mlb Page 408 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
White Sox Bribing Fans To Vote Jake Peavy To The All-Star Team
It's time again for the stumpin' and campaignin' of the All-Star Game Final Vote, which I reluctantly capitalize since it's not a particularly creative branding (No "Plus One?" Or "Let's Get The Japanese Fans On Our Mailing Lists?"), and it's not particularly final, since most of these guys will get...
Tony La Russa Explains Decision Not To Put Johnny Cueto On All-Star Team By Admitting To Violating MLB CBA
Uh oh, we got ourselves a scandal, or something. Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker and former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa have never been especially fond of each other. Their relationship got even testier over the weekend when La Russa, who was in charge of making final selections f...
The Second Time They Met, Jeffrey Maier Didn't Dare Mess With Tony Tarasco
When I met Jeffrey Maier, he was Coach Maier and I had no idea who he was. Of course I remembered the boy who stole an out from two feet above Tony Tarasco's glove and turned it into an eight inning, game-tying home run in the '96 ALDS. The Yankees would win the game, and the series, and the champio...
Rangers Broadcaster Dave Barnett Will Miss Rest Of Season Due To Unspecified Medical Concerns
Dave Barnett, absent from Rangers television broadcasts since this bizarre moment on-air June 18, will take a leave of absence for the remainder of the 2012 MLB season for unstated medical reasons....
MLB Announces Starting Lineups For 83rd All-Star Game, Fans Everywhere Pissed
The MLB announced the starters for this year's midsummer exhibition-game-that-is-not-really-an-exhibition-game-because-home-field-advantage-is-inexplicably-awarded-to-the-league-that-wins-this-exhibition-game. That means it's time for everyone to gripe about how Player X should have been a starter ...
The Royals Gave Up A Run On A Hit That Started Off Closer To The On-Deck Circle Than The Pitcher's Mound
It's been a rough existence for the Kansas City Royals. Sure they had some fun times there in the 80's, but really, on the whole, it's been kind of a mess. So, you can't be too surprised if you're a Royals fan and see this in the 5th inning of the first game of a day-night doubleheader with the Twi...
Denver Brewery Makes Clown Question Bro Beer, Bryce Harper Suggests Donating Proceeds To Fund For Daughter Of Slain Officer
Fine, so it was someone in Bryce Harper's stable of handlers, but still, it's a nice sentiment. "That's a clown question, bro" has taken on a life of it's own and a Denver brewery named a beer using the famous retort to join in on all the fun just as Harper was in town to play the Rockies....
Nick Johnson Keeps Alive Most Impressive Streak In Sports, Goes On DL
Orioles 1B/DH/ticking time bomb Nick Johnson left Wednesday's game after feeling pain in his right wrist, and after an MRI yesterday was placed on the 15-day DL. Finally! The season's nearly half-over, and we were getting worried that Johnson might finally, after 13 years in MLB, make it through a s...
Better Know An Umpire: Lance Barksdale
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...
The Biggest Winner In Marlon Byrd's PED Bust? Marlon Byrd. The Biggest Loser? The Cubs (Of Course).
When MLB announced Monday that noted Victor Conte client Marlon Byrd would be suspended for 50 games after he tested positive for taking an estrogen inhibitor, it was reported that Byrd would be docked 50 days' pay, since that's what the rules say. The suspension began immediately, since Byrd is sti...
The Dodgers Spent Way Too Much Money On A 21-Year-Old Cuban Defector Because They Are Crazy
Yasiel Puig is the man in the blurry image—a still frame from a video—up there. I could have found a cleaner video, I suppose, or I could have stolen an image from another website (though that's against copyright law, and we at Deadspin love copyright law). But anything sharp or clear wouldn't effec...
Better Know An Umpire: Mark Wegner
Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)...
Clay Buchholz's "Vodka Pool Party" Controversy Says A Hell Of A Lot More About The Boston Media Than It Does About Clay Buchholz
Clay Buchholz went on the disabled list after being hospitalized for intestinal bleeding. After being released from the hospital yesterday, Buchholz showed up at a charity event at Foxwoods casino. This is a big deal, because certain media people are awful....
What Happened To John Van Benschoten? The Former Pirates Pitching Prospect Laments The Hitting Career He Never Had
John Van Benschoten, the Pirates' first-round pick (eighth overall) in 2001, didn't have a good big-league career. In 90 innings of work spread over three seasons, Van Benschoten, mostly as a starter, racked up 65 strikeouts against 68 walks and a 9.20 ERA. We ranked him 76th on our list of the 100...
How To Build A 21st-Century Bullpen With Failed Hitting Prospects And A Radar Gun
Earlier this month, Sean Doolittle made his major-league debut for the Oakland Athletics. It wasn't an obviously momentous event: The left-hander took the mound with two outs in the top of the fifth, with the A's trailing Texas 5-0. He struck out Nelson Cruz to end the inning, then pitched a perfect...
Angry Baseball Takes Out Aggression On Umpire Brian Gorman's Face
Not really sure how we should interpret this one. Was it a completely random occurrence? Does Eric Hosmer have some beef with Brian Gorman we don't know about? Or are the balls, after so much atrocious umpiring this season, finally rebelling in a futile effort to regain control of the game they've m...
Prince Fielder Found Himself In A Rundown, And Somehow Emerged Safely
Prince Fielder hit the deck no fewer than three times during tonight's Tigers loss in Arlington to the Rangers, but did so no more bizarrely than here in which the portly first baseman ran his way out of a rundown, waving his arms like a man fleeing a burning building along the way....
Mike Trout Continues To Do Ridiculous, Impossible Baseball Things
This is Angels center fielder Mike Trout's first full season in the majors. He's not only made his mark at the plate (league-leading .331 batting average) and on the bases (league-leading 21 stolen bases) but in the field as well....
Bristolmetrics: Nobody Cared About The Roger Clemens Trial Except ESPN
When last we met, the Jerry Sandusky trial was largely ignored, the Heat were once again all over SportsCenter, and hey, ESPN did a good job covering a perfect games and a no-hitter. What would this week bring? ...
Aroldis Chapman Can Somersault All He Wants
Last night Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman recorded his ninth save of the season when he struck out Martin Maldonado with a 99 m.p.h. fastball. Upon finishing his achievement, Chapman decided to celebrate by performing two somersaults towards home plate. He didn't scream or yell or thump hi...