baseball Page 376 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Elijah Dukes Has Been Quiet Long Enough
Last week, Elijah Dukes hit a walk-off two-run homer to beat the Cardinals in the second game of a doubleheader. (It really was an awesome game.) Elijah, as Elijah is wont to do, celebrated a bit too vigorously, upsetting an umpire and his manager, Manny Acta. Thus was the fuse lit....

Major League Baseball Wants A Place On Your New iPhone
Yesterday was a terrible day to expect anyone over at Gawker HQ to answer our emails; the iPhone 3G coverage on Gizmodo alone kept the world of non-gadget coverage somewhere buried in the netherworld. So hey, why shouldn't we get in on the fun?...

The Tampa Bay Rays Educate You On The Fist Bump
Seriously, though, about those Rays: Remember back in March 2007, when Rays president Matthew Silverman amusingly bought himself a blogger fan? We mocked them — good-naturedly — back then, but the Rays are clearly on the right track, fanbase wise. If there's any way to bring fans into the Rays tent ...

Yankee Fans Even Hate Givers Of Life
Yes, bringer of life to the planet ... YOU SUCK! TRADE THE BUM!...

The 600
It was kind of surreal to see Ken Griffey Jr.'s 600th home run land in the sparsely populated Dolphins Stadium bleachers. Announced attendance was 16,003 — about two grand above the team's average this season — and aside for a mild scramble for the souvenier, there wasn't much of a fuss. Fitting, i...

Joba Would Like To Take Off the Training Wheels Now
Until Hank Steinbrenner can get Dayan Viciedo signed, five innings of Joba Chamberlain are going to have to do. Chamberlain, who was lambasted by critics and audiences alike in his first starting role last week, came back with a slightly stronger effort on Sunday to lead the Yankees over the Royals...

Somebody Has Been Watching "Rookie Of The Year"
Yesterday during the NCAA Super Regional, UC Irvine got out of a base loaded jam in the 7th inning against LSU by pulling the Hidden Ball Trick, which is best known to people of my generation from the movie Rookie of the Year, which also taught us that pitchers got big butts. Except UC Irvine didn't...

Apparently, It Doesn't Pay To Go After Umps
The kid, Matt Hill, was supposed to walk on at Gordon College. Not any more....

The Statue Of Liberty Has Never Looked So ... Ugh
We're just more than a month away from the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium — and hey, tickets are down to a totally reasonable $29,500! — and MLB is breaking out the big promotional guns. Check out these commemorative beauties....

Still Krazy After All These Years
So these three kids in Oakland Athletics Little League uniforms come up to me and ask who the manic little bald man with the drum is. They had seen me talking with him, but hadn't worked up the nerve to approach him themselves. "That's Krazy George, the most famous cheerleader of all time," I say. ...

Strap In, Folks: The MLB First-Year Player Draft Is Today!
We love baseball more than just about anything else on earth, so we appreciate them trying, but sorry, MLB: We just can't get excited about the MLB First-Year Player Draft today. (It starts at 2 p.m. ET, so set your Tivos to "stun.")...

Jesus Saves, But Still Takes His Usual 15 Percent
You may know that outfielder Josh Hamilton's negotiations of a long-term contract with the Texas Rangers hit a snag recently when he suddenly changed agents; going from Matt Sosnick of Sosnick Cobbe Sports to Michael Moye of Moye Associaties. The reason? Hamilton is a born-again Christian, and "want...

A Whipping To The Sunshine State Spearfish Mates
Slate's Robert Weintraub, like many of us, loves the old purple prose of early 1900s sportswriting, the Grantland Rices, the men who painted epic tales of warriors, grizzled combatants and lardywarks too manly to wear gloves. In an occasional series, Weintraub writes about the week's best baseball g...

So, Is There Really Any Chance The Red Sox Would Take A Chance On Bonds?
So, David Ortiz could be out for a while. Would the Red Sox dare ... could they ... oh heavens ... they have to consider it, don't they ... could they be considering Barry Bonds? The Red Sox, even though Bonds has called the city racist, seem to be keeping it in mind....

Dancing Men Scare Busch Stadium Bleacher Crowd
If we know your typical Busch Stadium-weekday-night-game crowd well enough ... there were some very confused fans in those bleachers. And lots of angry letters to the Cardinals front office....

MLB.tv Ignores The Existence Of Barry Bonds And Sammy Sosa
Ken Griffey Jr. wasn't able to hit his 600th homer yesterday, depriving the Great American Ballpark fans from the opportunity to see the milestone. (And then see Griffey get traded.) The Reds now take off on an eight-game road trip, and you'd have to think Griffey's gonna hit at least one over those...

Spend The Hereafter In Style Thanks To The Grand Prairie Airhogs
Being a San Francisco Giants fan, I often think of death; but so far I haven't made any firm arrangements. That could all change tomorrow when I head off to the Grand Prairie Airhogs game, where they are giving away a free funeral to one fortunate fan in their All Hogs Go To Heaven Funeral Giveaway....

That's One Way To Protest A Call
We don't see how any reasonable person could not see it as obviously intentional, but they've gotta investigate anyway....

Your Monday Update On The Player Who Was Traded For Bats
No matter what John Odom does from here on out — make it to the majors; get multiple World Series rings; become Pope — he will always be remembered as the player who was traded for bats. It happened last week, as Odom was sent from the Calgary Vipers of the Golden League to the Laredo Broncos of the...