baseball Page 363 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
New Miracle Bat Probably Illegal In This Solar System
Reebok's new Vector-O baseball bat uses special alloys (adamantium?) and speed holes to help you make the cover of Sports Illustrated for your Hulk-like home run blasts. Also doubles as a harmonica. [Uncrate]...
A Gallery Of Other Recent Athletes Whose Heads Weren't Right
As we noted last week — and The New York Times observed Sunday — more and more athletes are reportedly suffering from mental issues....
Joey Votto: Latest Baseball Player To Be Stricken With A Severe Case Of The Greinkes
It was suspected that Joey Votto's "inner-ear infection" was more substantial after the Reds' Italian bopper DL-d on May 30, but now it's been confirmed that he too is suffering from"stress-related issues."...
<em>Moneyball</em>’s Deep: How Baseball Prospectus Is Like The Oakland A’s
Under Billy Beane, the Oakland A's won by scraping together undervalued assets. Since the rest of baseball has started valuing assets properly, the A's are having a harder time. The same thing is happening to baseball's leading propeller-heads....
Your Weekend College Baseball Brainsmasher
If you're an aluminum freak in need of a quick primer on the baseball Super Regionals this weekend, try the appropriately titled College Baseball Blog for a preview. Or just root for your favorite color. [CBB]...
Yorvit Torrealba's Son Rescued From Kidnappers
The Colorado catcher's 11-year-old son and two of the boy's uncles were kidnapped in Venezuela, but escaped before any ransom was paid. The incident was kept quiet by police and MLB until it was resolved. (Safely, thank goodness.) [Denver Post]...
Austin Wood And The Pitch-Count Question
By now, you've surely heard of Austin Wood, the University of Texas reliever and modern folk hero who, cramping and vomiting, threw 169 pitches in a seven-hour NCAA regional Saturday. Most amazing of all? That throwing 169 pitches in a college baseball game isn't, in itself, all that amazing....
High School Hurlers Care Not For Your Pitch Counts
Minnesota prep player Lars Anderson threw a complete game in the high school playoffs this weekend, coming up very clutch when his team needed it most. It's even more impressive when you learn that it was 13-inning complete game and Anderson threw 201 pitches. The losing pitcher? He threw 204....
What Is Wrong With Our Fragile Baseball Players?
Khalil Greene has been placed on the disabled list with an unspecified "social anxiety disorder" making him at least the third major leaguer to miss significant time with a similar complaint. That, my friends, is a TREND ALERT! So what the heck is going on here?...
Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before
Ohio State faces a team from the South in the postseason, loses 37-6. Wait ... this story isn't a repeat? And it was actually a baseball game? Oh, that's unfortunate. [Rumors and Rants]...
It Only Took 25 Innings...
But the University Of Texas beat Boston College with a one-out single to secure a 3-2 victory. It was the longest NCAA baseball game in history. Other records of note: Texas reliever Austin Wood pitched 12 1/3 innings of no-hit ball; two Longhorns had a record-tying 12 at-bats." [MLB.com]...
Jim Leyritz Fans, Cancel That Flight To Newark
"Jim Leyritz won't be honored Sunday afternoon by the Newark Bears, after all. The former Yankee, who had been scheduled to appear as part of a Legends Sunday promotion by the team, will be replaced by Roy White." The power of the press! [The Star-Ledger]...
Spotted: Bud Selig At An Independent League Game In Chico
There were fireworks last night at Nettleton Stadium in Chico, Calif., and in the end, that's what it was all about. The independent league baseball game before the fireworks was just the opener, and there was certainly no encore....
Stephen Strasburg Can't Even Save His College Team
Stephen Strasburg, who almost every scouting executive in the world cites as the most can't-miss prospect ever, struck out 15 last night in the NCAA tournament, but took the loss by allowing two earned runs in a 5-1 loss. The defeat likely ended his college career. It was 3-years-old....
"No Sign Of Any Spirits" In This Milwaukee Hotel
"A player for the Dodgers has been known to sleep with a baseball bat for protection after hearing odd noises. And two pairs of Florida Marlins players reportedly demand to share a room... because they're afraid of ghosts." Sure, blame your losses to the Brewers on a haunted hotel. [WISN]...
Scientists: Barry Zito Is An Optical Illusion
Next time you whiff on a curveball, blame it on your brain. Visual scientists recently applied the functions of foveal and peripheral vision to baseball, proving the curveball's sudden and severe "break" is a trick of the eyes. The graphic will occupy you for hours. Plus, it's science. [Illusion Sci...
Sonia Sotomayor: Not A Squishy, Wild-Eyed Commie, After All
"Some say," Barack Obama offered this morning, by way of introducing his Supreme Court nominee, "Judge Sotomayor saved baseball." True, at least to the extent that Sonia Sotomayor saved baseball from itself. What Obama didn't say: Sotomayor totally screwed over Maurice Clarett....
Here's A Revolutionary Idea
It's the end of May, which means it's time for people to start talking about the absurdity of aluminum bats again. Instead of simply reverting to wood bats, more and more amateur players are shifting to the other end of the spectrum, and without repercussions....
Don't Call It A Comeback
He's baaaaacck. Dan Le Batard returned from his year-long sabbatical today, and if this profile of Jim Leyritz is any indication, his mind is sufficiently cleared. It's long, poignant and about Jim Leyritz, but still, take out a few minutes to read it. You're not doing anything better. [Miami Herald...
NYC Pitcher Throws No-No After Dad Dies Of Swine Flu
Throwing a no-hitter or four in high school baseball? Passe. Doing it the day after burying your father, New York City's first victim of swine flu? Now we're talking....