MLB Page 1257 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Last Night's <em>The Franchise: Miami Marlins</em> Distilled Down To Its Motherfucking Essence
The Miami Marlins all-access curse-fest that is The Franchise premiered last night on Showtime, and the first episode made for enjoyable viewing (more enjoyable, at least, than the ESPY Awards, which it ran against). Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria bet the house on the 2012 season, hoping a new stadiu...
R.A. Dickey Saved The All-Star Game's Ratings
"Tony La Russa's decision not to start R.A. Dickey in Tuesday's All-Star Game turned out to be a good one for Fox. Ratings for the telecast peaked at a 9.0 between 10 p.m.-10:15 p.m. when the Mets knuckler entered the game in the sixth inning." R.A. Dickey: still the best. [NYDN]...
Filmmaker Jon Paley Is Here To Discuss His Documentary About How MLB Takes Advantage Of Dominican Prospects
The video above is a clip from Ballplayer: Pelotero, Jon Paley's film about the shady practices of MLB scouts in their pursuit of young talent in the Dominican Republic. The film, which is being produced by Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, is being released Friday. It follows Dominican prospects M...
Phillies Announcer Melts Down: "Somebody Figure Out How To Fucking Get Scott Hairston Out!"
Scott Hairston owns the Phillies. Just plain steals their lunch and eats it in front of them, then poops in the bag and gives it back. He's a journeyman against everyone else, an All-Star against Philly....
Ben Sheets Will Return To The Majors This Sunday
Heading into this season, it looked like the Atlanta Braves were in possession of a stacked starting rotation. A trio of dynamic young arms—Tommy Hanson, Brandon Beachy, and Mike Minor—were set to team up with proven veterans Tim Hudson and Jair Jurrjens. What's more, the Braves had prospects like ...
Kansas City's Smoky Air Turned Bryce Harper Into A Zombie
The National League spanked the AL in last night's All-Star Game, which may actually be news to you given ratings almost certainly went down yet again for the Midsummer Classic....
MLB's Plan To Drain Every Last Ounce Of Fun From The Home Run Derby Takes Shape
Kansas City Royals fans were pissed off that Robinson Cano didn't pick Billy Butler for the Home Run Derby, so they booed him. Mercilessly. And each time he failed to hit a home run, compared to the zero times he successfully did, they cheered him. (Burke went ahead and isolated the crowd audio, s...
Ryan Howard: "I'm Going To Go Out There And Give 100 Percent Of 85 Percent."
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Howard isn't healthy, but he's healthy enough....
Bryce Harper Has A Bat Rack In The Trunk Of His Customized Mercedes-Benz
From the Washington Post comes a visual tour through Bryce Harper's customized Mercedes-Benz AMG. It's a snazzy car, but not nearly as ostentatious as some other customized vehicles that we've seen from athletes in the past. Although Harper gets plenty of points for subtlety, that doesn't mean that...
Berman Got Back: Your Home Run Derby Supercut, Featuring Sir Mix-A-Lot
Perhaps on advisement from his superiors, the very popular Chris Berman was noticeably restrained during last night's Home Run Derby. In fact, his "backbackback" catchphrase found limited use; Berman only uttered "back" 79 times. That's still plenty enough for us to have fun with, and so here's B...
Your Home Run Derby Open Thread
Do you want to know the terrifying truth, and see All-Stars sock a few dingers? The Home Run Derby is on ESPN now, right now, and it's going to be Bermanly unbearable, and also fun to watch because it's fricking home runs, you Communist. Matt Kemp captains the Senior Circuit, Robinson Cano the Arcad...
Yankees Punish Reggie Jackson For Reasonable Comments
Reggie Jackson got the SI treatment last week, and as so often happens with these things, 3800 words worth of profile have been discarded and distilled into two measly quotes, ever-so-slightly controversial. And now, allergic to anything resembling a deviation from a murderously boring and marketabl...
Rawlings Sues Wilson Over Brandon Phillips's "Gold" Glove
The Gold Gloves are mostly pointless, and largely a corporate gimmick. (They're officially the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards, and have been since 1957, when they were thought up by a Rawlings sales manager for some free advertising.) They have cachet, because they're voted on by managers and coaches, a...
Marlins Complain To MLB Because Greg Dobbs, Justin Ruggiano, And Steve Cishek Didn't Make The All-Star Team
Giancarlo Stanton, the hulking Marlins right fielder, is having one hell of an age-22 season—19 home runs, a .284/.364/.554 batting line, an all-star spot, solid gold stuff. Or, well, Stanton's season was solid gold until he hurt his knee. He underwent surgery today and pulled out of the home run de...
Royals Prospect Wil Myers Demolished An ESPN Camera During Last Night's Futures Game
The MLB Futures Game is one of baseball's hidden treasures; while officially part of the All-Star Break festivities, it's held the day before the break actually starts, and thus tends to be ignored by the baseball public. That's a shame, as it's a rare time ESPN puts analyst Keith Law—one of the ...
Fans, Players, And Broadcasters Alike Freaked Out When Lightning Struck Rangers Ballpark In Arlington
Mother Nature dropped by Rangers Ballpark unannounced last evening, unleashing a thunderclap at the Rangers-Twins game that evacuated the bowels of all in attendance. Twins outfielder Denard Span claimed "That's the loudest noise I've ever heard. I thought Jesus was comin!" on his Twitter account, ...
The Yankees Really Flexed Their Muscles At Fenway Park This Weekend
The Yankees put 28 runs across the plate at Fenway this weekend, taking three of four from Boston and extending their AL East lead to seven games. As is the case across the league at Yankees road games, Bronx Bombers fans turned out en masse to remind opponents that they are douchebags that the Yan...
MLB Umpires Reverse Blown Call, World Does Not Collapse On Itself
For about 5 seconds last night, the bottom of the seventh in the Indians-Rays game was over. Tampa Bay was trotting into the dugout after getting the benefit of a blown call on a bobbled ball at first by Carlos Pena. Then something crazy happened....
Chicago Paper: Cubs Not A Total Train Wreck, Like That Actual Train Wreck On The Front Page
The Cubs have been a mess for a while, so expectations have been a bit...lowered, let's say. To that end, the Daily Herald decided to take a page from Theo Epstein's "parallel-track" outlook for remaining competitive (woops!) in 2012 while also building for the future and run with it for a "mid-sea...
Carl Crawford Called Racial Slur, <i>Boston Globe</i> Quotes Urban Dictionary
Carl Crawford suffered a "a mild left groin strain" hustling for a triple during a minor league rehab game. He will resume his rehab stint after at least five days. It's a bummer for Crawford and the Red Sox, but it may be a welcome respite as New England residents perpetuate stereotypes....