mlb Page 549 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Time To Check In On Everyone's Favorite New York Baseball Feud
Two reasons that the Yankees-Red Sox playoff brawl of 2003 may have been the best baseball fight of all time: 1. Don Zimmer body-slam goodness, and how often do you see that? And 2., we continue to reap fantastic quotes, even five years later. In an interview with Michael Kay for the YES Network pro...

Chris Berman; Friend And Inspiration To Young Aspiring Journalists
Good interview over at the Uniwatch blog with Tyler Kepner, the Yankees beat writer for the New York Times. In it Kepner tells the story of when, as a kid, he produced a handwritten baseball magazine that ended up gaining a readership that included people such as George Vescey, Bob Costas and Jayson...

Universe Rights Itself, Soon Should Be Completely Normal
Like in the Michael Douglas film Falling Down, Joe Maddon is wearing a short-sleeved dress shirt and demanding breakfast at McDonald's, even though its past 11:30. Sorry Joe. We're back where we were in July 24; the Red Sox and Rays, tied for first in the East. Only this time Boston clearly has mome...

Cubs Leave The Mark Of The Z
What they're saying, blog-wise, about Carlos Zambrano's no-hitter vs. the Astros on Sunday ... • The Most Interesting Man In The World On Hits. No. With the city in ruins, their billionaire idiot owner was finally convinced to move the games somewhere else. But with that same hurricane dumping rain ...

Carlos Zambrano Mows Your Hitters Down
A game that was merely a whisper this morning has turned into a primal scream from the massive Cubs ace, Carlos Zambrano. Awash in a sea of Cubs blue at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Zambrano roared back tonight from a forced vacation due to rotator cuff soreness and an August well under his best to sec...

Jessica Simpson Entertains Phoenix Baseball Fans, Car Wreck Aficionados
We may have had a bit of fun in our last visit with the notion that Jessica Simpson's opening act is Randy Johnson. However, we felt that perhaps we hadn't given the matter the proper respect it deserves. After all, a number of important and wealthy people knowledgeable about their industries determ...

Ike Wreaks Havoc With Baseball Playoff Races, Scheduling
The NFL isn’t the only league effected by that bastard Ike as the Astros and Major League Baseball have agreed to move two of Houston’s canceled home games that were scheduled against the Cubs this weekend to a “neutral” site in Milwaukee. Eddie Wade’s Astros have been on fire over the past three we...

Nationals Minor-Leaguer Allegedly Corrupts Youth in the Back of His Car
This charming young fellow is 25-year-old Garrett Guzman. He enjoys long fly balls out of the park, walking to first base, piña coladas, and a per diem over $25. (Or so we assume. He is, after all, a minor-leaguer in the Washington Nationals system, playing in Harrisburg, PA.) We have also received ...

MLB Closer: Okay, Lord... Me and You, Right?
Six games didn't get off the ground without the assistance of rising tides today, thanks to enough moisture across these United States to make you think Tammy Faye Bakker herself had been disinterred by her own post-mortem weeping. Division races from the AL Central to the NL Central (oh, and the ...

We Find Ourselves Rather Disliking Ike
Galveston, Houston and much of the Gulf Coast stay in lockdown mode this morning, waiting still to assess the human and structural damage as Hurricane Ike, freak storm that it appears to be, drags a huge storm surge over the Texas coast. However, we do have a preliminary assessment of the effect on...

Shea Stadium Is Going Out Of Business; Everything Must Go!
Not since Cosmo Kramer fished the entire Merv Griffin talk show set out of a dumpster has there been a bigger opportunity than this: The Shea Stadium Memorabilia Auction. I know you've always wanted your very own Mets dugout, and now is your chance: Starting bid $100,000. How about Moises Alou's loc...

Francisco Rodriguez Partakes In A Moment Of Quiet Reflection
One day after the Angels broke the record for earliest clinching of the AL West, reliever Francisco Rodriguez started the real celebration. F-Rod earned his 57th save in LA's 7-4 win over the Mariners, tying the major league record set by Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox in 1990. By all accoun...

Mets 3 1/2 Up With 17 To Play. I See No Way This Ends Badly
So things seem to be lining up nicely for the Mets in the stretch run, as evidenced on Wednesday with a 13-10 win over the Nationals. David Wright had himself a nice little 4-for-4 outing, New York took a 3 1/2-game lead over the Phillies, and the schedule looks promising, with 10 of their remaining...

The Papelbon Dirty Dancing Videos Are Here. Oh, Man
If the Red Sox fail to win the East this season — and let's face it, it's looking more and more doubtful — we can probably blame this. One is never really prepared for a video of Jonathan Papelbon at a high school talent show performing Dirty Dancing routines in drag; it's just a shock to the system...

Goodbye, Sweet Fruit; Old Mets Home Run Apple To Be Thrown Out, Not Forgotten
Of all of baseball's quirky stadium landmarks, the Mets' Home Run Apple has to be the wackiest of all. And after impassioned fans formed a Save the Apple committee and gathered more than 9,000 signatures to save their beloved figerglass fruit, it appeared that it would be preserved and moved from Sh...

Your American League Video Roundup; Now With More Squirrel
First of all, kudos to Cleveland broadcasters Matt Underwood and Rick Manning for not resorting to Willy Wonka references as this squirrel invades Jacobs Field in the ninth inning of the White Sox-Indians game last week. The Indians had the infield shift on and the squirrel obviously felt that third...

Why Your Team Won't Make The Playoffs: National League
East. • 1. New York Mets. Record: 81-63. Magic number: 16. Why they're doomed: Bullpen woes; chiefly Billy Wagner, who is currently planning a comeback in time to play in the 2012 Olympics. Upcoming: They don't play the Phillies again. So there's that. Ray of hope: Carlos Delgado has four multihomer...

Angels Make Final Push Toward Postseason
The Angels have had enough of your everywhere-but-West-Coast bias. They will NOT be ignored, Dan! The only infielder named Rodriguez in the AL playoffs this year will be named Sean, and after Monday's 12-1 victory over the Yankees, their magic number is 2. Rally Monkey drinks your milkshake! As the ...

When Jobas Collide: Fake And Real Chamberlains Set For Historic Meeting
So the New York Post is setting up a meeting between our fake Joba Chamberlain — Jersey Shore resident Ryan Ward — and the real Joba on Friday at Yankee Stadium (Joba Chamberlain quote: "I want to know what was going on in his head"). And just like in The Prince and the Pauper, we'll no doubt soon s...

Why Your Team Won't Make The Playoffs: American League
And down the stretch they come! A look ahead at the final few weeks of the regular season, and why your team is doomed, in capsule form. Today, the American League ... East • 1. Tampa Bay Rays. Record: 85-56. Magic number: 20. Big strength: Evan Longoria is back after a stint on disabled list with a...