MLB Page 850 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Somehow Max Scherzer Is Better Than Ever
Yes, it was the Orioles, and yes, there are only a limited number of ways to talk about this sort of thing, but Max Scherzer surgically picked apart a lineup so thoroughly that it almost doesn’t matter that the lineup was one of the league’s worst. The Nationals beat the Orioles 2-0 Wednesday night,...
Joe Musgrove Reheats The Pirates-Cubs Beef, But Only A Little Bit So It's Still Cold In The Center
The Pirates made it seem like they had moved past Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo’s “illegal but not dirty” slide into catcher Elias Diaz in Monday’s game, but in the third inning last night Joe Musgrove put the beef in the microwave for about 30 seconds. The Pittsburgh pitcher slid hard into Chica...
Mets' Stadium Fire Works Too Well As A Metaphor
The Mets, who sit at .500 after an 11-1 start to the season, and with its roster suffering injuries at roughly the rate of the Crimean War, are currently in Atlanta for a series against the Braves, so they weren’t around to watch part of their stadium catch fire earlier today. (The flames were conta...
Carlos Gomez Claims MLB Targets Specific Players For Drug Testing
Rays outfielder Carlos Gomez says he’s already been drug tested six or seven times in this still-very-young season, which is enough to lead anyone to think random drug tests are not entirely random. Gomez vented some of these frustrations to the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday, offering up ample amounts ...
Yet Again, We've Reached Peak Mets
On Tuesday, Mets co-ace Noah Syndergaard underwent an MRI exam that revealed a strained ligament in his pitching index finger. A few hours later, Steven Matz left in the fourth inning of his start with finger discomfort. After taking a 6-2 lead into the seventh inning, the Mets’ bullpen completed it...
Dereck Rodriguez, Son Of Pudge, Hits The Big Leagues
It is the year of the baseball sons. With Vlad Guerrero Jr. due up later this year (and set to ascend to Cooperstown shortly thereafter) and Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio also making their ways up through the Blue Jays’ system, the scions of ‘90s–2000s MLB royalty are starting to hit the big leagues....
Kyle Gibson's Slider Is The Sneakiest Pitch In Baseball
Minnesota Twins starter Kyle Gibson didn’t get the win in his seven innings of shutout work Tuesday night against the Royals—the final score was 2-1, Kansas City, in 14 innings—but he did get another opportunity to show off his glorious slider, a strikeout pitch that’s been better at getting swings ...
The Yankees Got A Ridiculous Out Thanks To Their 10th Fielder Mr. Backstop
In the 10th inning of a thrilling Yankees win over the Astros, the New York battery of Aroldis Chapman and Gary Sanchez used a ricochet off the backstop to force a threatening runner off the bases. Chapman’s 100 mph fastball missed Sanchez’s glove at first, but bounced right back to the alert catche...
MLB's Ruling On Anthony Rizzo's Slide Has Some More Cubs-Pirates Beef Simmering
In the eighth inning of Monday’s Cubs-Pirates game, Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo pulled off a successful takeout slide on Pirates catcher Elias Diaz. Though Rizzo was out at home, two runs scored on the play as the slide forced Diaz to throw the ball into the outfield. The catcher stayed on the ...
Rhys Hoskins Fouls Pitch Off Face, Exits Game, Gets Charged With A Strikeout
Rhys Hoskins is not having a good stretch....
The Blue Jays Have Reached The "Russell Martin, Utilityman" Point Of The Season
Russell Martin has been a fine Major Leaguer for a long time, but the 2018 version of Russell Martin is not, by the numbers, the sort of player that a team absolutely needs to squeeze into the lineup unless things have gone terribly wrong. This isn’t yet true for the middling Toronto Blue Jays, who ...
Listen To Rudy Giuliani<em></em> Get Booed By Thousands Of Yankees Fans On His Birthday
Rudy Giuliani celebrated his 74th birthday by attending yesterday’s Yankees game, and reports from the scene indicated that he was booed heartily by the fans in attendance when his birthday was announced by the public address announcer. Now, thankfully, we have video of the moment for all to enjoy:...
This Jackie Bradley Jr. Over-The-Shoulder Circus Catch Is Totally Unfair
In the top of the sixth inning of today’s Blue Jays-Red Sox game in Boston, Kendrys Morales crushed a long fly ball to the deepest part of Fenway, in straightaway center. This was a double, for sure, except that Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. is a comic book superhero:...
Is There Nothing That Pablo Sandoval Cannot Do?
Pablo Sandoval made his first career start at second base Sunday night, against the Chicago Cubs. Evan Longoria has supplanted him at third, but Giants manager Bruce Bochy apparently wanted Sandoval’s bat in the lineup with Buster Posey hurt, and the opening was at second base, where regular starter...
Runners Advance On Umpire's Armpit Catch
Weird stuff happens in baseball. Maybe it’s that there are so many games, and so many repetitions of the same process, that the timeline for seeing every possible outcome is condensed by sheer volume. At any rate, you have probably never seen this one before:...
Oh No, Call The Cops, Someone Is Having Fun Playing Baseball Again
Rays right fielder Carlos Gomez tracked down a shallow fly in foul territory in the top of the sixth inning today, and made a fantastic sliding catch. But that is no excuse at all for what happened next: Gomez gave a visible indication that he was enjoying himself, instead of solemnly trotting to th...
Young Braves Stud Ronald Acuña's Leg Bends Horribly On Infield Single
Braves super-prospect Ronald Acuña Jr. beat out an infield single in the top of the 7th inning against the Red Sox Sunday. Shortly after crossing first base, while signaling to the umpire, Acuña took a bad step with his left leg and something very ugly and unnatural happened in the area of his knee:...
There Is No Nicer Pitch Than This 69-MPH Quick Pitch
Sometimes a batter is in there stretching out like he owns the place, and gets fooled by a quick pitch. That’s pretty fun. Baseball should have lots of those. But Saturday’s Mets-Brewers game featured an entirely different kind of quick pitch—a slow as hell one, thrown almost by accident....
Mike Trout Reduces The Yankees To Cannon Fodder
Unbelievably, Saturday morning there were things Mike Trout had not accomplished in a game of baseball. For example, he had never bunted for a home run, nor had he ever killed a dragon with a baseball bat. It turns out he had also never had a five hit game. You can now scratch that last one off the ...
Hey, Quick Pitches Sure Seem To Speed Up The Pace Of Play
In the top of the ninth inning of a lopsided Pirates victory over the vile St. Louis Cardinals Friday, Pirates reliever Kyle Crick quick-pitched Cardinals pinch hitter Harrison Bader on an 0-2 count, drawing a delightfully meager and pointless little swinging bunt from Bader:...