David Price [UPDATE]
David Price had a rough outing yesterday, giving up seven runs in seven innings and losing Game 2 to the Red Sox. He didn't take the media criticism well....

Stephen Vogt Is Your Newest Unlikely Postseason Hero
The most compelling bat of last night's Tigers-A's game came in the bottom of the seventh. Oakland had runners on second and third with two outs, and backup catcher Stephen Vogt did his best to make Justin Verlander look mortal....

Albert Pujols Will Sue You If You Say He Used PEDs
In what is surely a distant second in sexiness among today's baseball lawsuits, Albert Pujols is suing former radio host Jack Clark for claiming he knew "for a fact" that Pujols used steroids in St. Louis....

Pittsburgh Babies Born Into Life Of Indentured Pirates Fandom
There is every possibility that this playoff appearance isn't a fluke, that a Pirates dynasty could be in the making. Perhaps one day you will resent these children with the vitriol reserved for Yankees, Heat, and United fans. Or perhaps, like a generation of Yinzers before them, they have emerged f...

Here's Dusty Baker's Version Of How He Got Fired
This morning, the Reds announced that Dusty Baker is out as Reds managers after six seasons. It was ostensibly a "mutual" decision, but no one bought that. Now Baker gets to tell his side of the story, and if you believe him, he threw himself on his sword to save his hitting coach....

Alex Rodriguez's Suit Against MLB Is The Year's Best Baseball Reading
Late last night, Alex Rodriguez filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court, accusing MLB and Bud Selig (specifically named as a defendant) of, and I'm quoting, "improperly marshal[ing] evidence that they hope to use to destroy the reputation and career of Alex Rodriguez, one of the most accompl...

Reds Fire Dusty Baker; Is He A Hall Of Famer?
After the Reds washed out in the one-game wild card, GM Walt Jocketty was asked if Dusty Baker would be back next year. "I think so," Jocketty said. "He's got another year on his contract." It sounds like the GM was overruled from above, because reports out of Cincinnati have Baker out as Reds manag...

The Red Sox's Best Reliever Once Aspired To Be A Gym Teacher
Koji Uehara was, by any measure, the Red Sox's best relief pitcher this season. Indeed, only two Boston starters accumulated a higher WAR than Uehara, who finished the regular season with a 1.09 ERA in 74.1 innings pitched—mostly as the third-string closer after injuries to Joel Hanrahan and Andrew...

Chad Curtis Gets 7 To 15 Years For Sexual Abuse Of Teenage Girls
Former MLB outfielder Chad Curtis, convicted in August of six counts of criminal sexual conduct against three teenage girls, was sentenced today by a judge in Barry County, Mich., to seven to 15 years in prison....

What If The NBA And MLB Played An NFL-Style Season?
A big part of the NFL's appeal is all that "any given Sunday" stuff—a team like the Chiefs can come out of nowhere and look like world-beaters, while a team like the Giants can spend the first quarter of the season playing like the last reel of Horse Feathers. A lot of this uncertainty can be attri...

All The MLB Pundits Made Dreadful Picks This Year
Republished with permission from PunditTracker....

Indians Fans Wear Redface
Here's three Cleveland fans painted to look like Chief Wahoo, and TBS kept cutting to them....

The Braves Are Leaving Their Highest-Paid Player Off The Playoff Roster
Braves second baseman Dan Uggla made $13 million this season, more money than any of his teammates did. That seems like a pretty OK deal for a second baseman that can hit 22 home runs in 448 at-bats. Except that Dan Uggla also sucks, and now he sucks bad enough to be left off the Braves' roster for ...
