MLB Page 276 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Oakland A's Call Up Switch-Pitcher
Switch-hitters are a dime a dozen in the MLB, but when it comes to switch-pitching, it’s a different story. For the first time in 20 years, an ambidextrous hurler will take the mound, as 29-year old right/left-handed reliever Pat Venditte was called up by the Oakland Athletics this morning. ...


Houston Astros Plan To Raze Center-Field Hill
Tal’s Hill functions as Minute Maid Park’s designated artificial quirk, but there’s good news for center fielders everywhere: the slope should be gone by next season. The team announced today that it has received approval from the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority to get rid of the hill (and so...


Mets Pitcher Dillon Gee Says He Was Tricked Into Supporting Gun Control
The New York Mets recently posed for the above photo in which they all wear orange to support the “Everytown for Gun Safety” nonprofit co-founded and supported by former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg. The organization makes no bones about its mission: Bloomberg pictures it as a counterweight to the ...

Cubs' And Marlins' Benches Clear, And Everyone Immediately Apologizes
There were no punches thrown in the sixth-inning scrum during last night’s 7-3 Marlins win, and both sides quickly headed back to their own dugouts. In fact, it might have been one of the politest bench-clearings of all time, as the main instigator, Cubs outfielder Junior Lake, apologized unreserved...

The Indians' Bullpen Held Brandon Moss's HR Ball For Ransom
Indians slugger Brandon Moss’s solo home run, in the fourth inning of Cleveland’s 2-1 win in Kansas City, was the 100th of his career. Naturally, he wanted to hang on to it. Unfortunately for Moss, the ball didn’t land in the stands, where it could be collected by a fan and be negotiated for in good...

MLB Commish Rob Manfred Offers A Compelling Argument Against The DH
There are persuasive arguments for why the National League should adopt the DH and get rid of pitcher’s batting, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred thinks they’re hogwash. ...

Should Every Baseball Field Be Exactly The Same Shape?
Your letters:...

Dancin' A-Rod
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Giancarlo Stanton Eats Kit Kats Like A Monster
Look, it doesn’t matter how good Giancarlo Stanton is at hitting home runs. No one’s allowed to eat a Kit Kat like that. That chocolate bar was made to be broken into columns, and instead, Stanton took a big bite out of it (and common decency)....

Joey Votto Walked On Three Balls; Everything Is A Lie
Joey Votto only needed three balls to get on base in Sunday’s game, because no one caught the mistake. Sunday baseball’s full of rogues who don’t even respect pitch counts. Everyone’s too laid-back....

Josh Hamilton Is Feeling Right At Home
The Red Sox dared Josh Hamilton to beat them. With two outs in the ninth and the tying run on third, John Farrell issued an intentional walk to Prince Fielder to bring up the pinch-hitting Hamilton. It’s an old baseball adage to never put the winning run on base, but when the choice is Fielder (havi...

Bartolo Colón Hits Double
For only the second time in his career, Bartolo Colón has an extra base hit as the Mets pitcher laced an RBI double in the second inning today against Miami. (That’s in 195 plate appearances.) We’re as amazed as you....

Is Yasiel Puig Suddenly Expendable? Nah.
You would think that a lengthy stint on the disabled list would spare us from dopey columns about Yasiel Puig. And yet, here we are, watching L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke turn his palms toward the sky and ask, “Do the Dodgers even neeeeeeed Yasiel Puig???”...

The Time Barry Bonds Was Intentionally Walked With The Bases Loaded
Seventeen years ago today—May 28, 1998—Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter made the decision to intentionally walk Barry Bonds with the bases loaded. It’s the rarest of baseball strategies, but it didn’t feel nearly as wrong as it might have: Bonds was, after all, the most fearsome hitter of all tim...

Red Sox Broadcast Airs Video Of Metrodome Implosion That Never Happened
Yesterday’s NESN broadcast of the Red Sox-Twins game featured a mid-game interlude of the announcers discussing their memories of the dear, departed Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. It also featured video of the Metrodome being imploded—something that never happened....

MLB Games Are Significantly Shorter This Year
MLB’s new pace-of-game regulations appear to be working: through nearly two months, the average length of a baseball game is 2:53, or nine minutes shorter than it was last season....

Here Are Your MLB All-Star Game Leading Vote-Getters
Yesterday and today, MLB released its first ballot updates for the All-Star Game to be held in Cincinnati. And if things hold, it’s going to be a whole bunch of Missouri:...

Rays Manager Calls Umpiring "Terrible" And "Embarrassing"
Rays manager Kevin Cash went off on the umpires and the replay crew after Seattle’s wild 7-6 win yesterday, blasting them for two controversial calls that both went against Tampa....