MLB Page 1304 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Washington Nationals: Go Natinals!
Will Leitch will be previewing/musing on every baseball team each weekday until the start of the season. You can pre-order his book and follow him on Twitter. Today: Washington Nationals....

Black Hispanic Ballplayers Aren't Black Enough For Torii Hunter
"They're not us," Torii Hunter tells USA Today. "They're impostors." Yeah, he's going there....

Stephen Strasburg Performs Miracle Of Turning 27 Pitches Into Six Outs
Baseball Jesus Stephen Strasburg debuted today against the Tigers and pitched two scoreless innings. He gave up back-to-back two-out singles in the second, finished with a strikeout, and transubstantiated into Miguel Batista. [ESPN]...

Tampa Bay Rays: A Nuclear Switzerland
Will Leitch will be previewing/musing on every baseball team each weekday until the start of the season. You can pre-order his book and follow him on Twitter. Today: Tampa Bay Rays....

Visiting Reporters Deemed Unworthy Of Watching The Yankees Play
The Steinbrenners require the best of everything, including a luxurious Spring Training field named for Papa George. You wouldn't know it if you're the visiting team's beat reporter, whose press pass ought to be marked "obstructed view."...

San Francisco Giants: Don't Follow The Money
Will Leitch will be previewing/musing on every baseball team each weekday until the start of the season. You can pre-order his book and follow him on Twitter. Today: San Francisco Giants....

Cincinnati Reds: The Looming Tower
Will Leitch will be previewing/musing on every baseball team each weekday until the start of the season. You can pre-order his book and follow him on Twitter. Today: The Cincinnati Reds....

Spring Training Win Way More Important Than Silly "World Series"
According to awesomely free Philly Metro, a ninth-inning rally by Wilson Valdez exacts "some measure of revenge" for the Yankees beating them at that whole "world championship" thing last fall. I guess one micron counts as "some measure."...

Joe Mauer's Imaginary Contract Has A Lot Of "I"s To Dot
Remember when Joe Mauer "agreed" to that 10-year contract over a month ago? Well, Mauer's agent plans to discuss the matter with Twins management very soon. Maybe. They're very close! (Yeah, they're not close.) [SN/Star-Tribune/NYT]...

Detroit Tigers: Spare Us The Rod
Will Leitch will be previewing/musing on every baseball team each weekday until the start of the season. You can pre-order his book and follow him on Twitter. Today: The Detroit Tigers....

Monster Dutch Reliever Hopes To Terrorize Twin Cities
The Twins have high hopes for Loek van Mil, a 7-foot-1 prospect from the Netherlands. Because betting on the freakishly tall foreigner has always worked out in other sports. [Pioneer Press]...

Beat Writer Continues Nationals Coverage, Sans Newspaper
Just because the Washington Times fired their entire sports section, Mark Zuckerman isn't going to stop doing his job. For someone to cover the Nationals voluntarily, I'm not sure it's going too far to call him a modern day Jesus....

Say Goodbye To Mark McGwire Road Rage
"Driving the Mark McGwire Highway" sounds like a not-particularly-clever euphemism for a PED regimen, but St. Louisans have been doing it for a decade. Perhaps not for much longer....

The Rich Get Less Rich, For Once
Due to a "minor" mistake in divvying up their World Series shares, everyone on the Yankees has to pay back $15,000. With this financial hit, I'm sure they're all wishing they played for Pittsburgh last year. [CNBC]...

Strasburg Will Start The Season In The Minors For Reasons That Have Nothing At All To Do With Money, No Sir
It seems more and more likely that Stephen Strasburg will spend his April riding buses around the Carolina League, and this of course has everything to do with "his seasoning" and nothing whatsoever to do with saving money. Right....

Colorado Rockies: Millionaires, And The Skipper Too
Will Leitch will be previewing/musing on every baseball team each weekday until the start of the season. You can pre-order his book and follow him on Twitter. Today: The Colorado Rockies....

Say Hey, Wait A Minute
"Above all, the story of Willie Mays reminds us of a time when the only performance-enhancing drug was joy." So sayeth the great Pete Hamill, who is proof that baseball makes even brilliant writers sound like a Wonder Years voiceover....

Media's Annual "A-Rod Is A Distraction" Story Arrives Early This Year
The feds want to chat with Alex Rodriguez about his connections to Tiger Woods's blood-spinning quack, Tony Galea. It's March 1, and The New York Times is already concern-trolling about "repeated distractions" from Rodriguez. Sigh. [NYT]...

Boston Red Sox: Team Of The Decade
Will Leitch will be previewing/musing on every baseball team each weekday until the start of the season. You can pre-order his book and follow him on Twitter. Today: The Boston Red Sox....

Curt Schilling Is Always In Code Orange When It Comes To Autograph Hounds
"This is a poor analogy, but it's like terrorism. If autograph dealers want to get in, they will...[p]eople who have no interest in me and want me to just sign some things so they can sell them." [ESPN]...